I have a cannibal snake

[joeysgreen]

A lot of snakes that are generally considered non-snake eaters will be triggered into the act by random events, like parturition, shedding... why they can be fine with the act 10 times in a row and the 11th is the trigger I have no clue. It's always a risk that should be in the back of every keeper's mind if they communal house pets.

[d_virginiana]

A lot of snakes that are generally considered non-snake eaters will be triggered into the act by random events, like parturition, shedding... why they can be fine with the act 10 times in a row and the 11th is the trigger I have no clue. It's always a risk that should be in the back of every keeper's mind if they communal house pets.

Very true. Between adults, I've never heard of two males cannibalizing; it's always been a female cannibalizing a male. Does anyone know of any instances of females eating similarly sized females or males eating males? I doubt a male could eat a female...

[Zdravko092368]

Not a chance an adult male could eat a full grown adult female, my female easily outweighs my male by 3-4x and is about a foot longer. That's why it's always female eats male and most of the time it is a food related issue, an unsupervised feeding can turn ugly if the female accidentally grabs the male while he's eating a food item.

[joeysgreen]

I'd be careful about making such hard-fast statements. I have never seen a male garter eat a female, but I have seen many instances of animals eating animals larger then themselves; often times with both animals dying. My newt ate a algae eater that was larger then it... regurged it a day later. If you google salamander eating centipede, you might find a photo showing a larger centipede that had just been regurged from the sal. with the stress of capture. Kingsnakes often eat snakes longer and perhaps occasionally larger then themselves, the prey being folded upon itself to fit it in. Is anything like this likely in your captive enclosure... no. Does it really matter if the male eats the female or the female eats the male... no, either way = sad keeper.

Ian