Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I don't come here often, however, I thought I would share an interesting feeding observation we made at our wildlife center. One of our gtp's that just recently was given to us (an import unfortunately) had not fed for us for over 3 months. Recently, she showed signs of wanting to feed so we introduced two young adult mice (live). The snake immediately assumed ambush position and plucked off the first mouse and started constricting. Then, when the other mouse came into view the snake let go of the mouse it was constricting (but still held on tightly with its coils) and then snatched the other mouse and constricted both mice at the same time. Has anyone else ever observed this behavior? I'm sure it was just a fluke but it was quite impressive as to how quickly this snake dispatched both mice at the same time. Unfortunately, my dig camera was at home so no shots.

Rob Carmichael, Director/Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center - City of Lake Forest
Parks & Recreation (Illinois)

I've heard a similar story with someone feeding an amazon tree boa. I would not put it past GTP's. I think there is alot about them we do not know since (to my knowlage) there has not been a indepth study about these specific species in the wild.

I don't have GTPs (yet!), but observed almost exactly the same behavior in a female Brazilian rainbow boa last night. The only difference was that this female never let her first rat leave her mouth - she constricted the second rat (very effectively!) with her tail, swallowed the first, then came around and ate the second. Perhaps this behavior is advantageous to arboreal snakes feeding in the wild - much easier to grab two courses at once than grab one, eat it, then come back down from a branch to grab a second?

I had a similar instance once with a GTP. This was an adult male that had been on a hunger strike for 4 or 5 months and I was starting to really become concerned. I had already done all the fecal exams, etc. and could find no physiological reason. I tried feeding live rats, live mice, live gerbils and live hamsters to no avail. Finally, more out of desparation than anything else, I went and bought 2 finches and put them in the cage with him. The reaction was immediate, the snake grabbing first one finch and beginning to constrict, then while still holding the first finch in his coils, grabbed the second one and constricted both at the same time, then sequentially ate them both. Funny thing is, that snake never went on a hunger strike again as long as I had him and never refused rats or mice again.

I've also, been known to do this when ever I visit the "Twinky", counter at my local grocer. JK!
I've observed similar behavior in Pitouphis, and Getulus, but never a Gtp.