RSP not feeding, any tips?

[hornet]

I got a RSP pair about 6weeks ago, the male is feeding well, wont take it from my fingers or from tongs but generally will take it after half hour to an hour off the cage floor but the girl will not feed. I havent exactly tried everything yet, till now i have been trying tease feeding and rubbing the prey item on her tail to get her worked up once or twice a week but every single time she has refused. After that i leave the prey on the cage floor in hope she will take it from there but no luck. On advice from the breeder i offered a live fuzzy to her tonight but she doesnt seem slightly interested in that. I defrost the mice in hot water so they are "washed" and it only just occurred to me that some snakes dont like that so next feed will either offer fresh killed or dry "unwashed" defrosted. Will also try rat pups and scenting with birds and/or lizards. Any other tips or tricks anyone could suggest? The breeder has offered to swap for a larger fem that will hopefully be feeding well enough to be moved on soon but i would really like to try and get this girl going before stuffing around with freight which i can only assume would put more stress on the animal. Anyway general info on housing. They are housing in 7or8litre tubs, paper towel sub, water bowl and hide. Hot end 33-37, cold end 24-27. The animals are about 10months old and mayb 50cm? Any help would be much appreciated

 

[orientalis]

What do both of them weigh?
What did the breeder say they were accepting?

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day mate,

A few things to do for the next week or so -

- Make sure they can perch. Get yourself some plastic garden fencing and cut a section out, and then wedge it in a tub for the snake to perch on.

- Leave them alone. Sometimes tease feeding can do more harm then good. If the snake was previously eating for the breeder, then the problem isn't the food item or presentation, but stress. Generally ignoring them for a week or two will get them going.

- Leave the food in the enclosure over night once you've done the above for a week or two. Don't check on it - just put it in, and leave it.

- If the snake doesn't take the rodent, then try a dead quail of appropriate size, or a live fuzzy mouse (furred, but with eyes closed and no teeth) overnight.

 

[wokka]

I agree perching seems to suit roughies but I would br guided by the breeder as to what they were fed and how they were fed. Make as few changes as possible and leave them alone.
Whilst teasing animals may provoke a defensive strike which may lead to feeding it may also stress the snake. Pythons are generally opportunistic feeders . They see the food item dead or alive and eat it if it is acceptable. Survival requires that most animals will chose to seak to protect themselves agaist being attached be it by a potential food item or not, rather than trying to eat the attacker.

 

[Mr.James]

I find that if I wave a freshly thawed mouse around in front of it and then take it out and walk a way for a minute, then go back and offer it to again, it always works for me. I also agree with Jonno and Wokka about making sure they are perched.

 

[deebo]

Mine has never eaten while on the ground, only when perched. She can be really fussy and often takes a lot of effort to get her to eat. She will taste and taste and taste and follow the rat around but wont actually strike. I found after cooling her this season she was very very hungry and ate two 100g rats very easily, but now is back to her old self and being difficult. I find my female is very sensitive to what size food item I offer her.

Good luck!

Dave

 

[dickyknee]

I found a nice quiet dark room was best , late at night too ...
I rarely did any tapping or the like , but i would slowly move the rodent across the face of the animal , or slowly from above to the animals head and most of the time would get a response , once taken you will need to remain very still till eaten , dont slide the tub in or move at all , mine always ate perched too often hanging out of the tub.
The first few feeds often took an hour or more to get it down , so i would feed these guys on a different night to every thing else to allow the time to do so.

 

[hornet]

the breeder was feeding fuzzys and tail tapping to excite them. I'm in regular contact with the breeder and he is giving me plenty of tips and suggestions but thought it might be an idea to get some other people thoughts.. I thought that it probably wasnt the food item but then the male eats no worries and they are kept side by side. I will add a perch and see if that helps. The girl just shed last night so hopefully that may help her change her tune with feeding aswell.

 

[hornet]

And as for the room they are in the quietest room behind an old tv cabinet, only time they would get any disturbance is when i check on them or feed them.

 

[blackthorn]

In the past when I have had stubborn roughie hatchlings these are the tricks that worked for me:
- Covering a rodent with quail feathers
- Day old quail
- Thawing the pinky in chicken stock
- Tease feeding and rubbing the rodent on their mouth
- Live pinky

I had one or two that I had to force feed a couple of times and after that they started taking voluntarily. Some also demand a lot of patience.

 

[ozziepythons]

Mine got started with a live pinkie each, they took interest in the movement on the cage floor. After that they accepted every feed of thawed pinkies and now they are on adult, thawed mice. They accept food while curled on the cage floor or on a perch, they don't need to be perched to accept food. They are feeding beasts once the food trigger has been activated, you just have to find the one that works.

 

[GreatSnakes]

I have the same problem with my female RSP. I can get her to strike (she's terrible, hardly ever strikes the food!!!), but have never managed to get her to strike and wrap and eat. Finally in desperation, I tried a live fuzzy rat and after a lot of inaccurate striking, she tagged it and ate. She was also eating well with the breeder, so I will try a few more live rats and then move on to fresh killed.

 

[dickyknee]

the breeder was feeding fuzzys and tail tapping to excite them. I'm in regular contact with the breeder and he is giving me plenty of tips and suggestions but thought it might be an idea to get some other people thoughts.. I thought that it probably wasnt the food item but then the male eats no worries and they are kept side by side. I will add a perch and see if that helps. The girl just shed last night so hopefully that may help her change her tune with feeding aswell.

If it just shed , that will most likely explain the last week or so of no eating at least ...

I would certainly try the perch too.

 

[Bob2]

one of mine was the same when I first got it. Loved quail though. Try feeding it pinkies with quail feathers stuck to it. That worked for me and mine happily eat rats now.
Good luck.

 

[hornet]

Just offered her a thawed quail and she took it didnt show interest when i offered it to her but she took it from the ground after about 2 mins of me leaving the room

 

[butters]

One of mine went off rats but took a quail as soon as it was offered. Takes 3-4 one week olds at a time but will only take 2 rats in one go. Definitely has a preference for quail but I try and give variety.

 

[hornet]

shes taken a quail and followed it down with a mouse, going to stock up on quail, would like to give my larger snakes some variety aswell