Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey. When i first obtained my baby southern copper it would strike and then release its prey and wait for it to die before it approached it(sounds normal enough) but then i began feeding it frozen pinkys only (thawed of course) for a good amount of time it ate nothing but frozens off hemostats ,but now that i found a local pet store has live pinkys i picked some up for it..i noticed that now when it eats it will strike the pinky off the hemostats and hold onto it untill the venom kicks in and it dies (like a gaboon)..i found this weird for the snake to change its method of eating. i thought there feeding response was instinct and it only varied from species to species..so my question is for you people that have kept coppers for a long time ..did my copper change its method of eating because it has matured or because it has become acustomed to eating dead prey that dosent fight back? does anyone else find this intersting>? thanks for any input

I also have a young WC souther copperhead and have seen similar feeding responses. I think it might have to do with how large and active the prey item is. The snake will strike and release large fuzzies and hopper mice but will bite and hold smaller fuzzies. The snake also bites and holds anoles of any size. Strange, maybe it thinks they are lizards and doesn't want them to disappear into a crevice or a tree.

W. Smith