Cobras as with all snakes are not too fussy about what they are going to eat. Though occasionally cobras will eat prey that is a little big and regurgitate the meal within the following 12 hours. As cobras are opportunistic feeders, anything they impulsively decide is going to be lunch, more often than not is.
Obvious prey items are rodents, such as mice and rats which congregate in food rich areas. Cobras have become wise to this and lurk in cover until an unsuspecting rodent strolls past. Cobras will also eat lizards and other snakes too.
As the cobra is a venomous species, they do not strike and constrict their prey to death, a cobra will strike and aim to get at least one of the two top fangs to penetrate the skin and inject the venom. The snake then begins to track the direction they went until the victim is unable to fight against the cobras fast acting venom any longer. Most cobra’s species venom is very fast acting for the sized prey they eat, less than 2 minutes before the prey is not able to move any further.
Cobras will eat their food whole, using the reclined teeth the push the rodent down their throat. Once swallowed, a cobra will use its many body muscles to push the rodent down to the stomach.
Cobras Catch Sun After Eating?
Snakes sunbathe? Yes, this is for good reason. As snakes are cold blooded, they need to regulate their own temperature. The interesting part is when a snake basks in the sun and warms up, their digestion and metabolism speed up significantly. The extra heat from the sun will increase the digestion process by days. This also means when a snake is hungry and looking for a meal, it will seek more shade as it wants to slow this process down.
Digestion time before needing to poop varies widely on the size of the meal, as the cobras stomach acids need to break the food down. Typically, 3 – 5 days after eating a cobra will relieve themselves of the meal and begin the hunt cycle once again.
Why Cobras Hunt After Every Meal?
This makes the cobra and other snakes seem like demons, but this is far from the truth, they go straight back to hunting because the next meal that is successful is not guaranteed in the following days, weeks or even months. Cobras must stock up as soon as they are able. In colder months finding food is troublesome.
When a food source is lacking and a snake has not eaten for an extended period of time, they will try to use as little energy as possible. This partially explains why so many snakes are primarily ambush predators and do not chase their prey.
A cobra or snakes’ body has intelligently adapted to the long food-dry times, when the last meals nutrients have been absorbed and used. A snake’s muscles keep a reserve that can release slowly and keeping them going for months after.
Do cobras Eat Humans?
This is where people get confused and because of their confusion kill these amazing snakes in the wild. A cobra will avoid any confrontation that it does not plan on having as its next meal. They are well aware they are unable to eat a human so avoid us at all costs.
So why do people get bitten by cobras? As we previously went through, snakes are ambush predators and hide themselves brilliantly. Humans or other big creatures sometimes accidently stand on the snake, which forces a react to protect itself.
Now if it is out in the open, why not try and get away from us? Cobras and all snakes are smart, they understand if they are able to outrun the confrontation or not. If they snake thinks you will catch it, it again forces them to stand their grow whilst you past or attempt to attack.
If you are not convinced, next time you watch a cobra or any snake show, please record it and show us one clip of a snake that has actively come towards a human and provoked an attack, we would love to see it!
Anything more information you would like to know, we would love to write about it or answer questions!
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