Snakes won't eat, everything is same

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.

KingsReptiles

Active Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Messages
104
Reaction score
1
Location
Swansea
hey i know everyone is sick of all the "my snake won't eat" threads and all, but I have had my 2 Spotted pythons for 3 months, and they are only 8 months old. When I got them they always ate fine, they ate all thru winter with no brumation, the setup I have is a tub each with a heat Matt (given to me by breeder) under neath both of them, and shredded paper bedding, water dish. The temps were warm enoguh for them to eat in middle of winter, but about 2.5 weeks ago my female started to shed and didn't eat which I know is normal, well she finished shedding as normal and 2 weeks ago and still refuses to eat every Time I offer, and about a week about the male went into shed, but still hasn't eaten after he has come out of shed, keep in mind they have shed before in my care and always eaten afterwards, they have missed over 4 feeding attempts now and I know they can survive ages without eating so I'm not really worried but I'm going on a month long herping trip at the end of this month and my family would rather look after them when they know they are eating and healthy and it will just give me the peace of mind knowing they are still eating while I'm away, no conditions have changed since I got them so anyone got any idea why they might not be eating? (They are on fuzzier mice ATM, about to move to pinkie rats) do they require higher heat as they grow even though it's getting warmer outside?
 
At 8 months old your Spotties should be on adult mice or fuzzy rats at the least, by going to pinky rats now you will not be giving them enough sustenance, they need fur and bone for their continued growth which they will not get from pinkie rats. As far as the not eating is concerned..... given your location (Swansea NSW) and the time of year i would not yet be worried, the seasons seem to be all over the place at the moment and their body clocks are still probably a bit out of whack, stop offering them anything at all for the next couple of weeks, make sure they have cool clean water every day and make sure their belly temps are around 34 deg C on the heat mat. If they had both been eating ok up till about 3 weeks ago then you should be ok to go on your herping trip, at 8 months old a healthy spotty should be ok with no food for 6 months or more. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) -ronhalling-
 
Really that's strange because they are only just big enough to swallow a pinkie rat, there's no way they could get an adult mouse down, I think they are a bit under 8 months, but ok I'm not sure what to do there if they need it but can't eat them? Ok yes that's true haha it's random weather here, ok good 2 know, I'll hold off on food for a bit then, thanks
 
You will be absolutely amazed at how large a prey item they are able to swallow, according to my growth and feed charts for my spotties between 8 and 14 months they were both on adult mice, at 14 months i changed them over to hopper rats, now at 5 years they both comfortably get down 60-80 grm rats which are app 2.5 times their head size, so at first glance you would think "no way" could they eat them. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) -ronhalling-
 
Ok well I guess I could give it a go, they are only small tho, the head of the larger one is slightly smaller than my thumb print
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top