How do vipers eat mice? - briefly
A viper strikes, injecting hemotoxic venom that rapidly immobilizes the mouse. It then coils around the prey and uses strong jaw and throat muscles to swallow it whole.
How do vipers eat mice? - in detail
Vipers capture prey through a rapid, precision strike that delivers venom into the mouse’s circulatory system. The fangs, hinged to allow deep penetration, inject a cocktail of neurotoxins and hemotoxins that immobilize the animal within seconds and begin breaking down tissue.
Once the mouse is incapacitated, the snake releases its grip and aligns the prey head‑first with its mouth. The flexible ligaments of the lower jaw separate, enabling the oral cavity to expand dramatically. Muscular contractions generate a suction force that draws the rodent into the throat, while the elongated, recurved teeth prevent backward movement.
Swallowing proceeds in a wave-like motion: the upper and lower jaws alternately advance, pulling the prey further down the esophagus. Internal cartilage and the quadrate bone provide additional stretch, allowing the snake to accommodate prey several times larger than its head.
After ingestion, the stomach secretes highly acidic gastric juices and proteolytic enzymes. The venom’s enzymes complement digestion by liquefying muscle and connective tissue, turning the mouse into a nutrient‑rich broth. The stomach walls rhythmically contract, mixing the contents and gradually moving them into the intestine, where absorption of amino acids, lipids, and minerals occurs.
Key stages of the feeding process:
- Rapid envenomation and immobilization
- Alignment and head‑first positioning of the prey
- Jaw expansion and suction‑driven ingestion
- Peristaltic transport through the esophagus
- Gastric digestion aided by venom‑derived enzymes
- Intestinal absorption of nutrients
The entire sequence, from strike to nutrient uptake, can span from a few minutes for small rodents to several hours for larger specimens, reflecting the snake’s ability to adjust digestive effort to the size of the meal.