Why Did This Snake Eat Its Own Tail?

If you think that dogs chasing their own tails are fascinating, the snake in this YouTube video clip will blow your mind! It features a speckled kingsnake that has swallowed its own tail. What’s more, it has not just swallowed a bit—almost half of its body is in its mouth! Take a look for yourself and then read how this could have happened and how it was rescued by some hand sanitizer!

Snakes Swallowing Their Own Tails

Speckled kingsnakes are commonly kept as pets, but in the wild they are found in the central and southern United States from southern Iowa to the Gulf of America. They like moist habitats around swamps and rivers, but can also be found in woodlands and grassy fields. As you can see in the clip, they have a uniformly cylindrical body, so their head and neck are the same girth as their body. They are predominantly black with speckles of yellow and white spots. These snakes are not venomous and kill their prey by constriction. They are opportunistic and skilled hunters. Their diet consists of small mammals such as mice and shrews, birds, and birds’ eggs. More importantly for interpreting this video is the fact that they also eat other snakes. This individual mistook its own tail for its next meal!

Because its jaws are flexible and loosely hinged, it can fit quite large objects into its mouth. Then, the muscles in the walls of its esophagus contract to push the food down. Undulations of their spine also help move the food along. The snake swallowed its own tail as far as it could, but because it was attached to its body, it would go no further. It was stuck in a circle! Sometimes snakes are more likely to do this when they are stressed because their enclosure or other aspects of their habitat are not suitable. This behavior often occurs because of underfeeding or overheating. On other occasions, it is simply a case of mistaken identity.

Saved by Regurgitation

If snakes expel their food before it reaches their stomach, it is called regurgitation. They will do this if they are startled because they want to empty their stomachs so that they can get away. No one can move fast when they have just eaten a huge meal! In this case, the snake was encouraged to regurgitate its meal by applying some hand sanitizer. The alcohol was highly irritating and startled the snake enough to make it release its tail. This is a very stressful experience for the snake and should only be done by a qualified person in an emergency. The good news is that this snake survived the ordeal and can be seen in another clip taken several years later.