Cannibal Python

[capricious]

My 3 year old female carpet ate her 2 year old flatmate!
There is NO POSSIBLE WAY he could have escaped and she's got a decent bulge in her belly and was told that they would be fine housed together.

Has anybody else had this happen?

I feed them on defrosted rats seperately and often so there's no way she could have been hungry and she's never shown agression to people or anything, she even takes her food gently without striking.

I've kept the pair housed together now for well over a year, without any problems, no change in enclosure temps, feeding schedule or anything to tempt her to eat him, why would she do this
I don't even want to keep her any more !!!!!

[Belle~Belinda]

Wow, thats strange.......Have you checked that there are no places the snake could of gotten out of? How big is the female and how big is the male?
Does the female have any injuries on her? if she does it's possible she did eat him, as he would've put up a fight and left some nasty wounds. If not she's probably swollowed some substrate or something...See if anything is missing from the enclosure ( that happened to mine once......i thought she ate my male. I found him 2 days later on top of the oven : ) if she dosent have injuries on her take a look at this site http://allsands.com/Pets/findlostsnake_rgd_gn.htm


P.S if you really dont want to keep her.....I'll buy her?

[Brodie]

I have heard this happening with Death Adders, but that was when they tried to grab the same mouse at the same time.
Cheers

[capricious]

Nothing is missing and there's no chance of either escaping, air vents are intact and the door was still locked shut. That was the first thing I looked for this morning, thinking he might have escaped.
I've always kept them on newspaper, no other movable objects available for consumption, she's definitely eaten him.
She's about 6 feet in length, maybe a little longer and he was slightly smaller and skinnier, about 4 and a half feet or more in length.
I can't see any injuries on her either.

[africancichlidau]

Sounds to me that you are correct in thinking he's been eaten. Pythonss has had some experience of this I believe maybe you should have a chat with him?

[Nicole]

Commiserations.
Some people swear by the one animal per enclosure rule, I guess this unfortunate happening is why.

A sure fire way of finding out is to conduct an autopsy on the living female.Its an easy procedure,simply use a scapel or razor to open its stomache and check the contents.Snakes are a hardy animal and dont even need anestetic. Kidding of course!.

Its foolish to keep 2 species together with a deffinate size differance,even if they are not known as a canabalistic species.The differences in girth between your 4 foot 2 year old and your 6 foot 3 year old would of been hugeeee! Id think we would be looking at a snake that is roughly 4 foot long and 40mm round the waist housed with another that is 6 foot long and 90mm around the waist.IMHO im suprised they lasted a year together before the unevitable happened.

[Artie]

Yeah, I reckon she's been eaten too!

Fiona (Diamondlady) had a similar problem a few weeks ago with her two coastals.
Wasn't sure how one could have escaped either and thought it would have been consumed.

Unfortunately she hasn't come back to us to let us know any more.

My suggeston at the time was, to have the snake x rayed, if it's still early days and you really want to know. Just maybe, there is a small possibility, for an escape.

Cheers Artie

[capricious]

I debated whether or not I should post this ..

I've noted discussions stating newbies feel intimidated and fearful of attacks by those more experienced on this forum and therefore do not post questions they otherwise might. With people like cyber_crimes posting it's obvious why they feel like this.

[Brodie]

I am sorry that you feel that wasy about CC's post but he is merely stating his opinion. That aside you should really listen to his advice he is definetly one of the most experianced people on this site/
Cheers

PS

was told that they would be fine housed together

If this is true then dont feel bad it is not your fault!

[Stevethepom]

cyber isnt really having a go at you (at least i dont think so), rather the person who told you it was ok to keep a 6ft snake with a 4ft snake, this is uncommon practise with snakes as a general rule. no males should be kept together, diff species, or significantly differently sized snakes,

dont feel intimidated, if you didnt know this before you do now..tis all a learning process....but IMO, slap the person about a bit who told you it was fine to keep them together :wink:

Cheers
STP

My thread posted was nothing more than my opinion on housing 2 differently sized snakes together.There is no attack of your character as such in any part of my post.I simply stated IMO there was a huge size difference between the 2 and im suprised they lasted together as long as they did.

Was it the humour involved that you couldnt handle?
I'm sure common sense tells you that I don't really expect you to take my advice.If not the "just kidding" remark should pursuade you into NOT performing an autopsy on your snake...

[capricious]

The length difference between the male and female was a foot and a half. Sometimes it was difficult for me to pick the difference between the two unless both were extended on the floor.

Humour aside for a moment!
My opinion is it was an accident on your part.
However it was more than foolishness from the person that told you it'd be alright.IMO this person was either a nobody that has no experience with reptiles or he is just plain ignorant to the care and housing requirements as such.Either way he gave you advice that sacrificed the life of one of your animals.With this said I hope you continue to use APS forums to educate yourself responsibly on the hobby.My suggestion to you would be seek a reputable keeper/breeder that has a good name and get information from that person in future.Don't feel bad about yourself,you simply made an easy mistake of listening to the wrong person (hell I've done so many times).But in all honesty The best place for information is right here at APS.Apart from the odd laugh here and there from the more socially adequate people such as myself,there is also alot of seriousness in the posts,articles etc.You should join the chat room one evening,we get alot of good topics talked about in there at times.

PS
Im sorry you felt that way about my post.
Again nothing against yourself,more the advice you were given.
Also dont take to harshly to my opening statement,as a few of us members here like to joke around and have a laugh.I usually start with a joke then underneath give a serious reply.All in good fun.I guess you being reasonably new to APS my humour may have came off as sarcasm etc.Wasn't my idea to sound belittling or degrading,just wanted to share my opinion with you that will hopefully help you in the future.

[Slateman]

Cyber you are tough nut and i am sure that you did not meant to upset anybody, but if i would lose pet as Capricious did, i would not appreciate your humor at all. I remember when my Georgina was stolen, i did not feel to have this type fun.

Capricus is not possible somebody took your snake?
I am sorry for your loss and i understand that you must be upset.
But don't be upset with cybre, he is just being not sensitive enough. He is not bad person and i am sure that he did not meant to attack you.