Reptile & Amphibian Forums

that was taking its mouse sideways. She (my Cay Caulker boa) hissed at me through a very stuffed mouth at first but she seemed to appreciate it when I helped push and straighten the nose of the mouse with a long pair of feeding tweezers. She used that oportunity to get the head down.

Strange how a boa that refuses food a few days in a row can then feed so eagerly that it didn't release and line up on the head after striking, just started swallowing on the side of the head and neck where she struck. This mouse was on the large side for her also. The two she refused were the smallest of a sixpack of fuzzies. Poor little girl went almost three weeks without eating because she went into shed when she was due to eat and then after was feeling a little finicky I guess.

I'm wondering if other folks correct their boas while feeding if they get something wrong. Also I sure hope that those gross popping noises I heard were coming from the mouse and not the little Cay Caulker!

nah, if any of my snakes are big enough, determined enough and stupid enough to take prey either neck-first, bent in half by the back, or butt-first then more power to em...most of the time if they cant get something down b/c of the position the prey is in, mine usually just let go and search around for a better starting point, or slowly work their mouths around bit by bit to the nose(this being the actions of the more experienced ones in my opinion)
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Brad Hamlin
"...when im a good snake, they sometimes throw me a rat..."
B&P Constrictors

was really stuck in the corner of her mouth so the mouse was only getting more crooked. Glad to hear that you can usually just let them do their thing though, thanks for the response. It makes me nervous when they try to show me their best impression of a heavily distented egg eating snake!