Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my research told me they were. in addition to the taming question below, how do i teach this guy (or girl) to constrict? or is it natural not to constrict f/t? he doesnt constrict live either

Ok i am no expert but i have read tons of books and watched tons of shows. Yes they are a constrictor and they constrict to catch and kill prey. If they dont have to kill it there are a lot of snakes that will just swallow it. But corn snakes, boas, rat snakes, milk snakes, kingsnakes and pythons are all constrictors. If I am wrong someone can correct me but from what I have learned that is how it is.

Hi. I feed defrost and most of mine don't constrict before swallowing. I don't believe it's detrimental for them to not constrict defrost, but I can see how a fighting live mouse could potentially cause injuries in this situation.

If I were you, I'd feed defrost if possible.

I haven't had any experience of trying to "train" a Corn to constrict if you find that you have to feed live. I guess you could try tease feeding with defrost, to try and provoke a strike/constrict response, but hopefully someone else can advise in detail.

I would agree, they constrct.. Just ask the live mice that have 'passed through"!! In addition, I use frozen/thawed for most of my collection of adults and hatchlings and about 25% of hatchlings constrict once they sense (by smell) the F/T item. BUT when they grow to subadult/adult, the contricting action subsides. When introduced a live prey to these normally feed F/T corns, they will strike and constrict.... So it appears from these antidotal observations, they will always have the instinct, but based on the food items demenour (live and moving or thawed and still..) they will react accordingly....

By the way, for the corns that get live, I stay around and watch. On several occasions, I have 'helped out' by placing a thin wooden dowel in the stricken, strggling mouses mouth to chew on providing some level of protection for the snake. It doens't seen to bother the snake at all. In the past 4 years, I have had 2 occasions where the mouse may have drawn blood - it is hard to tell as many times the mouse is bleeding as well... In both cases, the Corn was fine afterards.....
Another observation is, some of my snakes are better at coiling the mouses head away from their body. While again, a bit antidotal, there is a definite trend between my live feeders...

Opps, this turned out to be way to long for the simple qeuestion..
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2.3 Albino Nelsoni Milksnakes
0.1 Snow Corn
0.2 Sunglow Corns
1.1 Albino Motley Corns
3.3 '04 Albino Corn hatchlings
1.0 '02 Albino Stripe Corn
0.0.12 Sunglow/Moltey eggs simmering
0.0.20 Snow/Amel-Het Anry eggs simmering
0.0.5 Sunglow/Amel-Het Anery eggs simmering
0.0.13 Motley/Stripe eggs simmering
Bunch.Bunch Bearded Dragons
Bunch.Bunch Crested Geckos
0.1 Great wife
2.0 Great boys
0.0.2 dogs (they're great too!!)
and Corey's Yellow Knee Tarantula "Fang"

Most seem to know (or learn) that they don't need to constrict pinks or f/t, but will constrict when needed. If your snake is a really good feeder (doesn't get spooked easily), you can make the f/t item "fight" a little by grabbing a leg after the snake has the head part, and jiggling it a little. Usually the snake will begin to constrict, and you can jiggle harder to get stronger constricton.

If your snake gets out a lot to crawl around (not just hang around your neck), then it might get plenty of exercise. But if it just sits around eating only f/t food, then a little "fight" from the dead prey could provide a bit of needed exercise.

A really large breeding facility (produces 40,000 babies per year!) said that when they switched to mainly live instead of f/t, their egg binding rates went down. You can do the same thing with exercise and "playing with the food" without the risk of live, if you prefer (unfortunately, this mehod is too time consuming if you have hundreds or more of adults to feed).

that is DEFINITELY a constrictor. I think that she is about two years old now. She hits that poor frozen/thawed mouse like it is the biggest, baddest mouse around. Then she coils it up really quickly and swallows it. She is one that you have to watch your fingers around. Most of my other guys just crawl over and start swallowing, but she can make the feeding tank dance!
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