Snake Feeding

In the wild, most snakes eat whole animals; their anatomy does not permit them to take bites from their prey. They kill the animal they are going to eat either by injecting venom, by constriction, by a good hard bite that causes so much damage that the animal dies, or in some cases they will eat it while it is still alive in which cases the digestive juices in the snake's stomach will kill it. Nothing is more surrounded by myths than the feeding habits of snakes. Snakes do not hypnotize their prey before attacking, nor does a constrictor break every bone in an animal's body - it is unusual for any bone to be broken. What actually happens is that the snake strikes very fast, grabs the animal with its teeth, and quicker than you can see, it flings a coil or two around the victim, which, now, is probably completely immobilized. It is certainly helpless and the snake can, if it needs to, put a couple more coils around at leisure. Each time the prey animal exhales, the snake takes up any slack so that the animal cannot breathe, and finally suffocates. When the snake is convinced it is dead, it will relax its hold and, starting at the head, it will completely ingest the prey which might be larger than the snake's head.

A snake is able to deliberately dislocate its lower jaw so that the sides of the mouth can be stretched to take large prey. Furthermore, the lower jaw is in two halves so to swallow its prey a snake will open its mouth round the head of the dead animal and reach forward with one half of its lower jaw in which all the teeth face backwards. It will pull the animal towards its throat and when the jaw is back in position it will reach forward with the other half, then the first half again, and so on until the whole prey is swallowed. When the dead animal has traveled far enough down to feel comfortable, the snake will settle into position to digest its meal, which may take days. When it is settled it will usually yawn a couple of times to get its jaws back into position. If the snake is disturbed, irritated or frightened before the prey is well digested, it will vomit up, as it is somewhat vulnerable with a great lump of undigested animal inside; so when your snake has fed, leave it in peace.

It is illegal to feed a captive snake with live food, so when your snake looks hungry you must give it a freshly killed animal. Sometimes a lot of coaxing is required before a snake will take a dead animal, or even a lump of meat, but if you hold the thing with long forceps - not your hand - in front of the snake's face and move it as though it is alive, you will usually be successful in persuading your snake to feed.

Most captive snakes feed on rodents or chicks though aquatic snakes need fish. Small baby snakes may take worms. You might not think so but snakes can be really fussy about food, not merely as regards the species of the prey but even the color. There are snakes that feed on other snakes, there are some that eat lizards, and there are even some that eat eggs.

If you find that your snake is reluctant to feed, turn up the temperature a couple of degrees. If it still refuses to eat, remove the prey after about half an hour or it will start to go rotten. Some snakes can go for some time without feeding - if they are really large they can fast for months, or even a year - though small snakes may need feeding twice a week. Do not put your hand in the snake's tank if you have been handling food animals, until you have had a wash, or you might be mistaken for a rat. Just occasionally you might have to force feed a snake but this operation should be avoided if at all possible since it is very stressful for the snake, and in any case, never attempt it until you have been shown how to do it by an experienced herpetologist or you might do your snake serious damage. In any case, when your snake is coming up for a slough it will not be interested in feeding. Fresh, clean water must be available at all times, and just after sloughing (pronounced 'sluffing') a snake is generally thirsty, and might be ready to eat as well