Snake in a bind after eating its own tail
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By Claire Bates
Last updated at 4:08 PM on 01st December 2009
A pet snake got itself in a bit of a bind after it mistook its own tail for a tasty dinner.
Reggie the King snake soon realised his mistake after chomping down on his back end but then couldn't release himself after his teeth had taken hold.
Luckily the hungry reptile's owner arrived on the scene before the snake began to digest its own body, and rushed him to the vet.
'Its backward facing teeth were acting like a ratchet,' vet Bob Reynolds from Faygate, West Sussex told the Mail Online.
'The snake had also dislocated its jaw in its attempt to get its mouth around the tail and this isn't easy to reverse.'
Mr Reynolds was able to gently untangle Reggie by prising its jaws open a little wider and sliding the teeth off the flesh using a probe. The whole operation took only half an hour.
'I have never seen a case like it, although I have head about it happening,' the reptiles expert said.
'There is a temptation for a snake-eater like this one to lunge at its own tail, especially if kept in a small enclosure. They can't spread themselves out and think their tails are another snake.'
Luckily the tip of the 18-year-old snake's tail hadn't entered its stomach so it hadn't come to any harm. All Reggie was left nursing was perhaps wounded pride.
King snakes range from southern Canada down to South America. They can grow up to seven feet and live up to 20 years in the wild, but can live much longer as pets.
The constrictors hunt a variety of prey from rodents to birds and other snakes... and at times even themselves.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ting-tail.html
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