Rat Snake ate Ceramic Egg!

[ChicketySplit]

What a bellyache! Found him in a nest in the coop. Kicked him out and realized that, not only is my Easter Egger's egg missing, but the ceramic egg is too! You can see the 1st egg started to break down, but the ceramic egg that followed is still intact. Funny thing is we were just talking about snakes swallowing fake eggs the other night....

 

[DT12]

Looks dead! Don’t forget to get your egg back.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had snakes eat golf balls before but that's pretty rare, Most of the time they ignore golf balls. They are certainly not consistent. I found an ax to be very helpful in recovering the fake eggs.

I've read that snakes can regurgitate stuff they can't digest, but I've also read that if a snake eats a ceramic egg or golf ball they cannot regurgitate it and will eventually starve to death. I don't know which is true. Snakes can go huge amounts of time without eating so it could take months for them to starve to death. If I find one that has swallowed something like that I'll make sure they don't suffer.

I like having the snakes around, they mostly eat mice and such. I don't bother them unless they are eating eggs or baby chicks. I have a friend that wants me to relocate any non-poisonous snakes I catch in my coop to her property, she'll even come pick them up once I catch them. We've relocated several rat snakes and black racers. I even gave her a garter snake that was living in the coop. It was so small I thought the chickens might eat it.

 

[ChicketySplit]

I agree with you there about liking snakes, with the exceptions of timber rattlers & copperheads, I mostly leave 'em alone. Rather have them than mice or rats. Had to put this one down - one of my valiant roosters pecked one of his eyes out, heaping one problem on top of another. Yep, I will be recovering my egg & maybe come up with a recipe for ratsnake fricasee with fresh scrambled egg, lol!

I've had snakes eat golf balls before but that's pretty rare, Most of the time they ignore golf balls. They are certainly not consistent. I found an ax to be very helpful in recovering the fake eggs.

I've read that snakes can regurgitate stuff they can't digest, but I've also read that if a snake eats a ceramic egg or golf ball they cannot regurgitate it and will eventually starve to death. I don't know which is true. Snakes can go huge amounts of time without eating so it could take months for them to starve to death. If I find one that has swallowed something like that I'll make sure they don't suffer.

I like having the snakes around, they mostly eat mice and such. I don't bother them unless they are eating eggs or baby chicks. I have a friend that wants me to relocate any non-poisonous snakes I catch in my coop to her property, she'll even come pick them up once I catch them. We've relocated several rat snakes and black racers. I even gave her a garter snake that was living in the coop. It was so small I thought the chickens might eat it.

 

[ChicketySplit]

You b

Looks dead! Don’t forget to get your egg back.

You betcha! Can't let a good ceramic egg go to waste!

 

[RollTideChicken]

Had a rat snake swallow a golf ball once...actually considering I've had more than a couple balls go missing I'm guessing we've had a few. But I love reptiles and respect life (to a point) and he was just trying to survive. So, me and one of my boys helped him out...see below. *might be graphic to some...not sure so heads up.

He actually had it as far as his stomach when I caught him. I'd already worked it up this far by the time we thought about getting pics.

 

[ChicketySplit]

Had a rat snake swallow a golf ball once...actually considering I've had more than a couple balls go missing I'm guessing we've had a few. But I love reptiles and respect life (to a point) and he was just trying to survive. So, me and one of my boys helped him out...see below. *might be graphic to some...not sure so heads up.

He actually had it as far as his stomach when I caught him. I'd already worked it up this far by the time we thought about getting pics.

Wow, love it! This one was attacked by one of the rooster & had to put him down, but I'm willing to bet there's more out there waiting to take this one's place.....Thanks so much for sharing your technique. How long did it take to work it out?

 

[RollTideChicken]

It took about 10 minutes. The trick is to allow the snake to relax between squeezes and hold tightish behind the object or they'll just work it back down. They can naturally regurgitate food, so it won't hurt them. It's easy enough to do, if you want to save his life. We took him about 10 miles away and let him go in a field afterwards.

We kept snakes as pets for years. In total we've had 5 different species of constrictors over the course of about 12 years.

It was interesting...never worked a ball out of a snake before.

 

[ChicketySplit]

It is interesting - definitely something I probably would not come across if I "googled" how to get a ball out of a snake, lol! Thanks again!

It took about 10 minutes. The trick is to allow the snake to relax between squeezes and hold tightish behind the object or they'll just work it back down. They can naturally regurgitate food, so it won't hurt them. It's easy enough to do, if you want to save his life. We took him about 10 miles away and let him go in a field afterwards.

We kept snakes as pets for years. In total we've had 5 different species of constrictors over the course of about 12 years.

It was interesting...never worked a ball out of a snake before.

 

[RollTideChicken]

You could get your ceramic egg back in the same manner...umm but I just threw the golf ball away.
Yep snakes can go, in some cases, months between feedings. But I think they'll die sooner than that from complications of an object lodged in their bowels that won't pass. I've also heard they won't regurgitate a golf ball not sure why they wouldn't. I know my pet snakes spit out perfectly good rats for no apparent reason, so I'm not sure why a gold ball would different. In any case, we intervened, and as far as we know he's out there ridding the world of a menace I truely hate...RATS!