My Florida kingsnake is swallowing his own tail. Twice this morning, within a half hour, I had to extract more than an inch worth of tail from his mouth, which stressed him out and freaked me out to no end.

He (I don't actually know the snake's gender) is about 5 feet long and 17 years old, not in pre-shed and never fed live mice or rats. This happened only once before many months ago.

Although it had not been long since he last fed, I figured he was hungry. He just gobbled down 4 thawed rat pups. Also, I keep the snake in a tank that's 36" inches long, 18" deep and 13" tall. He's been in there at least the last three years, but could the tank size be an issue?

What's going on and how do I prevent this bizarre behavior? Any insight would be appreciated.

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