>>I just wonder how they kill something that large without getting knawed up a good bit. On top of that, if it would readily grab a live adult mouse in the wild, there should certainly be some mention of this behavior with captive specimens. I've never heard of anyone witnessing a kill in captivity.


Just because nobody has seen it doesn't mean it can't happen... As to how they do it - plenty of colubrids will feed on mice, and will simply grab them and chew the proverbial out of them, without suffering major injury - most of the time. You don't *have* to be highly venomous or a constrictor to eat rodents, although it certainly helps.

Obviously, carion feeding is a possibility - it's beenr ecorded in a number of species, including some xenodontines, so it is possible in this case as well.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
-----
WW Home

[ Hide Replies ]

• Once again, diving in to the platyrhinos/venom/rodent question.... - TxHerper, Fri May 14 00:51:42 2004
• RE: Once again, diving in to the platyrhinos/venom/rodent question.... - WW, Fri May 14 03:27:52 2004
• RE: Once again, diving in to the platyrhinos/venom/rodent question.... - TxHerper, Fri May 14 19:41:22 2004
• my experience - A.C., Mon May 17 22:36:34 2004
• RE: my experience - TxHerper, Thu May 20 01:36:19 2004
• RE: my experience - A.C., Thu May 20 12:45:51 2004
• RE: Once again, diving in to the platyrhinos/venom/rodent question.... - scales, Thu May 20 17:26:47 2004
• YES, that's the way to go! - A.C., Fri May 21 07:49:03 2004