Well, I hated to do this, but my pet siren got the ax today. I bought it for rodent scenting purposes, however the momma anery siren needed some fattening after laying eggs, and I did not wish to risk her health on getting her back in breeding condition on scented rat pups. And I mention breeding condition because my friend recenly caught a male albino mud snake and we are going to breed the albino to the anery this fall or next spring. If we can get some eggs, then we breed the babies and get 1/16 "snow muds." I personally dislike most of these man made snakes, however since these were both wild caught snakes, it is interesting. At least for now it is. When or if I see a snow mud, I will make a better determination.
Now I put the momma anery mud in a shoebox with a couple inches of water and a few minutes later added the siren. It took a total of 3 second before the mud snake felt the siren's presence and started to taste the water with her tounge. At the 5 second mark, I turned to grab my camer but the mud went nuts and grabed the siren by the tail and wrapped it and eventually worked her head to the sirens head and down it went. It took about 15 minutes from start to finish and the siren was still alive on the last gulp. I expected to see the mud snake use its tail to restrain the siren but it had such a strong grip with its mouth, that the siren stood no chance of getting out. The siren was able to squirm a bit when the mud worked towards the head, however the siren was ripped on the teeth of the mud. It was not a fun thing to witness since this siren was in my kitchen eating fish from forceps, but it was in the best interest of the momma that she get a good meal after laying those eggs.
Dan
