How worried should I be after corn snake unsuccessfully tried to swallow tongs?

[teamcapumon]

Hello! This is a pretty lighthearted topic, but I just want to cover all my bases and make sure there isn’t anything I missed because my snake is a senior citizen and I’d hate for this to be what does him in.

So my wonderful, disabled, elderly corn snake Phantom (who has severe back arthritis and a cataract and has had appetite problems on and off for years) is currently on a big eating spree and I’ve been trying to help him take advantage of it so he’s in good condition next time he’s feeling under the weather. Due to his disabilities I have a habit of sometimes over-helping him with tasks. Tonight, he decided to eat the second half of his dinner butt-first (he has two hoppers despite his size, due to his disabilities) and was really struggling to get his mouth around one of the feet. So I tried to help him by using my tongs to squish the foot closer to the mouse’s body.

What followed was primarily captured on video, but for community guidelines reasons (because…obviously) I’ll summarize: my snake started swallowing (not just biting!) one side of the tongs even as i pulled them away from the mouse. I have experience with snakes accidentally biting tongs, and I do my best not to forcibly pull them out of the snake (although if they’re biting both tongs at once, sometimes in my shock i accidentally separate the tongs and force one or both out anyways) since I know that’s not a safe solution and they’ll let go on their own. …Unfortunately that didn’t apply here!

I had to put my phone down to try and convince him to let go on his own, and i was prepared to grab him and gently pull, but the second i touched his head he let go and whipped around to try and bite my finger. Missed me, and I’ve only ever been bit once before in the nearly 8 years I’ve had him (it was during this period of being a good eater though!), but my reflexes were fast enough to protect me this time lol.

After I got the tongs away from him I politely offered him the mouse again, which he was hesitant to trust at first but eventually decided to. I don’t blame him for being hesitant, but my first assumption was that everything was fine since he ate right after.

Just to be sure though, I wanna check with you guys. Mostly because rewatching the video, I realized just how deep he swallowed the tongs and it alarmed me a bit, because I thought it was bad in the moment and I actually didn’t notice how deep it got and only saw it when it was a little more shallow later. He looked fine and normal after his ordeal and after he ate the rest of his dinner, although I wasn’t really looking too closely for obvious reasons. And I can monitor him over the next few days.

I did a brief google search and the advice I saw was either about snakes refusing food after striking the tongs (not what happened here, there was no strike) or ball pythons mistaking plastic parts like this for heated prey (also not what happened here, I do joke he acts like a ball python but he doesn’t have heat pits). All the advice I saw said just monitor him and leave him be, but they also mentioned the snake not eating afterwards, so I’m not sure if I should be more worried or less because of that.

I’m interested in preventing it in the future of course but honestly, I think the best solution is just “don’t put your tongs half a centimeter away from where your snake is trying to eat and expect them to just know better” - AKA a keeper issue, not a tool one. But I’m willing to listen if anyone has advice to the contrary of course.

This isn’t the first time this specific “feeding spree” (aka period of him being a hungry little bugger lol but im feeding him his normal diet, he’s just eating it all with gusto which is unusual for him) has pushed him to biting something he’s not supposed to. I put my snakes in separate feeding bins because they don’t seem to mind and it eases my fears of impaction due to accidentally ingesting the aspen I keep them on. I just put the entire bin in their cages after I give them their food so they can come out at their leisure. But due to Phantom’s disabilities and one week where he didn’t leave his feeding bin on his own accord, I’ve been picking him up out of the bin since last year. Not something I would recommend anyone do with their snake under any circumstances, but Phantom is a special snake with special needs. Unfortunately for my hand, he is still a snake. He let go, it didn’t hurt, but boy howdy did it give me a laugh. Especially because I got my first ever real bite from my other bite-free snake just a week earlier. Now I use a towel to tell him dinner is over and I’m picking him up but he also bit the towel once (ironically not the first, or even second, time I used the towel trick either!) so I think he’s just a hungry guy. I am rethinking my approach because of the issues with him (and another snake who just has anxiety about being put in containers in general-) but it really doesn’t seem to stress him out at all (obviously if I got a regurg from him or any of my other snakes I would immediately stop bin feeding that individual, but my anxious boy is fine once he stops eating and phantom is…phantom.) so I kinda feel like, if it aint broke dont fix it.

But yeah, advice from you all is appreciated! And hopefully if Phantom checks out in your guys’ eyes you can laugh along with me at this situation because I was absolutely losing it.

Here’s some photos to repay anyone who got this far, since I can’t send the video:

[armiyana]

Omg he’s adorable. Also how old is he? Good on you for working with him and adapting to help him in his old age.
The video might be removed because of the no feedings rule. But I have to say good on you for not having yanking the tongs away.

In this situation I think you did what is best. Pleading while letting him figure out this was not food on his own. If you tried to yank the tongs away that would be far more dangerous than anything he may have done. Sometimes we just need to wait for them to realize the mistakes they made. If this was a situation where he could have swallowed a foreign object then obviously intervention is needed.

At worst, he could have injured a couple of teeth. He could have maybe irritated himself when he tried to swallow it, but that’s about on par with the usual rodent nails or accidentally eaten bedding in my mind.
As long as you monitor him for any swelling from the teeth potentially being an issue, he should be fine. Though honestly, tooth injury can happen for many reasons including just regular eating habits, so don’t feel too bad. It would most likely be just bad luck because of his advanced age.

[caron]

Awwwww! What a precious sweetheart! Kudos to you for caring for him in his twilight years!

[cmsreptiles]

@armiyana covered most of the important things.

I myself have experience (many times, too many lol) with Kingsnakes trying to eat things they absolutely shouldn’t and they always end up being fine.

I’ll add these photos for reference and laughs

baby FLK trying to eat tongs

same baby FLK trying to eat my hand

FLK king trying to eat cardboard piece

FLK trying to eat himself… I think you get the idea

I think he will be ok, me may have some soreness but it might have been more of a confusing ordeal on his end than harmful. I’d just keep an eye on him and see how he does for a little while until its time for his next meal, and monitor his next feeding to see if he has any issues or discomfort.

[caron]

Those pictures are hilarious Christina!

[teamcapumon]

Thank you for the kind words, advice, and reassurance to both Christinas and to Caron! I’m glad to know I did the right thing and barring some accident that could happen to a snake regardless, he should be alright. Always hard to think straight when an old snake starts performing new tricks on you, so I’m glad my in-the-moment thinking was on the right track!

I’m not sure exactly how old he is - all I know is that I adopted him in late 2017 from a now-defunct rescue who told me he was at least 3 (which could be observed, as he was fully grown) and probably more like 5+ years old. So the low estimate is 11, and the more reasonable low estimate is probably 13. I was told he was a program animal for some period of time before being adopted out to me, but I wasn’t allowed to have any information on how long he had been at the rescue or why he was originally surrendered. Seemed fairly standard outside of the timeline being a little odd if he had been a program animal for them at some point, but he did used to have an appetite much more similar to his current one than the one he’s had since entering his twilight years a few years back, where he was a bit pickier with his meals. The rescue also shut down a year or two after I adopted him due to neglect as I believe the owner was having some kind of problem but refused to give over the rescue to the co-owners who were still able to care for the animals. As far as I know the reptiles were all safe but it was a sad situation seeing a cali king I had considered adopting have to be rescued from the place I got Phantom from. Hopefully she got a good home in the end - she looked okay in the news footage I saw and went to a good rescue that fostered out the reptiles, so I doubt she had trouble finding one eventually.

Phantom’s a real hoot though. He’s a sweetheart, but in recent years I’ve had to start warning people who want to hold him because his muscle mass is really poor, so he can’t hold onto you like a normal snake. He’s happy to be cradled like a baby though. He’s also uh, technically not a he…found out the hard way in 2023 when he tried to clone himself and I found a whole nest of eggs (slugs, of course) in his cage. I was told male by the rescue, he was allegedly sexed right in front of me, but uh, I guess not! He’s tried again every year since too - 2024 the eggs were reabsorbed during the treatment for his spine infection that caused his arthritis (poor thing had to be shipped across country right after too because I had to move with my parents, but he seemed happier and more comfortable than my other 3 snakes and was just relaxing in the dish I shipped him in when I opened up the box) and in 2025 he decided to lay another clutch. Of course, both times I took him to the vet in the summer (multiple times in 2024 since he had an infection that needed treatment and monitoring, of course) but this year he apparently passed them all no problem. He hates taking medication and I’ve gotten conflicting information on whether he needs it, but my philosophy is this: the day of (and two days after) the vet appointment where he was diagnosed with his spinal infection, he did a defensive bluff strike (once at my mom, and once at me) which was most likely due to the pain he was in due to his spinal infection. So my perspective on it is that if he starts getting defensive in his cage again, he needs pain control. But if he’s just being his normal self… I think he’d rather have a bit of minor chronic pain than deal with injections (and that was his preferred form of medication). I have my own chronic pain issues and I know that’s what I’d prefer. And clearly that approach is working out for him because right now he’s ravenous! So fingers crossed his arthritis remains tolerable for him, and I just hope I’m doing what he’d want me to do, but I feel like I have as good of an understanding on his wants as any human could (not necessarily the best understanding a human could have of a snake, but I think Phantom is just…a bit odd. He has very silly reactions to things and always has. Corn snakes are already naturally silly creatures but he’s always really embodied goofiness to me. I can never tell if he’s got the brain of a person behind those unfocused eyes, or if he’s just got elevator music playing between them…but probably the latter.) Just providing some backstory in case anyone was curious about my senior citizen. I was ready to say goodbye to him in 2024 (between anxiety about shipping, worries about him becoming eggbound, and worries about his infection) and again in 2025 (because I was worried he’d be eggbound due to his arthritis) but he’s still kicking and seems to be doing pretty well considering how many times I’ve been worried for him. Ironically I also had a scare in summer of 2022 where he was shedding poorly and not eating (he’s been a poor shedder for a while now though, but he enjoys swimming in the tub and is pretty tolerant about me helping him if he starts it and can’t get stuff below his head off. I just use a towel or the palm of my hand, never the fingertips or nails of course. gentle stuff!) but uh. You see, my vet didn’t know he wasn’t a boy because I didn’t either. So my vet tested for fecal parasites, and found some, but they were the kind you don’t treat if the snake is asymptomatic (they were also found in my other snakes in lower quantities, and those snakes were asymptomatic). So Phantom got put on medication to nuke his gut, good bacteria and bad bacteria alike. I think the stress of this caused a pretty horrific shed (he was breathing through his mouth like he had an RI - until he shed. then he was perfectly fine!) and probably the reabsorption of his eggs, which were likely causing the problem in the first place. oops! But now I know better, and he’s getting annual checkups every summer to ensure his health and safety. The last thing I want is for him to die slowly or painfully - whenever he goes I want it to be peaceful. And I’m just glad I still get to have him after all the scares he’s given me.

I adopted him after my first corn snake (pet store snake…lesson learned) passed away at a very young age. I didn’t do a necropsy since she was my only snake at the time and I had already tested for the parasites that can last a long time like cryptosporidium and gotten a negative result. I wanted to try again with an adult snake since I didn’t trust myself to care for another baby only for it to fail to thrive after 2 years again. Now I can happily say I’ve raised 3 more happy, healthy corn snakes past the 3 year threshold thanks to the healing taking care of Phantom provided me with. So he’s a very special little guy to me, and I’m happy to help him for however long he survives. (Although I do hope if he actually is ~13, my snakes will be doing a little better than he is at that age! But I do genuinely suspect he’s much older)

Sorry for the long reply, but yeah, thank you again everyone!

[teamcapumon]

And oh my gosh, what an absolute CUTIE PIE! the cardboard one is hilarious and absolutely precious. Reminds me of the time years ago when I fed Phantom an egg, or when I fed another one of my snakes a small piece of chicken (which I also caught on video…now I’m curious if that would count towards the no animal feeding rule or not, LOL! probably not, unless reptilinks also fall under that restriction, which I dont believe they do.) They get so excited to eat something they normally aren’t allowed to eat! And don’t get me started on how my snakes used to beg and beg at my old house whenever my dad made something with hamburger. They were right next to the kitchen so I don’t blame them, but seriously, hamburger?

Kingsnakes are such absolute goofballs and definitely a species I’ve considered keeping someday in the future, with my only concern being that I have a strict policy of not interacting with my snakes until after I wash my hands after handling a rodent, but uh…with king snakes, they eat snakes, so if you don’t wash your hands after handling other snakes, that could be a problem…LOL. But I’m sure it’d be fine, it’s not like their bites hurt. Maybe someday in the future! It definitely makes me feel better to think about king snakes and how many things they try to eat that they aren’t supposed to LOL, didn’t think about that before but yep that makes sense.

I’ll probably check on him tomorrow in the evening just to give him a once-over and of course monitor his next feeding session. I do think he’ll be going into shed soon so it would suck if that just happens to overlap and he loses his appetite because of that, but that happens. He certainly shows no signs of slowing down right now. Assuming I don’t forget I’ll give an update for you all, but if I do forget you can probably assume no news is good news LOL

Thanks again very much!

[armiyana]

One of my ball pythons once decided to try and take on a cat scratcher. Snakes really can be goofy sometimes

[teamcapumon]

PFFT, what an absolutely adorable goof! While I can definitely understand softer textures (and/or warmer surfaces in the case of a python like yours) confusing a snake, I guess in a way that’s better better than them chewing on metal. Or themselves. Probably.

[snakes_of_shadowlake]

Glad to hear Phantom seems to be recovering well and has helped you heal from the worry you’re going to fail at corn snakes. It seems like you have a really special bond with him! He’s/SHE seems like a sweetie.

[teamcapumon]

Right on cue I forgot to update just like I said I would. And right on cue phantom is acting hesitant to eat while being significantly deeper in blue then he was last week, which usually messes with his appetite. D’oh! But he did eat one of the two mice he gets for dinner and opened his mouth nice and big for me after, although the angle wasn’t great so I could only see one side. Still, he looked good from what I could see! So it seems like he’s doing well like you all assumed he would be. Thank you all again for your wisdom!