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Tommo

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i just got my first python and its time for him to be feed. ive left a dead weaner mouse in the cage last night and he hasnt eaten it. i have to feed him live prey but how long until he will accept dead prey? anyone here in darwin know where i can get some alive? he is a carpet python
 
feeding live food should be your second last resort (the last being force-feeding). live mice can cause severe injuries to your snake, i think there was a topic about the feeding of dead or alive food recently... check the forums. try offering the food at different times of day or when the snake is in different positions, such as in his hidebox and out. or try wiggling the mouse around in front of him so it would appear to be alive. dont worry just yet you still have weeks before any problems will arise but just dont give up.
 
my adult male diamond didnt eat for the first week i got him so i left him for a second week didnt eat then i left him for about a week then m,oved it into an outside cage a week later yesterday it smashed a adult rat thawed in HOT water and i had a bucket of hot water in the cage cause a tip is place dead food prey in really hot water like 70 degrees then take it out and immediately feed your snake works everytime
 
Don't leave prey in the cage for too long ,If the snake isn't interested try to wiggle the prey in front of the snake. Try freshly killed mice. Try diffrent methods and eventually it'll take it
 
my stimson yearling will take food if i leave it in the cage thnen walk away will also take wiggling but neva holds on
 
i got some mice if your interested tommo, i don't usually sell them but if u need them i can give u a couple i spose...
but if u wanna pay around $4 for one mouse u can go to a pet shop...
 
thanks Morelia man i didnt think the pet shops will have the right size live mouse but i think that ill check it out. if they dont then ill definetly send you a PM.
 
One of my water pythons didn't eat for about five or six weeks and now eats like a horse. THere are also a number of things you can try before live food.
- up the cage tempreture a few degrees. This is the first thing you should try.
- feed after sunset in a darkened room.
- try a different food. Mine refused rats and mice before taking a day old chick. Once she started feeding I was able to swap her to rats.
 
when i bought him the breeder told me that he was already acepting weaner mice.
 
maybe wait a week and try again, it may just not be hungry. If you thawed out a mouse, make sure its dry, they can be fussy like that. best of luck.
 
Like Fuscus said, i would bump the cage temps up for a day (have noticed that the slight increase in temps get my pythons agro), then that night i would go to the cage in the dark without disturbing your python, get some long tweezers ( or you can get these long bending things from a place like cheap as chips in the tools section, when you press the end this little clamp thing comes out and grabs whatever you are grabbing, and they are like $2, i think they are a car tool, ill post a pic if needed im crappy at explaining), anyway, grab the mouse and wiggle it in fromt of you python, if it still doesnt have a go, lightly bump it about an inch or so behind its head, mine usually turn round and grab the mouse. Some let go after coliling round, if they do this, get the python to coil around it again, this time keep a hold of the mouse and keep wiggling for a few seconds then let go. If it fails again, just try again at least a week later. Dont feed live in the process though, it will undo all your hardwork. remember they can go ages without a feed. maybe after 4 weeks of no success give a live just to keep it going if you are worried and try feeding thawed again the next 4 weeks.remember after you have bumped the teps for that day, return temperatures to normal.

Oh yeah, have you tried feeding a thawed one after a live one? Sometimes they take a frozen thawed one straight after a live one.

hope i helped.

cheers
Mark
 
thanks every one i think i will try with dead prey again. he is really active right now so i think he is hungery. the pet shop will have proberbly restocked their mice. i think ill do what byjungle and fuscus said about raising the temp the day of feeding. i hope my beardie doesnt mind if i borrow his heat lamp
 
My little guy wont take food if its "ground level" he just watches it as i move it around in front of him, but hold it above his head, even slightly behind and make him come up and stretch a little for it and he gets real interested real quick =) he's got crappy aim though, some times doesnt get it till the 3rd or 4th strike. He usually wraps it up straight away but if he doesnt a quick jiggle of the mouses tail changes him mind about that.
 
My water pythons tend to strike up, but that is more of an artifact of me wanting the prey to be closer to the snake than my hand. I think you can guess why :) .
Also my snakes feeding cycles are linked to their shed cycles. They often refuse food a week before a shed. But watch just after a shed, one water launched herself about half a meter out of the cage to snatch the rat I was about to offer. Now that was a strong feeding response.
 
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