Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a ball python with a kink in his neck just behind his head. If I try to give him the correct size prey item he will constrict and “kill”, I feed prekilled prey, but will not swallow due to the size. I have to feed him small mice rather then the small to medium rats he should be eating. If I try to feed a second prey item to him most times he will not take it due to all the effort it took him to get the first one down. Other then being small for his age he is healthy and happy. I am looking for some advise what to due to help him eat easier or maybe any ideas for a alternative prey item that would be narrower.

do you know what caused the "kink"?
is it getting better/worse?
outside of it being more time consuming, a mouse once a week is fine compared to a rat every other week IMO
if he hasn't been to a vet, I would go to see if there is anything that can be done for the "kink" not an emergency, but getting there as soon as you can would be helpful
as far as more "narrow" prey, you could try lizards, but getting the snake to convert could be an issue, plus finding feeders could be more difficult/expensive, if it were me, I'd rather spend my $ at the vet to see if the issue can be resolved or controlled
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

I am not sure where the kink came from. He was bought at a pet store by my wife he had the kink but I did not notice it for a couple weeks cause he was smaller. I have had him since Feb 2010. It has not gotting better or worse just more noticeable as he grew. As for taking him to the vet my area is lacking vets with reptile knowlegde. I have talked to people that have worked with reptile recuses and they have say anything could be done for it would be to risky for the snake. I was posting here for a bigger audencie with a large knowledge base. Thanks for the reply to post too. Another problem with the snake is he seems to have a bad habit of swallowing prey backwards which makes it even harder on himself.

As he gets older I suspect he'll figure out how to rotate the prey for easier ingestion.

As for the kink, often times congenital deformities will become more severe over time. I'm not overly certain why, and it is rather case-by-case, but it is likely related to the growth being impeded in one area (a short, non-growing ligament for example) and normal everywhere else.

Only time will tell, but you might end up having to euthanize, or try and maintain a quality of life by tube feeding. In the mean time however, having a good examination as po suggested is a good idea. Perhaps plan a trip to a neighboring city to coincide with another reason to visit there. There is no immediate rush on this unless the snake can no longer feed itself.

For feeding, I can only suggest feeding more frequently to keep up with it's caloric needs, or to switch to lizards or snakes (if it will eat them). This is one species that I do not expect to eat a lot of non-mammalian prey in the wild, though I could very well be wrong. One last option to try might be those commercially prepared "snake sausages". This business never took off, and I don't know if the product is still available.

Good luck with your snake,

Ian