Feeder size limit reached? (Corn feeding)

[Cirith Ungol]

I fed my baby corn its first baby rat today. Now I'm wondering how close the snake came to its limits of being able to maximize the gape.

I observed that the snake slid the top of its head horizontally over the feeders back but the lower jaw stood open in a 90 degree angle (vertical to the feeder).
To me that signals that it couldn't possibly open its mouth any further than that and that I was lucky that the snake managed.

But is that a wrong conclusion or does the lower jaw stand in a 90 degree angle even with smaller feeders? The rat was about 2x as wide as the snakes head.

 

[LHP]

Due to the stretchable nature of its lower jaw that is a pretty standard head/jaw alignment. A good rule of thumb that I use is to feed it prey that are just a little bit wider than the snake's body at the widest point (that's a maximum suggestion...no harm in feeding it multiple smaller prey items). Of course, often times with tiny hatchling this guideline is thrown right out the window.


Lindsey