During the feeding phase, the snake performed a smaller number of mandibular retractions. when preying on the semi-slug than on the snail. The time lengths of the post-feeding phase in predations of the snail and semi-slug did not significantly differ from each other .
FIGURE 3. Removal of mucus remains by mouth-rub behavior. (A) Before mouth-rub. A mass of mucus remains on the left upper jaw. (B) After mouth-rub. No mucus remains visible on the same snake.
The total time length over the three phases for predation was longer with the snail than that with the semi-slug (Table 4). The proportions of time consumption for the three phases depended on the prey type as follows. The proportion for the pre-capture phase was larger with the semi-slug (59.7%) than with the snail (14.5%) (Fig. 4). The relative length of the feeding phase was, however, smaller with the semi-slug (4.4%) than with the snail (45.5%) The proportions of the post-feeding phase in time length were not significantly different between these prey types.