Why...

[jitami]

Silly question, but whenever I'm a little concerned about the size of a prey item WHY does Sly have to eat them backward? Totally hypothetical, but it drives me nuts. Seriously every time I'm worried that an item may be too large they always go down backward! I lay them on a tray(plastic lid) in the enclosure with the head facing the side where I know the snake will come from and still...

btw, this was the second, larger, of two fuzzies and he had no problem getting it down as you can see by the "all done" pic!

[jeanette]

lol i have the same problem with my female, she eats pinky's while the male eats normally, i cant work it out either.

[adamanteus]

I just slice all my prey animals lengthways. The snakes aren't put off by it.

[drache]

I have some snakes with a backward eating preference
it's just what works for them

[Stefan-A]

My parietalis does the same. No matter which end is closer, she starts from the butt end of the mouse. Oddly enough, she swallows fish the right way. I'm not concerned.

I think it has something to do with smell. I heard somewhere that opening the mouth of the mouse and pulling the tongue out a bit could help the snake find the right end.

[jitami]

At least I'm not the only one! lol He eats most things head first, but if it's something larger than normal it's guaranteed to go down backward. I think it's just to stress me out!

[jitami]

I just slice all my prey animals lengthways. The snakes aren't put off by it.

I have done this in the past, and I'm really not a wimpy girl, but I'd rather avoid it if at all possible! eeeewwww... At least slicing pinkies isn't as bad as cutting up squirting nightcrawlers!

[dashnu]

I have done this in the past, and I'm really not a wimpy girl, but I'd rather avoid it if at all possible! eeeewwww... At least slicing pinkies isn't as bad as cutting up squirting nightcrawlers!

Cutting them frozen gets rid of some of the "EWWW" factor for me. All though mine wont take pinkys yet!

[gregmonsta]

Lol ... here's 'J' ... he likes to eat his pinkies backwards ... but only if they can fly .... and then only one!!!

[jitami]

This feeding has brought up another question. Do you guys think the two fuzzies were too much? He always eats one and then hunts for another and settles down after the second, but I just snapped this picture and he now looks like a gravid she. Really, is this too much? Thanks guys!

btw, J is a cutie!