Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is it bad a 18" royal python eats a thawed pinky tail first?

I'd say it is pretty strange for an 18" BP to be eating *Pinkies*. One that size should be eating small adult mice, at least. Have you tried larger food items? A snake should be fed about one meal a week that is equal in girth to the widest part of the snake's body.

To answer your question: No, it generally isn't a problem. I've even seen a BP take a young rat down backwards. It is a much slower process, but I have never had any problems as a result.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

i was gonna say i have a 8-9 inch ball that eats rats fuzzys already, its a little fatter than he is but he eats them, i breed rats not mice, all my snakes eat rats, or go with out till there hungry, i just had a 3 year old female given to me cuz she ate mice, a few months of fasting and making her eat a few baby rats that were in with mice for a few hours, shes a rat killing machine now!!

later boadave

It's not bad to eat a meal backwards - but pinks are for corns not for balls - you should match the girth of the meal with the girth of the snake. You average ball hatchling can easily feed on a rat pup or adult mouse.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

Herp Medicine does not equal a bottle of Baytril - Dr. Scott Stahl

As the others said, I'd put it on something larger. I feed our babies weanling/adult mice until they are big enought to take weanling rats. It's nothing to worry with but you may try heating up the head more. It may help with correcting the issue. We do have a few that prefer to eat a$$ backwards lol.

Funny thing, haha I have never before had this happen, attempted but never made it. My small male genetic stripe is eating a FT rat fuzzy backwards as I type this. Hope it doesn't cause problems!
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Nolan

thank you all for the info. I'll upgrade his food to larger.

It will digest the same whether it's head or butt first...
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)