Tree Snake Eating Fish Backwards

[NicG]

Hi guys,

This morning I noticed that one of my tree snakes had caught a fish - her second, judging by the bump in her belly - and was attempting to swallow it backwards. I watched for a while and she seemed to be having trouble getting it down - normally the head-first ones disappear pretty quickly. As it happens, I had only yesterday read the attached article, so I was starting to get a bit nervous. But I figured I must have been overreacting - surely it would be too much of a coincidence for me to observe the only time a tree snake was in trouble trying to swallow a fish backwards.

After a while, I stopped watching and left her alone. I came back fifteen minutes later and she was still struggling with it. The head was completely in her mouth now but sort of sideways in her cheek, if that makes sense. Since I had to go to work, I decided I couldn't leave her like that. So I picked her up and massaged her neck until the fishes head popped back into a straight position. Then I removed the fish with a pair of tweezers, which slid out effortlessly. By the way, this fish was smaller than others she had successfully eaten before.

So my question is: did I do the right thing or did I overreact because of the article I had read the day before? Would she have gotten it down eventually? Has anyone else had experience - bad or good - with tree snakes trying swallow fish backwards?

Thanks in advance,
Nic

 

[NicG]

Bump

 

[cadwallader]

as there has been like 70 veiws and no post i think ill add something?
never feed fish to mine but i breed cichlids and if you stroke them head to tail they are smooth but if you go tail to head there rough so it would be much harder to eat i would think.
not 100% sure on how the snake brakes down there food but he may of found the bone wouldn't follow through smothly so yer i would say it was good you got it out but im not pro?
there has to be other people who want to have a say?

 

[John_lisa]

hey i would agree with cadwallader and i have no idea about feeding the snake and wether it is good or bad to go backwords but when u think about it, it would make more sence for it to go head first rather then backwords due to the last posts answer with the smooth and rough part i would also emagen if it was rough again i have no idea what the fish is and why its so rough but it could also maybe cuz damage to the snakes throught being so rough but as i said i have no idea what type of fish ur feeding it and if its rough cuz its got scayls like a snake or not but that would be my first instinct to take it out that probebly didnt help u but hey lol i hope someone can give u a straght yes or no answer gl

 

[NicG]

Thanks for your replies so far.

Just to clarify, when I feed tree snakes dead fish (those that will take them), then it's always head first. The occasion that I'm referring to (which is the most common form of feeding) is when the snake catches a live fish itself.

 

[cris]

If it was a goldfish it probably would have gone down ok eventually and if it had too much trouble it could easily spit it out. I would have done the same thing you did though, better to be safe than sorry, especially if you have them in together as the other could have started eating it head first and swallowed the other snake which could potentially kill one or both snakes. They often eat rodents backwards too, takes them ages to get down sometimes and you just sit there watching thinking "you idiot".

 

[notechistiger]

They often eat rodents backwards too, takes them ages to get down sometimes and you just sit there watching thinking "you idiot".

:lol:

 

[NicG]

I've seen tree snakes eat rodents backwards before - see photo ...
But this not only took a lot longer (30 mins that I observed - may have been longer than that) the snake also seemed more agitated.

 

[haymista]

do many people feed snakes fish?

 

[NicG]

But this not only took a lot longer (30 mins that I observed - may have been longer than that) the snake also seemed more agitated.

By this, I mean that the backwards-fish-eating took longer than the backward-rodent-eating ...

 

[discomat]

Yeah what about if a snake takes a rodent backwards? Cuse I had my young spotted take a pinky backwards the other day, but before I could do anything about it the pinky was gooone. But pinky's are smooth skinned so probably didn't make much difference right? As long as it's not sideways.

 

[notechistiger]

NicG, without having experience with fish- eating snakes (but with some educated guesses), I imagine that if green tree snakes in the wild ever do take fish (can't remember if they're a natural food source), then so, sometimes they would take them backwards. However, because of spines and like, I imagine that there is a risk that those snakes become injured or worse. I imagine that the argument is similar to using sand for beardeds, or having multiple snakes in the enclosure. Yes, the snake could be fine, but there's always that risk that we, as their responsible owners, should minimalise. In this case, I'd say you were right in removing the fish.

discomat: your snake will be fine. As cris implied beforehand, sometimes they really are idiots

 

[dottyback]

Hey Nic i was doing some thinking..as we know its the dorsal fin that can cause a problem, why not using a sharp pair of scissors trim the dorsal fin off?

 

[BlindSnake]

We don't let ours eat fish backwards for the same reasons in comments above. I have had to take a backward fish out of a GTS mouth before. He didn't want to give it up..

What fish are you feeding them?

 

[mark57]

Not Knowing much about snakes yet as im a newbie,but i have eaten fish before and after the meat goes all the bones are pointing backwards towards the tail..would imagine a fish skeleton would be hard to get down going in backwards.also a lot of fish have spines on pectoral,anal and caudal fins as well as the dorsal fins mentioned above.

 

[cris]

One of mine has other issues :lol:

 

[NicG]

Hey Nic i was doing some thinking..as we know its the dorsal fin that can cause a problem, why not using a sharp pair of scissors trim the dorsal fin off?

How long could the fish survive with the dorsal fin cut off? Can they even swim? At first thought, it seems cruel ... but if you look at it dispassionately, is it really any crueller than allowing them to be hunted and swallowed alive?

We don't let ours eat fish backwards for the same reasons in comments above. I have had to take a backward fish out of a GTS mouth before. He didn't want to give it up...What fish are you feeding them?

Whatever medium sized feeder fish that Amazing Amazon has available. If I have a choice, then I always go for fantails - they chunky bodies makes it easier for me to identify who's eaten. The fish in question was a colourless goldfish.

One of mine has other issues :lol:

Haven't seen that one yet! Did you ever find out what it was trying to accomplish by eating / chewing on the paper? Had it actually torn that section off?

 

[cris]

Haven't seen that one yet! Did you ever find out what it was trying to accomplish by eating / chewing on the paper? Had it actually torn that section off?

A little bit of the paper towel stuck on a rat it was eating, it only ended up with a small bit in its mouth but the rest was still attached and it was crusing around with a paper towel until i took it out. It was already torn like that to start with.

 

[NicG]

Update

Hi guys,

Well, I guess maybe I was overreacting. I witnessed the same tree snake eating another fish backwards, only this time she had far less trouble swallowing it. She had definitely only caught it in the last few minutes and I was only able to glimpse the fish's head briefly before it was completely inside her mouth.

I wasn't quick enough to take a photo of her with the fish head visible, but once I was sure she wasn't in distress, I was able to take a few photos of her swallowing it ... which still took quite a bit longer than a head first meal.

Cheers,
Nic

 

[NicG]

Further Update

Hi guys,

It turns out that I may have been more familiar with tree snakes struggling to eat fish backwards than I originally thought. Over the past year, I've found the occasional fish out of water in their enclosure. I always assumed that the snakes had accidentally dropped it whilst attempting to swallow it. There was always some discolouration that I merely put down to the fish drying out.

I now realize that the discolouration was small cuts and/or bruising caused by a failed attempt to swallow the fish backwards. Eventually the snake had given up and spat it out. If the fish lands in the water, it will most likely get eaten at a subsequent attempt. But the snakes seem to ignore it if lands on dry land.

Cheers,
Nic