How does the snake eat?

If you open the mouth of your beloved boa and take a look inside (which should be done every now and then), you will notice fine teeth that are certainly not suitable for chewing prey.

The teeth of boas serve the purpose of detaining prey and to keep it from escaping.

Boa constrictor sits in a hide spot or on a branch, and waits for a careless prey animal that enters its reach. The snake then strikes with lightning speed, (ideally) grabbing its victim by the head, coiling it, and using an incredible amount of strength to subdue it.

The pressure makes it impossible for the prey animal to breathe. Several factors come to play: the shock of the sudden strike of the snake, the immense pressure on the body, which especially affects the vascular system, and the resulting death by suffocation.

Typical signs for this are the wide opening of the mouth (gasping for breath), the blue-colored tongue (zyanose), and an erection in male rats.

Anyone who has witnessed this once, will (unless there is a tendency to sadism) refrain from feeding live prey animals in the future. But more about this later..

Once the boa does not detect any further signs of life from its victim, it losens its coils and unhooks its teeth from the fur of the prey animal.

After this, the snake flicks its tongue intensively at the prey, which serves the purpose of activating the digestion fluids. In a sense, the snake is salivating at this point.

While some boas enjoy this pleasure of anticipation for a half hour or longer, others begin swallowing the prey right away.