Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well he might as well have!!!!
I did an...experiment the other day and let my little GB rattler baby eat as many pinkie rats as he wanted in one night. He ate 6!!!!! So of course, I had to take a pic of that! lol

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Crazy ZooLady

Be careful..about overfeeding... They have been known to eat themselves to death..

Al
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Save a Rattlesnake...Skin a Sweetwater Resident!

How would it eat itself to death? I would think it would regurge if it couldnt breath or ate too many?????
Anyhow, was just a one time thing. I dont like power feeding my snakeys. Just wa curious how many this guy would actually eat since he always acts like he is starving after a meal. lol
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Crazy ZooLady

I've never seen it or know of anybody to experience it. Some of our gaboons and rhinos have looked mighty uncomfortable from eating huge prey items before though. AND there was a 6 foot African rock python that we had that we THOUGHT it should of died from eating a 10 pound rabbit one time but didn't.

I agree with Al, feeding ad lib puts a huge strain on a baby snake. One little stressor could result in a major regurg and when you are talking about such a big meal, that could have catastrophic effects. Baby rattlers are opportunistic but they typically don't gorge themselves because prey is much more scarce in the wild; they see food they eat food, and on and on much to the detriment of the snake in a captive (artificial) environment. Hopefully, this was just a one time deal and I would recommend feeding one or two prey items at a time (max). But, that is indeed a real nice looking lutosis; have fun with him/her.

Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

>>How would it eat itself to death? I would think it would regurge if it couldnt breath or ate too many?????
>>Anyhow, was just a one time thing. I dont like power feeding my snakeys. Just wa curious how many this guy would actually eat since he always acts like he is starving after a meal. lol
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>>Crazy ZooLady
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Rob Carmichael, Curator
The Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, IL

Very simple...

It compresses the lung(s) and heart..a subtle effect that can kill and the snake may not even know it's happening. I have read/heard about it happening. Anatomically it's very possible.

Al
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Save a Rattlesnake...Skin a Sweetwater Resident!

The extreme stress involved in reguring. I do understand a risky judgement of a meal size and I even understand allowing some snakes to take what they will (personally I would not allow this with snakes I know tend to eat anything put in front of them)...but a guinee pig science experiment like this makes me feel a little uneasy when the snake is at risk. I am sure I read it wrong as I would hope someone keeping rattle snakes and anacondas really has a level head about the risks they take. Nice to see you have a good feeder there and good luck with him. But speaking of funny feeding experiment, I have some sibling yellow anacondas that have the most rediculous feeding response. I once had a rat foot fall off when thawing and I decided to throw it in a yellow anaconda enclosure to see if I could be less wastefull about it. She raced out to find whatever came in, she found it, picked it up with the side of her mouth, then ate it. It was almost like a snake tick tack lol.

I had a baby mussurana eat what I thought was an appropriate sized ribbon snake. It was more than the snake could handle.
No regurgitation..just death.
Feeding a snake small meals more often is better long term than feeding large meals less frequently.

~~Greg~~

Are you saying a rat foot is too large for a year and a half old yellow anaconda? lol. To be honest I would say its the smallest meal in proportion to body size I have ever seen a snake eat. Seriously though, I think everyone is at an understanding with over feeding and the dangers involved.

LOL, Ok Ok!! I didnt mean for this though I suppose I should have expected it! Just wanted to share the fat happy pic of him! Just so all knows this was over a week ago, and since, he has poo'd and is now getting ready to shed. He is doing fine.
It was a one time thing, never again! Mind you the food items may have been many, but they were also very small. He could have had bigger prey items, but it smaller amounts. They were half the size of what he normally eats. I did not mean to upset you guys. Just wanted to share him with you. And his fat happiness. lol
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Crazy ZooLady

Yes, he does look fat & happy...Very nice specimen keep posting your pictures. Were're all here to share pictures & knowledge.

Cheers!

Al
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Save a Rattlesnake...Skin a Sweetwater Resident!

multi deaths of even wild snakes dead from over eating ? While the scenario seems true, i just think that we are over reacting on this situation of a snake dying from over feeding or feeding on to large of a food item. I think there would be a preventative clause/recourse of the snake itself that would keep a snake dying from this whether it would regurge ( it seems that it would if fact regurge with the food enlarging in size while digesting ) or just back off when so much of the food item is ( trying ) being consumed. I have seen both things happen on many snakes in captivity. I would , for one , like to see if there is any data on this to back any of this up. Knowing some very huge food intakes of specifically pythons and anacondas in the wild, I just have a hard time believing that there would be very many deaths due to them eating to big of prey. Mind you that i would not advocate this in captive keeps, but I think the true count/s of this would be obscured at the least and very few.

I would personally think, that they eat like this ALOT. In the wild. Especially at this age. Because at this age they can only eat young mice and rats. So they would have to find mouse and rat nests, which would be filled with babies. So why wouldnt they eat them all up till they are full???
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Crazy ZooLady

one time on me ( just one out of many others ). When I was raising mice I was using them lab cages and this black rat snake got in the basement and up on the lab cage and knocked the glass water bottle out and proceeded to " move in " and ate every adult breeder ( 1 male-3 females ) plus 22 fuzzys. The snake was at a little over 2 & 1/2 foot ! In fact the snake was so large and bloated from eating all of those mice it couldn't get back out of the lab cage. LOL ! I caged it and it was fine but looked like a small football the next several days.

There are two sides to this to be sure-
First, baby snakes probably do eat entire litters of baby rodents on occasion. However, regurging some pinks is much less stressful than regurging an adult animal with claws and teeth, which can tear the esopagus on the way back up, and result in the inability to eat properly or keep food down in the future. Also, some species of snakes, like the large boids, are anatomically more capable of eating extrmemely large meals, and so are much less stressed than other animals.
I do know of at least one case of a Lioheterodon that ate two large rats when one was appropriate- a feeding mistake. The snake was dead the next morning and it looked as if the second rat never even made it to the stomach. However, the thought was that the rat ruptured the esophagus close to the stomach. Because it was stretched in an attempt to swallow, the pyloric sphincter was not closed and stomach acid and contents leaked into the abdominal cavity. So while overfeeding usually does not have such dire consequences, it certainly is possible for death to occur.
-Kristen
KY Reptile Zoo