Our Coastal isn't eating.

[Bouncer]

Hi there folks. I've just joined and have been reading the forums. You seem like a friendly bunch and know what your talking about as well.
My husband and I have had our Coastal Carpet Python for just under a year. She (well I think she) was one year old this month. We have had no problem with her at all but all of a sudden she is refusing to eat. Normally she gets 2 large mice every week. But in the last three weeks, she has only taken one and that was two weeks ago. I think it may have something to do with the fact we moved her from her first home and into a bigger enclosure. We moved all her accessories with her. She hasn't shed for four weeks either.
We also have two Stimpsons Pythons and two Childrens Pythons and they are all going great.
Any idea's? My hubby is worried sick about his baby.

Welcome Bouncer,It sounds like its very well fed,i would not worry about it missing afew feeds.Sometimes snakes wont eat in larger enclosures,especially young ones, cause they feel more safe,secure and snug in the smaller enclosure.Provide it with snug hides on the warm and cool end of the enclosure.Provide it with a thermal gradient.sometimes in summer it will get very hot even in the house so snakes need to be able to find a cooler retreat.Hope that may help.

[Greebo]

Hi Bouncer. I loved your work on Neighbours!

Do you feed in or out of the enclosure?
How big is the snake? Now might be a good time to get him onto rats instead of mice.

[Bouncer]

I'm glad you watched it Greebo, lol.
We feed outside the enclosure, but lately have tried feeding her inside to see if it makes a difference. She is just over a metre long now. We've offered her rats but she won't touch them. We'll keep offering them before mice though. She will come down, sniff the mouse and as soon as it moves she coils up and hides as if she's frightened of it.
Thanks for the welcome oldfella. As I just said, she is always fed outside anyway. She has plenty of hiding holes, but since we put her in the bigger enclosure, she spends her time right up along the ledge above the sliding glass doors.

[instar]

dont sweat it, two weeks is nothing to worry about. probly stress from moving, provide adequate hides as mentioned and try again in another two weeks, try not to handle too much, let it settle in.

How big is the enclosure you have moved her to?

I tried to move my female coastal (of nearly the same size) to a bigger enclosure and she did the same thing with not eating ect. I moved her back to the enclosure she was in and she ate the same day!!!! I think she might not be ready for the bigger enclosure just yet. But if you really want to move her to something bigger, make sure its only about double the size of the previous enclosure she was in, then give her time to settle in, when you see her moving around the enclosure checking the place out, try and feed her then, you will be surprised!!!!

Cheers, Alan.

[angelrose]

and as soon as it moves she coils up and hides as if she's frightened of it.

Hi Bouncer and welsome to the site, you dont need to worry about her not eating just yet, at her ager she could easily go 3 months without a problem. i am a little concerned that you are feeding her live food, she has every right to be frightened if this is the case, try a thawed rat, with a mouse rubbed on it, or even if you can get her to eat a mouse soon, try 1 mouse then 1 fuzzy rat as a chaser, if you think the larger enclosure is stressing her out, try moving her back to the smaller one, is she showing any other unusalu behaviours since you moved her, how big is this new enclosure and does she have plenty of huiding holes? Tell hubby there is nothing to worry about just yet.

Angel

[instar]

Im assuming , given bouncer has Stimsons and childrens aswell, that they have some idea what they are doing. They didnt actually say they fed live, could be meaning, "when we move it ,it gets scared etc" That said live is genrally frowned on unless absolutly ness. Size of the new enclosure as pointed out is/can be a factor of stress caused by insecurity, but if its not huge, it may just be the new surroundings, needs to settle in some. Another factor is, have you moved it to an area of higher traffic, more activity, like loungeroom from elsewhere? This will also factor in disturbance, and may cause cessation of eating for a while. Either way, give it atleast a week,
be sure the gradient/temps are ok, dont disturb to much and try feeding again.
If its not exploring its new place within a week or feeding again, consider returning it to its original home and after a few days try again.
You will discover what works best for you and your snake. Best wishes and Welcome.

[Dragonlady1969]

Hi Bouncer, welcome!, I am very new to the site myself and have been welcomed warmly. If it is any concilation, I too have found myself with a finicky snake. I wouldn't worry, but do agree about geting onto rats the way Angelrose suggested. We have a bredli, a darwin and a stimsons, and have aquired another darwin aout 2 months ago, she has only fed once in that time. I suspect that she has been either fed live (I shudder) or she has just had her feed chucked in and left overnight where she thinks she can just feed at her leisure and take when she wants (she has not got that option here in our household! lol) So I am taking the firm view for the next couple of weeks to offer, for about half an hour at jiggling, then taking away, she misses out. I hope she learns quickly. I may even try the rubbing a mouse bit, just in case she has been on mice. Everyone has wonderful ideas for you, so I a sure she will come around. Good Luck

[SnakeWrangler]

Hey Bouncer,

I recently moved my coastal to a larger enclosure, I done what has been suggested here before. I placed his old enclosure (click clack) inside the newly setup enclosure (bigger click clack by 3x) and just left the lid off, I never seen him even looking interested in leaving his old enclosure for almost 2 days and that was with the lid off all the time, I waited until I noticed him actually resting (coiled up in a corner, rather than exploring) outside of his old enclosure before removing it. I never had any problems with him refusing food or anything like that. Might be worth a try if you continue to have trouble.

In my very limited experience, I would agree that the most likely problem would be stress from the change, snakes that eat well don't usually stop eating for no reason, it is a good indication that your snake is not happy. Even though it could go quite a while without eating, I understand your worry, I cannot stand the thought of my snakes missing a meal, unless they are getting ready to shed of course. Good Luck!

Cheers.

[Bouncer]

Thank You everyone. All our enclosures are in the same room. But the new one for Slinky is about 3 times bigger than her old one, so from reading here and other threads I think it's best we move her back to her old one. Get her back into a routine and then maybe upgrade her to the middle sized one we have.
Slinky does eat live, she's the only one of all our snakes who does. She refuses thawed but again, I have been reading the forums here and found some useful advice to try and get her onto frozen.
I'll let you all know how we go and Thanks again.

[instar]

Good luck Bouncer

[angelrose]

Hey Bouncer, i have a bredli who refused all except live for a long time but i was terrified offering it to her everytime, it really is just too big a risk as i have recently seen some horrible photos on this site. One of the easiest ways to get onto dead, as far as my experience goes, is to start off with a live mouse/rat, killing it immediately before you offer it, then using either your fingers or tongs depending on how much you trust your snake, grab the end of the tail and wiggle it, once she has eaten this way a couple of times you should be ok to offer her thawed, however if you have a heat mat or coil try to get it up to a normal mouse/rat temperature before you put it in, and again do the wiggle wiggle thing. As most on here would tell you i think, it is best for your snake to be eating something frozen for more than 6 weeks to eliminate any possible deseises, but some times we really just aren't that lucky. I know, my bredli is not a great eater and will eat anything offered to her, but it took me 6 months of the above procedure to get her there, i wish you all the luck in the world. Angel ♥♥

[angelrose]

however if you have a heat mat or coil try to get it up to a normal mouse/rat temperature before you put it in

PS DO NOT use a microwave, the rodents burst...... im sorry if this sounds condescending, but i found out the hard way and i would be horrified if you came back to me and told me you had done this on my advice.... lol....

Angel ♥♥♥

[Switch]

Try putting her old enclosure inside the new larger one, but with the lid partially off the small one, she might feel safer in her old enclosure but can venture in and out of it at her will, this may stress her less, and introduce the new environment at her pace instead of a sudden complete change.