my diamond/carpet hasnt eaten in almost 2mths

[nathaniel86]

hey everyone,
hopefully someone can help me. ive talked to some people and they all say just wait him out but i just want to get more opinions on this ive offered him the mouse and every time he just looks at it but wont strike ive tried different methods like piercing the head,leaving it in the enclosure over night, rubbing it on the back on his head/neck, annoyed him with it and still he wont take.
im making sure hes got water at all times and i offer a mouse once a week just to see if he changes his mind but still same thing every time.
he has branches to climb,a hide, heat lighting, heat mat
Hes still very active hasnt slowed down/not docile he is approx 2ft long he is 1 yr old now
Has anyone got any advise on what i should do?
regards nathaniel

 

[PieBald]

it should be fine what are your temps at do you know, its been cool so he might have slowed do, is he active

 

[nathaniel86]

im not sure exactly what the temps are but if its a cold day ill leave the heat lamp on and on the hot days ill turn if off but the heat mat is always on.
yeah he is active, not docile at all only when hes sleeping lol

 

[KaotikJezta]

Have you been handling him and how long have you had him. Has he eaten for you before. how big is the enclosure. How hot is the basking spot, two heat sources are not needed, especially for a Diamond.

 

[JezJez]

Have you owned him since hatchy? If only last two months I'd be contacting previous owner to find out more. At a year old he should not be eating mice anymore, he should be onto rats.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

If this is a diamond it could be too hot! Cool climate python..........Im in Melbourne and mine live without heat during 9 months of the year

 

[Cougar2007]

im not sure exactly what the temps are but if its a cold day ill leave the heat lamp on and on the hot days ill turn if off but the heat mat is always on.
yeah he is active, not docile at all only when hes sleeping lol

sorry mate, how do you not know what the temps are? Keeping a snake you have to know what temps your at.

Diamonds are a perpetually hungry snake, pretty rare for them not to eat unless something isnt quite right in their environment.

If your just leaving the lamp on, Along with a heat mat I'd be betting some of your enclosure is 35 deg plus at least, wayyyyyyy to hot for a diamond. I top mine out at 28. I'm in nsw southern highlands and mine also have no heating almost year round. And when I do use it its only a 5w heat mat on a thermostat set to 28.

Get a handle on your temps, I'd be willing to bet he is to hot and that's why he is t eating.
Also is he loosing condition? If he's active and not loosing condition I would probably not worry to much. He will eat when he gets hungry

 

[Endeavour]

Hi mate and welcome to the forum. In my experience most unexpected feeding issues are down to husbandry requirements not being correct, I am not saying you are not doing everything spot on as I don't know enough from what you have written. The most important things to look at first are your temperatures and level of stress the animal is experiencing. Couger2007 makes some really good points. If conditions are not correct what you are doing will not encourage the snake to eat. I don't know if this snake is new to you or if it has recently moved location or how often you handle it. All these factors could be compounding the situation and should be given thought.

Kindest regards


Endeavour

 

[Kraft]

I agree temps need to be ideal to suit the diamonds needs. I had a similar problem but with a jungle hatchy not to long ago I was trying to feed him pinky rats he wanted nothing to do with it so I switched back to mice and scented it with quail and he took it instantly! But we need to know some key info to be able to help you I.e how long have you had him? has he fed for you before? What was his last meal? Where is he situated? Is it a high traffic area? But try a rat or quail or rat scented quail?

 

[montysrainbow]

hmm i dont have a thermometer in my enclosure i just go by the feel....so to say the temps have to be 'spot on' is not always the case as long as they have a warm spot and a cool spot . I have never had a problem with my coastal feeding and he was outside for summer just been and inside last winter, mind you different pyhton and a gutz lol i swear he would eat everyday if i offered. I did have a stimmy that went off his feeds around this time a yr for weeks and weeks infact it was closer 2 three mths! i was worried however he eventually ate. I would say its the change of season, temps. Maybe keep the light off and just have the heat mat and see how u go.

 

[nathaniel86]

hey everyone,
ive had him now for about 7-8 mths now hes had the same habbitat setting since ive had him with heat wise aswell ive just been using the heat light abit more lately (past month) cause someone told me to try give him more heat and maybe that would help wanna eat and that hasnt worked his enclosure is 500x 450x400 glass enclosure he has eating every single time up until 2mths ago, i changed mice/rat breeder he 2 from this persons batch and hasnt eating since but i just got a different batch from someone else so im going to try him on 1 of these 1's today

 

[nathaniel86]

all good people he must not of liked the other batch of mice i got he took this 1 straight away,
but my other diamonds are abit older and are taking the other batch i got so i dont know maybe this 1 is just picky
thanks everyone for your advise