Jungle not striking?

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Iguana

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My Jungle has always been kind of a finicky eater, but lately he has been refusing to strike at the rat. He will sometimes nip it if I annoy him enough with it but he won't grab a hold of it. As of now I'll put it in a coil and he'll constrict, later he will eat it when the room is quiet.
Any suggestions of why he does this? Should I be worried?
 
What age? one of my jungles would do the same when they were pretty young wouldn't take from the tongs but would smash it once I put the rat in her coils it only lasted a few months and she takes from tong no problem now.
 
As long as it eats most of the rats you offer, it doesn't matter how it fiddles with the food before it eats it. Some snakes do this.

Jamie
 
Every single snake is different, especially noticeable when they eat. Just like humans, not everyone eats with a fork held the Queens way or drinks pumpkin spiced vodka skinny latte's with a straw. As long as they get it into their stomach to digest the item, it shouldn't be a concern. One of my BHPs will strike a rodent with pin point accuracy on the forehead of said rodent and coil around it, where it will hold on for several minutes before trying to eat it tail first! Once it realises that ain't gunna work as well as planned, it'll soon be munching down head first. It has always done this since a yearling... 12 years ago!
 
[MENTION=40902]Prof_Moreliarty[/MENTION] He's around 2 years old now, and I know what you mean, I've seen so many baby snakes afraid of tongs. [MENTION=41820]pythoninfinite[/MENTION] [MENTION=42227]SKYWLKR[/MENTION] I understand what you both mean about every snake being different, was just concerned because it was something he recently started doing, I was thinking some sort of mouth infection or something :S But it's reliving to hear this isn't extremely unusual.
 
Hi Iguana, I have another thought. If he's a mature 2yo, it's possible he's decided to start his own winter cooling cycle. Even if you haven't changed any light/heat settings the can still be very aware of the change of seasons.
 
[MENTION=41261]Smurf[/MENTION] Yeah that would also make a lot of sense, his enclosure does get colder despite the heat mat. He is pretty small for his age though, so i'm not sure if that's a factor? He's never really done it before.
 
Do you know what temps you're getting in there? Ie hot basking spot, warm end ambient and cool ambient?
I haven't changed any of my set ups yet but have noticed the cool ends are all a few degrees less than 2 months ago. And with less daylight flooding in the wwindow I've noticed different habits in a couple of my pythons....
If you're not looking to breed this season (being 2 and smaller I'm guessing not) you can try bump his temp up a degree or 2 and maintain 12hrs daylight to feed through winter and get some growth on.
 
[MENTION=41261]Smurf[/MENTION] have the heat mat 35 but the thermometer reads at around 29-30 depending on the day, the cool end gets around 20-25 ( mostly dependent on the outside air temps), as the heat mat is concentrated in one area and doesn't really heat the rest of the cage. Yeah the change in ambient temp is noticeable but the daylight is the same because the day light is on a timer. What kind of changes in behavior are you noticing?
Yeah his temps get a little higher around june, Thanks.
 
Ambient temps sound ok, but he might like a warmer bask spot. All my jungles have the infrared heat bulbs instead of mats. I have my daylight on timers too, but if the room has windows it will stay lighter through summer later but winter is dark soon as their lights go off, if that makes sense.
Seeing a couple things. Most obvious is my pygmy stimmies, they have been actively mating every couple days for a few weeks now (they do live together). My older jungles are pacing their tanks way more than usual, presumably looking for a mate. A couple stimmies seem to be cooling themselves as they are spending more time raised on the furnishings than on their heat mats.
Also, the mature blonde spotted has developed a habit of going for me but I don't think that one is related as it started earlier this year
 
[MENTION=41261]Smurf[/MENTION] alright i'll raise the bask spot temp, hopefully it should heat the enclosure a bit better too, he'll have a CHE in his new enclosure. The daylight theory makes sense, I noticed the light levels changing. Yeah I noticed he's out less but that may be because the rest of the tank is too cold.
i'll keep an eye out for the rest of those behaviors, Thanks for the info.
 
No worries. Just make sure the ceramic is in a mesh cage protector. I like to give mine something to climb close to the emitter if using these so they don't have to use the cage. Jungles do like a bit of a climb :)
 
If this is the case then be prepared to waste some money on Rats not being eaten.... My JCP won't eat for 3 months come August. First time it happened two years ago I was freaking out because she wasn't eating, but come end of November I place a rat in from of her nose and it is gone in 2 minutes flat :)
 
[MENTION=30435]Stormvermin[/MENTION] wow that's quite the fast, I'd be worried too if it went on that long. Did you alter the temps at all or did she just decide to not eat?? And the good thing about having 2 snakes, the leftovers from one can feed the other :)
 
@Stormvermin wow that's quite the fast, I'd be worried too if it went on that long. Did you alter the temps at all or did she just decide to not eat?? And the good thing about having 2 snakes, the leftovers from one can feed the other :)

If you'd be worried when your snake fasts for three months, prepare yourself for a very anxious snake-keeping career. Voluntary fasting for three- six months or sometimes far longer is quite common and quite normal... you should prepare yourself for when it happens and let the snakes decide when they want to eat.

Jamie
 
If you'd be worried when your snake fasts for three months, prepare yourself for a very anxious snake-keeping career. Voluntary fasting for three- six months or sometimes far longer is quite common and quite normal... you should prepare yourself for when it happens and let the snakes decide when they want to eat.

Jamie

Yeah I understand, I've seen in before, my JCP wouldn't eat for weeks at a time, never months though. However since they are pets you can't help but worry regardless. When it happens I'll be prepared, they are both healthy enough to afford to fast anyway.
 
I have a friend in Perth whose Western Carpet laid a clutch of eggs in one season (remember they don't eat while gravid, about 2 months before laying) and went the entire following year without eating, laying another clutch the next season, then resumed eating after the eggs were removed - about 15 months and two clutches of eggs later. Very unusual, but apparently no harm was done.

Jamie
 
I have a friend in Perth whose Western Carpet laid a clutch of eggs in one season (remember they don't eat while gravid, about 2 months before laying) and went the entire following year without eating, laying another clutch the next season, then resumed eating after the eggs were removed - about 15 months and two clutches of eggs later. Very unusual, but apparently no harm was done.

Jamie

Wow Jamie, 2 clutches without eating, that must have scoured the Western for about all it's Calcium reserves, lucky there was no MBD or some Calcium related problems. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) -ronhalling
 
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