New owner with feeding issue!

[McQuillan]

Hi all. As I've stated I'm a new owner to a olive python(I know there not a small snake), I know a bit about snakes as a friend of mine has a few of them that I'm always playing with and asking him questions about. But my problem is I have an olive that's around 6 months old and doesn't eat by its self. The person I got it off had told me that you have to assist it to feed and to open its mouth and put a pinky mouse in the back of its mouth and the snake will do the rest. I've never tried to feed the snake as I got it a few days ago and it had a pinky about 5 days ago, before that he was assisting feeding it around every 7-10 days. Will I always have to feed it like this or should I be trying other things, just some general help about this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Also I haven't got it in the cage yet as I'm wiring it up but its in a plastic container sitting in my friends water pythons cage.
Thanks Steve.

 

[Shay-Nik]

Sitting in your friends pythons cage?? For one. The snake needs to be removed from the other pythons cage, you do not know if this snake has mites or not. I still wouldn't risk it. What plastic tub? And does it have breathing holes? Does it have a heat source? And do you know the heat they need. They will not eat if they don't have heat source. Why has is been assist feeding for so long? Did the person say why and why they didn't change to normal feeding? Have you tried dangling a warm pinky infront of it yet? If so what did it do? I think you should look into better housing for it till the cage is ready, being so close to a strange snake could be stressing it out, that could be why its not eating.

 

[harlemrain]

It's odd that it was sold to you needing to be constantly assist-fed, most reputable breeders wont sell their hatchies until they're established feeders so he/she was in the wrong there, especially considering this is your first.

As mentioned above if you're housing him with another pythons, this runs the risk of mites, stress, etc and you should get him his own as soon as you can.

If you can't afford an enclosure atm, you can get heat mats really cheap and you will need a thermostat to maintain correct heat levels, place it under the place the plastic container, covering it by about half so you have a warm and a cool end.

If you want him to start feeding, you need to make sure your husbandry is correct, as stress is a major factor with eating problems, do you know how the breeder kept him?

Once you've got your husbandry sorted, leave him for a week to calm down and then try again, make sure the pinkie isn't too hot/cold and leave the pinkie in the enclosure overnight if he doesn't take it straight away, just make sure you remove it if it's still there in the morning.

 

[Trimeresurus]

A 6 month old olive needs more than a pinky mouse regardless of it being assist fed or not, that's ridiculous.

Also I hope you're prepared for assist feeding it for awhile.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Even a hatchling Olive will easily take a half-grown, or even bigger, mouse. A pinky is WAY too small for a 6 month old Olive, and would be very umlikely to elict a feeding response. I would be offering a 6 month old Olive a full grown medium mouse, either freshly killed or thawed in hot water.

Very unusual for an Olive not to be super-keen on food if it's healthy. They are usually unstoppable. Did you buy it from a breeder, or could it be wild-caught? Most breeders of these specialist snakes wouldn't let it go until it was fully established and feeding well.

Jamie

 

[Khagan]

Take it back and get something that is eating by itself. Assist feeding is not something you want with your 1st snake, you've basically inherited someone elses problem while knowing very little yourself. You have no idea why it isn't eating, it could even be a weak one that isn't meant to make it and cark it on you.

 

[andynic07]

Sorry to say mate that it seems like you have been sold someone else's problem and you are also very unprepared. Maybe go look through some basics on how to house a hatchling and look at some care sheets for olive pythons to get the basics right and then someone might be able to help you with the more intricate stuff like assist feeding. I don't think that your snake will get an interest for food while being kept where it is especially with the larger water python putting the fear of god into it. Here is a start but do some internet searches of your own as well.

Olive Python Care Sheet - Aquarium and reptile online shop in Melbourne. Specialise in Baby Turtles, Lizards, Frogs and Pythons also for sale!

[h=1]Guide to build a click-clack (dial-up warning)[/h]

 

[tahniandshae]

go with what andynic07 said. good reply. get it somewhere warm and dark, temps will be on the care sheet. leave it alone for a week or so, no handling. then when you do try to feed it, have a selection of food available, weaner mouse, fuzzy rat, day old quail. snakes are no different to us. I hate spinach, if someone tried feeding me that crap I wouldn't eat it. have the food nice and warm and try dangling infront of the olive. vigorous tongue flicking is a sign its interested. if you have no luck leave the food item that got the best response in overnight. some like privacy when they eat. I had a baby diamond a few years ago that I had to force feed for a year(fuzzy mouse). the kids found a baby bird fell from a nest that died in their hands. I waved it past the diamond on the way to the garbage bin and he smashed it without hesitation. that snake is a beautiful healthy diamond now if you do need to assist feed it get someone with experience to help you at first. congrats on your new snake. welcome to the club. Clint

 

[McQuillan]

Thanks for answers back everyone,
The water pythons he is in with are about the same lenth as my olive just a little fatter they might only be around a year old.
The person I got him from had 2 olives and this was there first bunch of eggs and I got the last one, he was kept in the plastic container in a cage with an albino olive which wasn't really big maybe 1 and a half years old.
My cage should be done by the weekend aswell.
I think he was feeding him pinky mice because it was easy to get into his mouth. His head is about the size of a pinky.
I haven't tried to feed him since I've had him seen he was fed last Thursday (6days ago) would it be best to maybe leave some sort of food in when I go to sleep and check first thing in the morning and if he hasn't eaten it just leave him for a week or so and try again?

 

[andynic07]

Thanks for answers back everyone,
The water pythons he is in with are about the same lenth as my olive just a little fatter they might only be around a year old.
The person I got him from had 2 olives and this was there first bunch of eggs and I got the last one, he was kept in the plastic container in a cage with an albino olive which wasn't really big maybe 1 and a half years old.
My cage should be done by the weekend aswell.
I think he was feeding him pinky mice because it was easy to get into his mouth. His head is about the size of a pinky.
I haven't tried to feed him since I've had him seen he was fed last Thursday (6days ago) would it be best to maybe leave some sort of food in when I go to sleep and check first thing in the morning and if he hasn't eaten it just leave him for a week or so and try again?

I think that if he was being kept in the conditions that you say that there is no surprise that he was not feeding on his own and needed assist feeding. As stated above get him in a click clack with the right temperatures as soon as you can and leave him for a week to settle then try to feed him. As for feed size , before you put him in a click clack try to weigh him on kitchen scales and feed him something that is about 10-15 % of his body weight. When you find something that he eats and get him eating fine maybe try increasing to about 20% but back to your question yes if he does not take the food try and leave it in with him overnight.

 

[Shay-Nik]

The person you got it off needs a bit of teaching, having to assist feed a python? Seriously. After you finished building the enclosure be sure to have all the correct temps, give the snake a week alone, dont even try opening the enclosure to peak at the snake, then after a week try feeding it what its ment to be fed, if you could weigh your snake and see how much grams of what it could eat, just let it settle in first. The person was wrong to sell you the snake. I know I have little experience with snakes, I have only owned one for nearly 3 months. Owning a healthy happy snake is the best experience anyone could have, I hope it all goes well. If the snake doesn't end up eating on its own by the end even after you try the normal feeding (dangling the rodent infront of it or braining the rodent then try feeding the snake with it) then I'd probably consider trying to take it back to the person you bought it off, no one needs someone elses problem and you certainly don't deserve to have to deal with it especially being your first snake.

 

[andynic07]

The person you got it off needs a bit of teaching, having to assist feed a python? Seriously. After you finished building the enclosure be sure to have all the correct temps, give the snake a week alone, dont even try opening the enclosure to peak at the snake, then after a week try feeding it what its ment to be fed, if you could weigh your snake and see how much grams of what it could eat, just let it settle in first. The person was wrong to sell you the snake. I know I have little experience with snakes, I have only owned one for nearly 3 months. Owning a healthy happy snake is the best experience anyone could have, I hope it all goes well. If the snake doesn't end up eating on its own by the end even after you try the normal feeding (dangling the rodent infront of it or braining the rodent then try feeding the snake with it) then I'd probably consider trying to take it back to the person you bought it off, no one needs someone elses problem and you certainly don't deserve to have to deal with it especially being your first snake.

I have bought a non feeding hatchling before, yes it was known to me and very cheap and found it very rewarding to get it eating so if possible persist with as much help as you can get and you will have a very rewarding experience and really bond with your snake. Whether your snake has the same bonding experience is another story but I guarantee you will be rewarded if you pull it off.

 

[Shay-Nik]

Keep us updated if you can, im sure the little guy would be happy after he has settled in witht the correct care needed.

 

[McQuillan]

Bit of bad news I had put him into the new cage on the Friday just gone had the temps 24-30 and let him be, I had a look every morning and after work but didnt take him out so hopefully he would settle in. But this moring I had a glimps of him and he was curled up and life less, what could be the reasons he didn't make it? My friend said the owner could of sold me a dud snake because I don't no what I had done wrong if anything for it to just die. The guy told me he had force fed it on the 29/5 which is just over 2 weeks ago.

 

[hunterschamps]

Sounds like there may have been an underlying issue with your snake, i would suggest questioning the previous owner/breeder on this. You could well have been sold a snake that had problems, and/or was sick before you got it

 

[MR_BALMAIN69]

Sad news , sorry for you're loss.
A friend had a jungle who had these feeding problems also.
We never force fed her , instead using a skinks POO to scent the pinkie and WHACK ! Friend happy as , oh we scented only one , she just smashes pinkies now.
I know it's late advice but you never know , people who love snakes rarely have just one.
PS no skinks were killed using this method.