Coastals Not Eating!

[nsceen]

Hey Everyone,

How are all you herpers goin?
Well we bought a trio of coastal carpet pythons about a month ago from a pet shop. They were shipped down from Brissy to Adelaide, not long before they ended up in the pet shop.
We have 2 females and 1 male. We are having troubles feeding the male and one of the females. The other female is fine.
We have been trying to feed them every week for a month, but no success.
The pet shop said that they were being fed monthly and now it is coming up to that month they need to be fed.
We are trying to fatten them up before we bring the temp down for hibernation and hopefully they will eat tomorrow (which is that special day where we hope they eat)

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions they would like to share for when we go to feed them?

They are probably still settling in with all the changes they have been through, but is this normal?

Take Care.
Emma

 

[glacey]

Personally, I'd leave them alone for awhile. Unless really young, no need to 'fatten' up before cooling

Once they settle in, they'll be fine

 

[Wrasse]

nsceen, how old are the trio? I am guessing with monthly feeds they aren't babies. Quite possibly they are already brumating themselves. I find, even with some of my youngsters here on heat, they still go a little 'off' over winter. When I have wild snakes in care, even if I bump the heat right up, over winter they stop feeding anyway, it's an internal clock thing too I gather.

If they are in good condition, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It is already getting late to cool and if you get them to feed, they have to have time to digest as well before you drop temps. Personally, if they are well fleshed, without bumps and bones, I would consider dropping them down now without that feed.

What temps are you planning to drop them to for cooling ?

 

[Jason]

it would help if you could tell us how old they are, what temp they are kept at are they kept together. If they're adults well the male i dont think is a huge surprise my male stimie hasn't shown interest in food for about 2 months but you mightfind that the female is a fussy eater one of mine sometimes only east frozen and sometimes only live but if it has only been about a month they haven't fed i wouldn't worry to much, but if they do keep refusing try live/frozen.

but more info would help

 

[nsceen]

Thank you for all your replies. Heres some extra info....

They are about 3-4 yrs old. We had the two females in together to begin with but separated them after about 3 weeks becuase we figured the fatter one may have been dominating. The other female is skinny, and we are not to sure wether it is fair to mate her... what are your views on this?
And yes the male is on his own, at this stage they are all seperated.
Their temps are all approx 26-27 degrees.
We are planning on dropping them down to about 18 degrees.

Is this a fair temperature to drop them down to???

Thanks,
Emma

 

[Jason]

thats the right temp but it would take about a month to drop it slowly down to that temp it may be a little late for this season if i were you i would keep them seperate warm them up to about 32 (hot end) and get them all on a regular feeding plan and make sure every thing is ok. The reason i say this is because i beleive it is better to get to know your snakes personality and behaviours and aquire a good feeding rutein in order to truly understand the animal, this makes it easier for breeding because it is easier to spot any irregularitys in the animals behaviour, by doing this next breeding season would be a walk in the park in terms of knowing what is going on.

PS. Its just a thought. i understand if some do disagree