Aussie Pythons and Snakes

Jaksar · #1 13-Oct-03, 10:38 AM

My little costal just fed for the first time since I got him!

As suggested I left him alone for about a week to get used to his new enclosure then this morning I took him out, put him on a piece of newspaper, wiggled that pinkie in front of his nose and BAMM! He snapped, wrapped and gobbled it down

It was completely fascinating. I've never watched a snake consume its prey in real life before and it was totally amazing to see him coil around it and slowly work it down.

One thing that caught me by surprise was as soon as he had swallowed the food and it had gone down a bit past his jaw he became a little aggressive and was striking and lashing out. Is this common behaviour after they have fed or would it be more to do with him still being so young and wary?

NCHERPS · #2 13-Oct-03, 11:24 AM

Jaksar,
This is common behaviour, as snakes gets into a bit of a frenzy when there is food about, he was probably looking for more food(Not saying you should feed him more!) when he struck out.
This is why that it is a good idea to take him out from the viv as you have done, as they then don't strike at you as soon as you open the viv door thinking....FOOD TIME!!!
You've done everything correctly, and welcome to a world which I am sure will become more and more fascinating to you.

Once your snake has eaten, carefully put him back into his viv and leave him alone for a hour or so, so he is not disturbed by you looking in, as he will then associate you and food as one, and sometimes this leads to probs.

Cheers,
Neil

Gregory · #3 13-Oct-03, 11:40 AM

My opinion is that it feels somewhat threatened outside on the paper after having just fed. It's not absolutely out of the question to feed inside their enclosure regardless of people's thoughts that it will associate the opening of the enclosure as "meal time". This in my opinion is a mistaken belief. I feed all of my snakes inside their enclosures and have never been bitten mistakenly. I reckon they know when food is at hand.
You need to let it settle after feeding and the less times you move it the better it will be.

Fangs · #4 13-Oct-03, 11:54 AM

Ditto Greg.
We feed all ours inside their enclosures as well.We have fed them both ways but decided to go that way for convenience.It was taking far too long at feed time taking them all out and feeding them.
The benefits for us have been feedtime is much quicker and now we have no problem feeders which is a bonus.I also think they can tell the diff between food and keeper but whatever works for you is what you should stick with.

cheers M.........

NCHERPS · #5 13-Oct-03, 01:22 PM

Greg and others,
I didn't want to mislead anyone on here regarding feeding inside or outside of a viv, I too have done both, and found through experience that when you have a lot of snakes it can be impracticle to feed each snake outside of their viv's, I did used to use feeding boxes outside of the viv's, which were kept inside one of my viv rooms so as to keep them warm.
I have also personally found that on occasion individuals did exhibit reflex feeding charectoristic's from being fed inside there viv's and this can lead to unwarranted aggression on occasion from just opening a viv door, but each snake is an individual.

As Jaksar had mentioned that he was feeding his snake outside his viv, I merely wanted to convey to him that it was not anything that he has done to make his snake strike out at him, yes it may as you have said felt threatened after just having eaten, but I have not found this personally, I feel that it may have been just simply that the snake was hungry for more, either way, I wanted to convey to Jaksar that it is not unusual for snakes, particularly youngsters to act that way, which is what I did.
As Jaksar has one snake I feel that as time goes on he/she will learn so much about snakes, and when where and how to feed , clean/keep etc...

So, sorry if anyone thought my original post of anything other than personal advice to a newby keeper who has one snake and has obviously been told by someone prior to feed outside of the viv.

Thank God for personal opinions, the world would be a dull place if everyone agreed on every little thing!

PS Sorry for the war and peace post ! LOL!

Gregory · #6 13-Oct-03, 01:41 PM

Hey Neil, my post wasn't directed towards you at all. No offence was implied. Just my opinion.

NCHERPS · #7 13-Oct-03, 02:10 PM

Hi Greg,
Ok mate , no worries!
I thought that I should clarify it anyway, as I may not have been clear in my first post.
Cheers
Neil

ReptileRascals · #8 13-Oct-03, 02:25 PM

I have had a similar experience with an animal that associated the opening of the viv to feeding.As a good rule of thumb I use a snake hook on all species including hatchlings (imprint on them at an early age) prior to handling or removing them,as I too feed inside their enclosures.It is my opinion that by doing this they then associate the hook with playtime and a romp out in the sunlight,or relocation to a temporary container so I can clean their enclosures.I find this also helps contribute to well mannered snakes,and is much safer in general.
(safety of the animal is a high priority).

Stevethepom · #9 13-Oct-03, 02:55 PM

i have ben fed in my encloser for many years, and i`m quite a happy chappy if i do say so myself

but yeah i have allways fed in the encloser, had a few feed response bites but have allways had either a rat or mouse in me hand...

frodo · #10 13-Oct-03, 03:03 PM

yeah i got my coastal last week and he feed on sunday.
Ive heard that juvi pythons can be a bit snappy, mine hasnt even looked like bitting am i lucky or is this not true?

NCHERPS · #11 13-Oct-03, 03:33 PM

Frodo,
Remember, like us all snakes are individuals, that's why it is sometimes so hard to respond to a question or thread on here, and be 100% certain what you are describing in your words on here is actually what the respondent thinks it is, however some snakes are aggressive from birth and never calm down, others are good as youngsters and turn as something upsets them, i.e. stress from banging on glass of viv etc..
Others are calm and tame all their lives, some might say it's luck, I think that has something to do with it, but as you keep more and more you realise that as they get older , the way you are towards them and how you keep them has more of a part to play in it.
Love those Coastal's.

Neil

africancichlidau · #12 13-Oct-03, 09:52 PM

Quote:

but have allways had either a rat or mouse in me hand...

You SURE that's all you've had in ya hand Stevie Boy?!?!?!?!

Stevethepom · #13 13-Oct-03, 10:05 PM

pmsl, yeah...honest

NoOne · #14 13-Oct-03, 11:01 PM

I feed all mine in enclosures, always have and i only have 2 snakes that i consider to be snappy. I think if a snakes is going to be snappy as an adult it will be, sometimes it's out of our control. There are things that can make it worse.
I've raised snakes from the same clutch, exactly the same way, one turned out placid the other was a monster.

The only snakes in my collection that i didn't want to be snappy were my olives thankfully they ain't. I can handle the odd bite from a snappy snake.

James · #15 15-Oct-03, 01:59 PM

I use a small hook and bucket for feeding my pair of stimson's

Once they go in the bucket they know its dinnertime.

The male strikes at anything that moves when he is in the bucket when he is not in the bucket he is placid and would not hurt a fly.

I think I got the bucket idea from Nicole :wink: