Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, this may sound rather strange, but I can't for the life of me figure out why my almost year-old colombian red tail plays with her food, (since the first time I've ever fed her)!

Every week when I go to feed her a mouse, or as she is now eating, a rat, she never thinks twice, just happily strikes it, and coils it for a good long time, making sure she kills the thawed out thing. (For anybody wondering she gets f/t mice from Gourmet Rodent).

Now, from what I have ALWAYS heard, everywhere, NORMAL snakes strike, coil, and EAT. Not my snake though, no no, that would be all too simple. She strikes, coils, uncoils, and plays with it! And I mean REALLY plays with it. She sniffs it, licks it, drags it around her cage, pokes at it some, and drags it around some more. Yesterday however, she took things a step further. I wish I had a videocamera on me, because she was acting absolutely rediculous. She took her rat, and after her usual dragging it around the cage, coiled it a second time, then proceeded to try and DROWN the thing! She acutally flung it in her water dish! Then she fully submersed herself, head first, and pulled it back out by the nose. Finally she drug it into one of her caves and ate it. Despite this playing with her food she is a great eater- she always eats her food after she plays with it, and she has never refused a meal.

Can anybody PLEASE explain to me why she plays with her food? Or at least tell me I don't have the only sadistic boa in the world that likes to play with her food?
Thanks for your replies!
-Jill

n/p
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1.1 Corn snakes Snake Plissken & Abby
0.1 Hog Island Boa Isaboa
1.3.0 leos, Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1.1 frogs Buffy the Cricket Slayer, Butrose Butrose Froggy
1.1.4 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Juice Newton, Olivia Newton John & Helmut Newton
1.1.0 cats Gus & Mena

Maybe that catnip plant in the corner is doing it to her. lol
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My roomates are 1BP,1BCI2corns,Rotti,3cats,desert scorpions, and snake food AKA the food chain. See my kids at: http://community.webshots.com/user/diggy415

np

Sounds like she is a fun pet ! Maybe she is a performer ! ))

My adult burm is one of only two of my snakes that get live prey (the other is a wc Solomon Island ground boa feeding on captive bred field mice). Without fail, my big girl will gently nudge the LIVE bunny, flick her tongue all over it (she really has this thing about sticking her tongue in their ears), run her nose through its fur, and rub against it before finally striking and coiling it. I've even seen her simply wrap a coil around it while her head still cruised the cage. She doesn't always do this, but she does more times than not. So no, you don't have the only odd, sadistic snake out there.

Raven

Thats really funny! Interesting too- I had wondered for a while if it was her way of objecting to the frozen/thawed food, but it sounds like she would probably play with it all the same if it was live or prekilled! Thanks for the info Raven, good to know Big Bird has a pal :-P