My python won’t feed!
Most pythons will not feed when coming up to a shed, or when stressed. Firstly don’t panic, and don’t stress, pythons can go for prolonged periods without feeding without any long term damage. An adult python can go for several months or more without feeding and younger pythons can easily go for 4-6 week’s. If they are due for a feed but refuse when offered wait another week and try again. If you notice they are coming up to shed it is likely that they will refuse food until the shed is complete. After they have shed they will be very hungry and will often take multiple rodents. If they have gone 2 weeks past there feeding due date and are not showing signs of shedding a few things to try are:
1. Braining: force a pin or sharp object through the skull of the rodent until juice comes out the snake will quickly pick up on the smell.
2. Hide and Wait: leave the rodents at the entry to there hide, close the enclosure and come back in the morning. Often the rodent will be gone in the morning.
3. Chicken Soup/Stock: dipping the rodent in chicken stock
4. Skink Scenting: putting a skink and the rodent in a container together so the rodent takes on the smell of a skink.
5. Check your temps
6. Try leaving it alone for a few days prior to feeding and just place it in the enclosure and leave it alone.
7. Do not attempt to force feed your python unless you are experienced. Force feeding should only be attempted by experienced vets and keepers.
What can they eat? Size? Diversity?
Captive pythons are mainly feed a diet of frozen rodents, mice, rats, and rabbits being the most common. It is advised that frozen or pre killed prey be feed to your pythons as many accidents have happened where the mice or rats have killed or damaged the python. A python can eat prey up to 3 times the size of there head and it is advised to feed them prey approx. 2 times the size of there head. Part of a pythons growth requires that they eat this large prey so that they dislocate there jaws, and the skin at the front of the jaws learns to stretch. A young python should be feed approx every 7-14 days and as they get older it should become less frequent. Adult pythons should be feed approx every 3-4 weeks. Over feeding can lead to pin head syndrome (That is where there body continues to grow but the head does not) and obesity. Obesity in snakes causes many health related issues. This can be very detrimental to there health and a sever diet would be recommended. Some people choose to give there pythons treats from time to time. Chickens, or pieces of chicken uncooked, fish, and raw meat, are the most common.
Shedding Problems.
Pythons will shed there skins on a regular basis, it is part of there growth cycle. There are many signs of shedding they are:
1 White eye’s
2 Flaky skin
3 Dry skin
4 Milky colour
5 Dull colouring on the skin.
Most of the time pythons will shed an entire skin complete. From time to time this will not occur and some level of assistance will be needed by the owner/carer. During times of shedding it is advisable that you raise the humidity within the enclosure to assist them. Misting an enclosure with a spray bottle, and moving a water bowl over a heat source should help raise humidity. Sometimes dry flaky skin will remain attached you should not pull it off as you may do the python damage. Using a wet tea towel, let your python slither through the tea towel moistening the snake and allowing the python to remove its skin on the tea towel. If this is not working you can soak your python in Luke warm water. The water should only be slightly above room temperature. Your python might freak out a little at first but let it swim around a little and it should settle down. A plastic fish tank with a clip on lid is perfect. Do not leave your python alone in the water as there is always the possibility they might drown. You can also add something for it to rest on as this may help keep stress to a minimum. Some pythons will enjoy it so much you will have problems removing them from the water. Many pythons will also put there heads under the water and search the bottom of there pool this is normal.
Sexing Pythons
Sexing Pythons should only be done by experienced breeders and vets. It is not something that should be attempted by recreational reptile keepers.
Co-Habitating
There is much debate on wether or not you can keep pythons together in an enclosure. For most of the Antaresia Species it is not a problem as long as they are of similar size, age, and species. Diamonds, Green Tree pythons, Murray Darlings, and Coastal pythons have also been known to co-habitate happily. This is in no way a guarantee that things won’t go wrong between these species. There are always risks involved in keeping pythons together there are many story’s of pythons turning on cage mates and eating them. Keeping males together may also cause them to fight, and do damage to one another or kill each other. If you do choose to keep pythons together remember to feed them separately and clean them before putting them back into the same enclosure. If feed together they can start eating the same prey, and one may eat the other, it comes down to who gets there jaws over the top of the other first, and they will just continue to eat the other python. Don’t feed your pythons together.
Real Plants and leaves
Real tree limbs and rocks make good features and are good for your pythons climb on. They also provide abrasive surfaces to shed against and provide places to sleep, bask, and hide. Things like these need to be treated. Rocks can be baked in an oven to kill ticks, viruses, and bacteria found on these item. You can also treat them with a product known as F10 which is a designed product to treat bird and reptile items. If this is unavailable then a 1/10 mix of bleach can be used, and then rinsed clean with water.
Illness / Sickness / Health
There are 2 major diseases that are causing concern amongst the herp community they are OPMV and IBD. Here is a brief description of the symptoms would be. Respiratory problems laying on side/back panting having problems breathing, starry eyed look and convulsions. This is a deadly and highly contagious disease; any python found with these symptoms should be quarantined, taken to a vet and reported. Pneumonia is a more common problem amongst beginner reptile keepers. It is caused by stress, cold, and high humidity. Respiratory problems can also occur and are diagnosed by a clicking or wheezing noise whilst breathing. They will also try to take the weight off of there lungs by lying on there sides, or backs. Ticks and mites also can harm your pythons and would show up between there scales. A regular check of your python should find most ticks and mites. Ticks and mite’s can be easily treated using “Top Of Descent”. Remove the water dish, leave your python in the enclosure and mist the enclosure thoroughly without directly spraying your python. Replace water dish 1 hour after spraying. Repeat process three days later, and again 1 week later to ensure all eggs have been killed.
Substrate
There are many different flooring substrates available. Here are a few of the Pros and cons of some of the more common types available.
Astroturf: Although it is good looking, it can be very sharp, and has the ability to cut the cloaca causing problems for your python. It also tends to come apart over time when regularly washed.
Newspaper: A very cheap and easy sub straight, easy to replace, lacks in the looks department. Good for large numbers of enclosures.
Chip Bark: Looks good but tends to smell. Have also seen a few pythons consume some of the bark which can give them a splinter in the gut or cloaca.
Gravel: Looks good easy to clean, can be eaten by your python though and block there digestive system.
Marine Carpet: Looks good, needs a bit of a scrub to get clean, but most users of marine carpet switch a new carpet for the old. Highly recommended, but can be costly.
Breeder’s choice/Kitty Litter: O.K looking very easy to clean and replace. The paper absorbs everything and should do no harm to the python if swallowed highly recommended.
Book references
1 The Keeping Series
2 What’s Wrong With My Snake
3 Care of Australian Pythons In Captivity
Mayo Mattinson. highly recommended.
You can also use Ivermectin (for cattle 10mg/mL) to treat mites on snakes and lizards. Add 0.5ml of Ivermectin (eg; Ivomec brand) to approx 1 litre of water into a spray bottle and shake well before use. The cage can be sprayed and the animal may also be treated.
Ivermectin can also be administered via Intramuscular Injection @ 200μg/kg.