That old chestnut... Food refusal.

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

sam78s

Not so new Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Messages
41
Reaction score
0
Location
St Clair, NSW, Australia
I'm almost scared to ask, but our Spotted hasn't fed for 4 weeks. He's still a babe (hatched 7/11/13), which is the only reason I'm asking.

He was on a fuzzy mouse once a week (and would have taken two if we'd let him). We went up a size to hopper mice as my MD hatchie is on those now too. He has rejected all the hoppers.

He's still in a small tub with aspen bedding, on a thermostat controlled heat mat, 32 deg at the hot end, about 25 at the cool.

I did have some heating issues, I couldn't get the right temps on the heat cord I was using, so they were dipping below 27.

My questions are:

Has the heat drop put him into brumation? Can I get him out if that's the case?

Should I try and feed him a pinkie to get his interest back? Are the hoppers too big?


I left him with the mouse all night to see if he'd take it. I offer him food once a week.

Thank you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm no expert on Ants but I would say the drop in ambient temps has turned him off food.
 
He's far too young to be brumating, but cooler temperature will stop them eating. Kinda like they naturally know they can't digest it so they refuse so they won't get sick.

Make sure you get the temperatures nice and hot for about a week before attempting to feed again. I would even go hotter, 33-34C for a hatchling if your'e using a heat cord (or heat mat). Both of these are floor heaters and tend not to warm up the air very much, but they do make a wonderful hot spot that the snake can move out of easily. I don't use thermostats for my heat CORDS (most certainly do not recommend doing so for any heat mat), and they regularly get to 34-35C during the day. If the snake can move about as it pleases then it's not an issue.

I would try fuzzies again, since you know it worked in the past. Depending on the nature of the snake, you might want to leave it in there for him to find at night, or wiggle it around til he takes it (it's not the same for every snake!). Just make sure he's warm (especially with the cooler weather) and the food is warm, and you should be golden =)
 
Make sure its heating is running correctly and bump the hot spot to 33-34dg, Leave him be at that for a week and then quietly open the tub and offer a nice warm (blood temp +) feed and he should start again.
Antaresia are very sensitive when it comes to temps and it doesn't take a lot to stop them feeding.
 
Thank you for your replies. And [MENTION=10062]notechistiger[/MENTION], really, no thermostat on a heat mat? I thought I was doing the right thing? So confuzzled.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I said no thermostat on a heat cord. Re-reading it, it does seem a little confusing. I 100% recommend a thermostat for a heat mat. They get to ridiculous temperatures and will easily cause burns or even fires. I've even seen a mat melt the bottom of a tub before (very lucky the hatchling wasn't hurt in the process). You are doing the right thing :)
 
Juveniles brumate just fine in the wild
 
Just as everyone has suggested TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE, TEMPERATURE, get that right with Anteresia and just about everything else will fall into place, i have both my Ants on 34 deg c and do not ever have any feeding probs (except maybe 2 days before and 2 days after shed) i did find out in the early days that as soon as the temp would drop to arounf 31-32 deg c they would cease feeding and hide, as they get older (2-3 yrs old) they are a little more forgiving and will tolerate 28-34 deg c without too many probs, just get them early years right and your spotty will turn out pretty close to bullet proof. :) .........................Ron
 
I fed him two pinkies yesterday (had them in the freezer) and he struck and ate them straight away. I'll get him some fuzzies for the next few weeks. The temps are much more stable now and all my snakes seem happy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top