A pet snake who can multi-task...(graphic snake behavior descriptions)

[Sunny Side Up]

I've never seen this before, and didn't know snakes could/would do this.

We keep 5 red corn snakes in 3 different tanks, and run a small mouse ranch to keep them all fed. Every Sat or Sun is the snakes' dinner day.

Yesterday I had put 2 mice in the first tank for the 2 snakes inside. They each quickly grabbed their own mouse & coiled up around it. We moved on to feed the other 3 snakes.

When I looked back into the first tank, the 2 snakes were having a tug-o-war with one mouse, leaving the other on the floor. Since our local PBS TV station has gone all digital, leaving us without our weekly Nature program to watch, I called the boys over & we settled in to see the show in the snake tank.

The 2 snakes were pulling on the mouse & winding themselves around each other for several minutes. Then one of them, Tattoo, finally grabs it and moves to a corner to swallow it. That's when I notice the other snake, Snakey, is mid-way through a shed. Snakey is about 3 feet long and takes a while to completely shed. While I'm watching Tattoo swallow and Snakey shed, Snakey sees the other mouse on the floor of the tank.

And begins to swallow it! At the same time as shedding!

It was so interesting to watch. The 2 snakes ended up with their heads almost side-by-side slurping down their mice in tandem. But Snakey is also doing a sort of serpentine cha-cha half-way down, so the skin can continue to detatch and the tail come out.

Although it shouldn't come as a surprise that Snakey can multi-task. Because Snakey is a female snake!

 

[Harley's girl]

Awesome!

 

[Shared Acres]

We actually once had two snakes that fought over their food and BOTH started swallowing it! One started swallowing the other snake. I tried to seperate them, but the one who had started to be swallowed died. We never fed our snakes together after that.

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
up its a baaaddddd idea to feed several snakes in the same tank. It stresses them and it can lead to what you experienced.

 

[RabbitMage]

I thought keeping snakes together in the same tank was a bad idea. Feeding them together is an especially bad idea. And do you feed live, too?

Poor snakes.

 

[Kanchii]

You should feed them in separate feeding containers off of any substrate you have them on in their cage.

But cool story.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I've always wondered how one snake could swallow another. You can see how something shorter, like a mouse, could fit in a snake's stomach, but how can they consume something as long as they are? Things that make me go

We think we're doing a good job caring for these snakes, we've been getting great advice from a local herpetologist. They're all wild-caught red corn snakes, caught in the yard. Actually, I caught the first one in the yard to keep her from eating any more of the chicks, and decided to keep her as a pet since my boys had been asking for one. The other 4 were caught over the past year as they were found near the first one's tank on the patio. I think she's been sending out invitations, she knows she's got it made now.

After snake #3 I asked if I could start keeping some of them together & was told it would be fine. I've seen them kept more than one to a tank in the local nature centers too. In the 2 tanks that hold 2 snakes they spend their days entwined.

Yes, I feed them live mice & I feed them together. Sometimes just one is hungry but I always put in 2 mice. They eat live mice because I figure it's what they're used to and to save me the costs of buying anything else for them. We always stay to watch them eat and have never had any problems.

I know some folks believe you shouldn't feed a snake in its tank, or on its shreds, & I know why. But I think it could upset their digestive contemplation to move them again after they've eaten. I'll ask the herpetologist again the next time I see him, he's been keeping, caring for, and dealing with snakes for decades.

 

[RabbitMage]

You don't feed snakes in their tanks because once it becomes habit, they may mistake your hand for food and strike.

You don't feed them on their bedding because they can swallow it with their prey and it could cause issues.

And you don't feed live because a panicked prey animal can do serious damage to your snake, maybe even resulting in death.

 

[Blueroo63]

never feed your snakes together,
by the way anyone want a pet snake I have a red tailed boa very
docile and i want to place him in a new home thanks

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
sometimes you have to live feed. It can be darn near impossible to change a adult BP that was a african import. Heck mine insisted on certain colors and sexes.