Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, I was feeding my black mexican king snake today and the oddest thing happened. I like to wiggle the mouse around when feeding to get her to strike and curl. I put the mouse in front of her and she past right by and when i put it up to her body she "crushed" it with the lower part of her body. Her head wasn't even looking at it at all, I have never had this happen! I have had them let go with their mouths and keep crushing it but never without bitting it first. I was wondering if anyone else has had this happened or if it is really common and I am just too new to the trade to have had this happen.
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Black Mexican King
Florida King
Goins King
Blizzard Corn

It's common.
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The reason why i find this so shocking is this would be a terrible thing to do in the wild. The rat would bite that snake up so fast! I understand that you can't compare domestic snakes to wild. I still find it odd
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Black Mexican King
Florida King
Goins King
Blizzard Corn

It is probably more common than the other way for kings. They are subterranean hole dwellers for the most part, and the tunnel crush is very effective, keeping the head of the snake away from possible damage while freeing it up for a second meal. Think of a snake going into a burrow and dealing with multiple prey items.
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Todd Hughes

It is probably more common than the other way for kings. They are subterranean hole dwellers for the most part, and the tunnel crush is very effective, keeping the head of the snake away from possible damage while freeing it up for a second meal. Think of a snake going into a burrow and dealing with multiple prey items.

Absolutly correct. I have found kings in rabbit burrows full of baby (pinky) rabbits. They grab with their mouth what they can and hold down (crushing) as many prey items as possible. It seems that when snakes come upon baby rodent nests this is how they crush their prey.
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I have found this technique especially true with the Black Milksmake(L.T.Gaigeae).Its a challenge to remove a water bowls from a cage while the snake is occupied with a prey item,kinda like the game "operation" if you touch the snake it will attempt to pin you with its body, then its difficult to close the cage with a flailing muscle snake .

Wow that is one of the coolest things I have heard about snakes. Anyone have a video of a snake doing this? I am going to try to get poko (my black mexican king) to do this! Maybe get a video if I can!
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Black Mexican King
Florida King
Goins King
Blizzard Corn

..... but I think this shows how useful being able to wrap up a prey item without seeing it can be, and how common it is.

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Ace

no post
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Wow awesome pictures! I see how useful it is but is it only done to pinkys, fuzzys and hoppers or do they also do this to adult mice? The reason i ask is i know adult mice and rats can do a number on your snake with their teeth. If a snake is concentrating on one thing it could get a life threatening bite while trying to wrap a different mouse/rat.
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Black Mexican King
Florida King
Goins King
Blizzard Corn

Most adult constrictors are quite capable of this feat and very good at it, I feed live mice and the snakes don't let the mice get the upper hand. I believe I have a pic or two of a longnose who is very adept at the burrow crush, killing two mice by smashing them against the wall and cage furnishings while constricting a third with his upper half, teeth engaged. That last photo shows adult frozen mice being constricted. Many of my adults do this with live.
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Todd Hughes

Love the pics of your snakes in "handicap matches"... sorry I'm an ex-wrestling fan.

reako45

....
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Ace

hey i got my snake to "kill" two mice at once thanks everyone pictures will be up soon!
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Black Mexican King
Florida King
Goins King
Blizzard Corn

On a slightly different note am I the only one that thinks that kings have the worst aim of any snake when striking? Mine miss the mouse every time, luckily the “prey” is all F/T.

They tend to miss F/T dead mice more than live. It is because they are not used to a mouse dangling from a hand. Their instncts are to catch wild mice, which they are very good at.
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agreed 100%
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Black Mexican King
Florida King
Goins King
Blizzard Corn

My kingsnakes look like snipers compared to most of the ball pythons I've worked with........again the accuracy usually spikes upward when live prey is used...labial pits most prob why
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1.0.0 Lampropeltis getula holbrooki
0.1.0 Lampropeltis getula californae
0.0.1 Lampropeltis getula nigra
1.0.0 Lampropeltis mexicana thayeri
2.3.0 Eublapharis macularius macularius
0.0.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus
0.1.0 Gerrhosaurus major major

I like Todd's term for this; "the tunnel crush". In captivity, however it's like hockey (Go Ducks) w/ the snake pinning the feeder against the glass (tank wall crush). I see it most often w/ my Gopher snakes.

reako45

which are true burrow specialists!
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Todd Hughes