Stimson feeding. Out of ideas

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I don't know how to put this in an understandable fashion - you are dealing with a species that regularly goes off food for no obvious reason, sometimes for 6 months, without any harm whatsoever. It's NORMAL, so you should just leave it alone until it's ready to start feeding again. If you try offering other food types, you run the risk of the snake becoming a pain in the butt and selective about what it eats. They are all individual, so just because you have one which behaves one way, it doesn't automatically follow that the next one will be the same.

Patience is the primary virtue of any reptile keeper.

Jamie
 
Hi guys just an update. Refused a baby quail so I've now moved him into a click clack. I mentioned in one of my first post a dry patch on his head between his eyes and I noticed its still there. Bells abit pink and his overall skin colour seems alot darker then normal. So I've tried to get a picture of the dry patch for your opinion. The photo is terrible but the mrs couldn't get him to sit still. Every time the phone went close he wanted to investigate.
puvu4eja.jpg


Eyes haven't gone cloudy and he's had that patch for 2 weeks now. Gave him a warm bath today and have put some damp papertowel in the click clack to get humidity up to try get the shed(if it is) going.
 
Hi guys just an update. Refused a baby quail so I've now moved him into a click clack. I mentioned in one of my first post a dry patch on his head between his eyes and I noticed its still there. Bells abit pink and his overall skin colour seems alot darker then normal. So I've tried to get a picture of the dry patch for your opinion. The photo is terrible but the mrs couldn't get him to sit still. Every time the phone went close he wanted to investigate.

Eyes haven't gone cloudy and he's had that patch for 2 weeks now. Gave him a warm bath today and have put some damp papertowel in the click clack to get humidity up to try get the shed(if it is) going.
If his belly is a little pink and his skin is dull then I would say it is going to shed and you should stop offering food and handling the poor thing. Also the dry patch on the head probably won't have anything to with coming up to shed especially if it has been there for two weeks. Another thing , anything that you do will not "get the shed going", it will shed in its own time and will just want to be left alone. Was the bath warm to your touch? if so it was probably too warm for your snake.
 
Why the bath? Just leave the poor thing alone for awhile... They don't need high humidity to shed. The patch is fine and nothing to worry about.

Best thing you can do is read read read... Get Keeping and breeding Australian pythons and The complete Anteresia.
 
No i couldn't feel warm or cold. Trust me before I do anything I read what I'm doing before hand. I used a little common sense and thought well my body temp is 36-37c to hot for a snake so the water shouldn't feel warm to me if anything slightly cool. So I researched and read it shouldn't feel cold not warm to my touch as I figured. Already own both them books also. Contacted the breeder about it and they recommended transferring to a click clack and up the temp to 35 as the click clack holds the heat more. Therefore it will help a shed or get a feeding response.
 
I'm sensing that you are not taking on board the info that Jamie is giving you. I pity that poor little python :-/
 
I'd just leave the snake be for 2 weeks, keep the temps as they are (or bump up to 33 hot spot), and then offer a feed. Make sure the rodent is warm (after normal defrosting, I dip the head only into boiling water for 5 seconds, then take the temp of the head with a temp gun) and dangle it, or leave it in the enclosure overnight. Don't disturb the snake.
 
No i couldn't feel warm or cold. Trust me before I do anything I read what I'm doing before hand. I used a little common sense and thought well my body temp is 36-37c to hot for a snake so the water shouldn't feel warm to me if anything slightly cool. So I researched and read it shouldn't feel cold not warm to my touch as I figured. Already own both them books also. Contacted the breeder about it and they recommended transferring to a click clack and up the temp to 35 as the click clack holds the heat more. Therefore it will help a shed or get a feeding response.
Since you have Keeping and Breeding Australian Pythons I will refer you to page 30 where it states "The first indication that a snake is entering a sloughing or "cloudy" period , is when there is an apparent reduction in the activity of the snake coupled with a loss of appetite. Snakes are very vulnerable in this condition and remain undercover and inactive , until the process is completed. Not eating at this time is important, as a large meal could seriously hinder the skin being sloughed. Snakes should not be handled during this period." It does not say give them a warm bath or handle them. Whilst I do support the idea of a click clack for many varying reasons I do not see the point in a lot of the other stuff that you are trying. I offered what I thought was pretty sound advice and so has other members of this site and you seem to have a little attitude about what we are saying. If you have all of the answers then there would be no need to come on here and make a thread saying your snake will not feed.
 
From his previous history he would go off food for a week before the shed. He had the dry patch the other week but no other signs of shed therefore I continued to try feed weekly. Today when I moved him into the click clack I noticed the belly and thought to myself he does seem a little darker then usual. Therefore I thought if he's been coming into shed for 4 weeks now which is longer then usual for him. I'll give him a bath and put him into the click clack. He was handled today for the first time in 3 weeks due to my concern about this strange behavior (for him). I don't know all the answers. I'm only a beginner, and I do appreciate every bit of advice I can be given. But I do make sure I research before posting. Because most of the time the answers can be found. But with research there are lots of contradicting answers. Jaimie states one thing and alot of other people state different. I'm aware you seem to rather experienced as almost every thread I read I see your name amongst it. Therefore I will be removing the damp towel. And hope that the shed progresses over the next week. But if it doesn't I'll be going with the damp towel method I've read about to increase humidity to help loosen the skin.
 
From his previous history he would go off food for a week before the shed. He had the dry patch the other week but no other signs of shed therefore I continued to try feed weekly. Today when I moved him into the click clack I noticed the belly and thought to myself he does seem a little darker then usual. Therefore I thought if he's been coming into shed for 4 weeks now which is longer then usual for him. I'll give him a bath and put him into the click clack. He was handled today for the first time in 3 weeks due to my concern about this strange behavior (for him). I don't know all the answers. I'm only a beginner, and I do appreciate every bit of advice I can be given. But I do make sure I research before posting. Because most of the time the answers can be found. But with research there are lots of contradicting answers. Jaimie states one thing and alot of other people state different. I'm aware you seem to rather experienced as almost every thread I read I see your name amongst it. Therefore I will be removing the damp towel. And hope that the shed progresses over the next week. But if it doesn't I'll be going with the damp towel method I've read about to increase humidity to help loosen the skin.
Sorry if I came across as harsh , not the best week which is not your fault. I by no means am an expert but Jamie on the other hand has had more experience than I have had years alive. I usually find with my snakes that if they are stress free and well hydrated they will shed fine with the humidity of the surrounding area. As for the not eating stuff, as long as your snake is not losing weight there is nothing to worry about. Also keep in mind that frequent posts don't make a knowledgable person.
 
Sorry if I came across as harsh , not the best week which is not your fault. I by no means am an expert but Jamie on the other hand has had more experience than I have had years alive. I usually find with my snakes that if they are stress free and well hydrated they will shed fine with the humidity of the surrounding area. As for the not eating stuff, as long as your snake is not losing weight there is nothing to worry about.

I don't think you were harsh, Andy. You were concise and didn't sugar coat the facts.

Camm, in my short few months of keeping and being a member of this site I have learnt that Snowman, Jamie and Andy (just to name a few, there are many others) are very experienced and if they've taken time out of their busy days to share their knowledge with you then you should be very thankful and listen to the advice given.
 
You wont get better advice than that of Jamie...
It can be hard to know who to listen too when you join these forums. You will note that Jamie has been a member on here since 2005. That's usually a good indicator if you don't know anything about the person.

I'm not particularly experienced. I still regard myself as a noob, but if I don't know something I wont answer a question.
 
I don't think you were harsh, Andy. You were concise and didn't sugar coat the facts.

Camm, in my short few months of keeping and being a member of this site I have learnt that Snowman, Jamie and Andy (just to name a few, there are many others) are very experienced and if they've taken time out of their busy days to share their knowledge with you then you should be very thankful and listen to the advice given.

In my tribe we have a saying , "you can lead a zebra to water but you cant make him drink" , mind you ,we dont handle our zebras every day and they wont fit in click clacks. :)
 
By no means does anything anyone have to say come across harsh. I take everything on the chin. I have to with my line of work. I appreciate all the advice given to me. I haven't tried anything with this guy in the past month that hasn't been offered to me in advice. I stopped handling after the first refusal and only go near him to change water or offer a meal the next week. But now with a hopeful shed things will go back to normal. Just 4 weeks is different to his usual 1 week which has caused myself to stress and create this thread. Midsreps has kindly offered to give me a hand to get this little guy back on track which I greatly appreciate. I appreciate everyone else's advice and I haven't meant to get anyone else offended or upset by the way I have gone about things the past few weeks. I certainly didn't wish to portray myself as someone that doesn't take on other peoples advice as if I'm a know it all.

Thanks and sorry
Cam
 
By no means does anything anyone have to say come across harsh. I take everything on the chin. I have to with my line of work. I appreciate all the advice given to me. I haven't tried anything with this guy in the past month that hasn't been offered to me in advice. I stopped handling after the first refusal and only go near him to change water or offer a meal the next week. But now with a hopeful shed things will go back to normal. Just 4 weeks is different to his usual 1 week which has caused myself to stress and create this thread. Midsreps has kindly offered to give me a hand to get this little guy back on track which I greatly appreciate. I appreciate everyone else's advice and I haven't meant to get anyone else offended or upset by the way I have gone about things the past few weeks. I certainly didn't wish to portray myself as someone that doesn't take on other peoples advice as if I'm a know it all.

Thanks and sorry
Cam
MidsReps has a few Stimmies and is a good guy, he should be able to help.
 
I used to breed allot of stimsons and childreni ,they like folded paper towels in click clacks which they hide underneath in the blanket of warmth.
Dont handle the snake,some young ones like fresh killed rather than thawed and vice versa.
If its fed on small rats before dont go backwards with anything bird or lizard related ,will eat in its own time.
When i used to sell them ide give feed records and tell people to leave in clik clak ,then ide get calls that they was in this five hundred dollar kellyville cage and that snake would not eat or it escaped.
I dont keep them now because i was putting the same amount of feeding work into them as young GTPs for 100 bucks.
 
After his bath and up in temp this is the nice little present he left for me

rejyjyre.jpg
 
Good luck with the feeding now, most of mine are keen on food after a shed.
 
Do experienced people here ever feel like tearing their hair out??? Camm8, don't start believing that snakes need baths to shed properly. Snakes have been successfully shedding for eons without interference from neurotic owners who often over-manage their animals literally to death. For goodness sake, Antaresias are hardy, tough animals that do VERY WELL without the crap you are imposing on your animal. The snake was obviously coming into a shed cycle anyway, but don't convince yourself that your interference "did the trick" - it was going to happen anyway, and probably with a lot less stress on the animal.

If it won't eat what it usually eats, then it's not hungry. Antaresias in the wild probably feed for about 3-4 months of the year, and then only about 3-4 times. It's what they do, and they have very well tuned energy budgets. They may eat more frequently in captivity, but then, all our captive snakes are over-fed because we like to see them eating, not because they need the food. Shedding is an area where newcomers seem unable to resist interference. When they are coming up to shed, LEAVE THEM ALONE - no handling and certainly NO BLOODY "BATHS."

I hate to see these poor animals tortured by newby keepers because they refuse fit the preconceptions of what a snake "should do" - it's the keeper who needs the help, not the snake.

I've said very often on here - you need ONE mentor whose knowledge and advice you can trust, and you need to stick to that advice. The more you canvass opinions from the wider herp community, the more confused and indecisive you will remain. You have received some very good advice in this thread from some very experienced keepers, but by and large you seem to have rejected it and done what you wanted to do because of your anxiety. Try and understand that the outcome is a natural event, and not because of the "success" of your strategy.

I've written this to try and prevent the same behaviour happening again the next time the poor animal is due for a shed.

Jamie
 
Arr Jamie my friend ,this is brave new world ,people shower with snakes and bath snakes , have a go give your snake a bath :)
 
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