Aussie Pythons and Snakes

Camo · #1 26-Sep-06, 10:53 AM

Hey all,

My murray darling girl is not eating and it is starting to worry me. This is how her feeding has gone ok. You will notice her last feed there is a gap of about 4 weeks ansd the feed on the 8/9 she was helped a litttle bit by me. Now she has not eaten since the 8/9 so i guess you could say if it was not for me she would not of eaten at all on the 8/9. She is about 50cm in size and i feed her fuzzy mice. I have tried to piercing the mouse head, leaving the mouse in the cage over night. Everything. How do i get her to feed again. I thought it might of been due to the fact that she might of been shedding but she shed a week ago and still does not want to touch her food. She looks like she is loosing her weight. I have live mice do you think i should try her on live mice. I dont want to get her addicted to live food but. Any help i would greatly appreciate.

4/5
12/5
1/6
8/7
13/7
18/7
23/7
28/7
2/8
7/8
8/9

Thanks

Cameron

triptych_angel · #2 26-Sep-06, 11:01 AM

How old is she? I wouldnt be too worried as 8/9 isnt that long ago, not even a month.

Moreliaman · #3 26-Sep-06, 11:03 AM

There's usually an underlying problem as to why a snake wont feed or has an irregular feeding pattern.....9 times out of 10 it's environmental.
So some information on your set-up would be useful.

DO NOT FEED LIVE FOOD !!!! A mouse or rat can kill a snake !!

Camo · #4 26-Sep-06, 11:20 AM

Hey,

She is going on about 8 months old now. Her boyfriend is over the 2ft mark now. He is so much bigger than her. Yeah 8/9 is not long ago but what about the period before the 8/9.

Ok sorry about the specifics. She is in a tub about 40cm long x 30cm wide x 15cm high. She has a heat mat at one end and a constantly filled water bowl for her. She has a hide in there with her. The temperature is fine and there is plenty of moisture getting to the enclosure. I spray them weekly to help with shedding and just to keep them hydrated.

I know feeding live is bad and i have never done it i was just asking if she will not eat frozen would the next best thing to do be to feed her live. Can a tiny fuzzy mice actually bite her. There eyes are not even opened yet.

Cheers

Cameron

junglesrus · #5 26-Sep-06, 11:29 AM

Hey, also that looks like a heavy feeding pattern, every 5 days,
don't stress to much, wait till she has a good dump, you have to rememer what you feed them in a month they not might get in 3 months in the wild,

also as moreliaman has stated, any changes to the habitate or temprature changes contributes to 90percent of snakes to stop feeding, old saying if it is not broke don;t fix it, so have a think about anything you may have changed or done in that time period and reverse it,

Darin

whiteyluvsrum · #6 26-Sep-06, 11:50 AM

i would'nt worry too much, she's probably just flexing out. you dont need to feed her every 5 days anyway. my scrubby lives in an outdoor aviary with a small basking lamp and he dosnt eat up to 4 months during the cooler times of the year.

pythoness · #7 26-Sep-06, 11:57 AM

She's fine hun, i had one that didn't eat for a few months. She might just not be hungry.
Give her a couple of weeks and try again, however keep an eye on her and note any changes in behaviour, keep us posted, and good luck

Pythoninfinite · #8 26-Sep-06, 12:21 PM

Hi Camo,

Don't worry and don't feed live. The snake is about 50cm long... and it has been fed frequently since you got it, often as much as every 5 days. That's a great deal of food for a little guy to consume, and it has probably just got to the stage where it's not hungry. The weight-loss you think you are seeing is probably just due to your anxiety. These guys can go 4-5 months without appreciable loss of condition, sometimes longer, and they often do it for no reason we understand.

The seasonal change from winter to warmer weather sometimes brings on behavioural changes for no apparent reason, and indiffernce to food is often one of those quirks. What you should do is just leave it for 3-4 weeks without offering any food at all (be assured this will do it NO harm at all) and when the first warm nights start happening and the snake looks alert and interested, offer some food. If you keep pressuring the snake with food when it's not interested, you may cause a bit of habitual resistance to happen brought on by your constant stressing of her with food. It will begin to see food/feeding as a negative, rather than a positive experience.

By the way, for a 50cm carpet, I would be offering large weaner or small adult mice, a fuzzie mouse is a bit too small for a snake that size, and carpet babies often like a largish (but not huge) meal.

Hope this helps!

Jamie.

tan · #9 26-Sep-06, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by whiteyluvsrum

i would'nt worry too much, she's probably just flexing out. you dont need to feed her every 5 days anyway. my scrubby lives in an outdoor aviary with a small basking lamp and he dosnt eat up to 4 months during the cooler times of the year.

Welcome to a fellow townsvillian!
Camo,
Its a nerve wrecking time, I just went throught the same thing with one of mine(3 months) but with the reassurance of the nice people on here I got through it and she ate yesterday, turns out she promoted herself to fuzzies - no more pinkies for this big girl

. I'd monitor her condition and if you think she is going downhill fast, I'd go to the vet. Good Luck!!

Magpie · #10 26-Sep-06, 01:40 PM

Camo, has she been crapping? They cannot lose weight unless they are crapping (unless dehydrated of course). She last ate on the 8/9? 18 days ago? There is no way she has lost weight in that time, some of my snakes, even juvies only get fed that often or less all the time.
Don't even worry about it at all unless she goes 3 months without food.

Mangles · #11 26-Sep-06, 02:50 PM

I have two 18 month old coastals, and one went almost 4 months through winter without feeding. I even took her to the vet just to double check that she was okay. Over the past 5 weeks she has eaten twice and refused food twice. The weather here has now really heated up and every night at dusk she is out seemingly looking for food, so I will try here again shortly and hopefully she will be on her way again.

When compared to my other Coastal of the same age who fed virtually right through the winter she looks very skinny, but in reality is just the same size as she was 4 months ago. It really gives you an idea of how quickly they grow if feeding.

I would not be worried about 18 days just yet.

Moreliaman · #12 27-Sep-06, 07:57 AM

I was going to say....ive had young royal pythons go without food for 11 months.....& ive heard of some snakes going longer than that, Yours has eaten 5 times in 1 month....so i dont think you have much to worry about.

rascal779 · #13 27-Sep-06, 07:02 PM

to help you feel better camo
My BHP's havent fed for 8 months.

They had a big move in climate and are just starting to look interested in food again.
Dont stress.

6ftPython · #14 27-Sep-06, 07:15 PM

Yeah Camo,

I am having the same prob, I got my MD from a reputable member of this site, and he had fed her quite a bit, but since i've had her, she's only fed once. Everyone keeps saying it's cool, so that's what i'm going with. Good luck tho, let me know if you have any sucess.

Camo · #15 27-Sep-06, 10:37 PM

Hey,

Thanks all for the helpful replies. There has been no changes to her enclosure or surroundings. I guess it is more me stressing because i want her to grow healthy. My main concern would be the male is charging on in size and she still looks small. Maybe i will leave her for 2 weeks and wait for the nights to warm up and give her a feed then. I was told it is good to feed juvies every 5 or so days and then when they are 1 year old feed them every week or so.

Thanks all.

Cameron