Stimson wont eat

[rleer]

Hi I have a new stimson python. He is 2 months old and has shed once. He has had 4 feeds, and one feed was 2 pinkies when he was with breeders. He came home 10 days ago and is very active at night.He has not eaten for me as yet. I have tried 4 time. So in total he has not eaten for 3 weeks. Temp and cage are all correct. How long before I start to worry about him not eating.
Any tips etc would be greatly appreciated as he is my first snake and I am more then likely being over zealous..

 

[beeman]

How do you have it set up, Enclosure, heat etc, What are your temps! How are you offering food items ?
As for being 2 months old and only having 4 feeds there is something wrong there IMO, We breed stimmies and in an 8 week period they would have fed at least 12 times and shed twice.

 

[rleer]

He is in a small click clack, the temp is 31-33 in the hot end. I am using a heat cord under tile. He was born 26/2, refused 7/3 and 12/3.then first feed 18/3 then 23/3 being 2 pinkie, 30/3 and 6/3. Also shed 5/3. I have had him only 10 days and understand he is settling in. I have had him out a couple of times and is really curious and does not stop moving and flicking his tongue. He also comes watches me when i come into the room..He appears healthy, but is my first snake..

 

[rleer]

He is in a small click clack, the temp is 31-33 in the hot end. I am using a heat cord under tile. He was born 26/2, refused 7/3 and 12/3.then first feed 18/3 then 23/3 being 2 pinkie, 30/3 and 6/3. Also shed 5/3. I have had him only 10 days and understand he is settling in. I have had him out a couple of times and is really curious and does not stop moving and flicking his tongue. He also comes watches me when i come into the room..He appears healthy, but is my first snake

 

[beeman]

Recheck your temps with a good quality thermomerter 33 is a tad hot, 30 -32 max would be better, Leave the snake alone do not handle unless needed for cleaning etc untill it has settled and is eating constantly when offered.

 

[rleer]

thanks will check the temp and let him chill.

 

[rleer]

I have a feeling that he is about to shed, how often do hatchlings shed? His skin is looking dull but the eyes have not become cloudy!

 

[Pythoninfinite]

That's more than likely why he's not eating. Just observe for a few days, if he's going to shed he will become very dull-looking, then clear up and look pretty normal before he sheds. Make sure he has access to a good sized water bowl to assist humidity during this process, and don't handle him unless necessary.

His appetite will more than likely return after he sheds.

J.

 

[rleer]

Thank you for your response's. Ok he has shed 10 days go. He is still very active at night looking for ways to get out of his click-clack. STILL NO EATING..urghhhh..He has not eaten since 6/04..I have tried braining the pinkie...I have left the pinkie in over night....Temp is 30-32....and only on 1/3 of the container...
Should I be concerned and how long to wait before I go with him to the vet....please help...

 

[rleer]

Its, been 5 weeks since lest time he feed and was with breeders., have just dangled a pinkie infront of him not interested so have left the pinkie in the container..any suggestions

 

[scrapcollecta]

I purchase three 8 week old sandfire stimson hatchlings on 26 Mar 2010, the breeders records show that they've all had at least 10 feeds of pinkie mice since birth. After bringing them home I found 2 out of three were great eaters. One particular female hatchy just would not eat. I've been following your thread closely trying out all the suggestions to no avail.

I recently sold some beardies to a guy who used to keep snakes in Sth Africa (he was a new arrival to Australia). He told me to catch a gecko mush it up into a paste and roll the dead pinkie in it, then feed it to the hatchy. Of course we don't have geckos in Sydney and even if we did, I would not end the life of a gecko for this reason. So I caught some common garden skinks (they were only tiny, not even full grown) crushed one into a paste and rolled the dead pinkie in the paste and left it in the cage in the evening....No reaction, hatchy just had a sniff and slid off.

Decided to leave it in there over nite.. as I was getting desperate and anxious!! It was Sat 8th May, about 5 or 6 weeks since she stopped eating...

By the morning, I noticed I had a hatchie with a bump inside its body....YIPPEEE!!!
I repeated the procedure last nite and she ate again in privacy.

Hope this helps!! Sorry if garden skinks are protected but the life of my baby stimmie was at stake!!!! Now I just need to work out how to wean her off the paste.

 

[Bearded_Lady]

My spotted didnt eat for about a month and a half when i first got him. I tried braining the pinky but finally solved my non eating problem by covering the pinky in budgie feathers. He took it straight away! Antaraesia can be finicky little feeders!

 

[Python_Player]

My Coastal hasnt eaten for 5-6 weeks too.. im guessing it may have something to do with the temps in my click clack tho so i have to get a good thermometer and its shed about 4weeks ago.
A few tricks i have read were putting the snake and food in a seperate container and covering it up so it has complete privacy, leave it overnight and it will probably feed (worked once for me, but not the second time)... i dont think u shuld be too concerned yet... i am going to try feed mine again tonight.
Also i was told u shuld continue to temp them even if it is for about 20-30min. does it show any interest in the food? mayb also try cutting the top of the head off or spill a bit of its guts if u havent tried already hope its some help

 

[rleer]

Thank you all for you repsonse, Its been 7 weeks since he has eaten and 6 weeks since he came home. He is very active at night and during the day.Still looks very healthy. Also he is very curious as when I clean the click clack out he comes out and wants to get on my hand. Never tries to bit. Temps all ok.
I met a man who told me he will eat when he is ready, and may not be eating at the moment due to winter, should I be concerned. My lizard stopped eating 1 week ago and has slowed down. The lizard comes out also during the day.

 

[jamesbecker]

id contact the breeder and ask him to help out.

IMO it was sold to you to early and not feeding properly

 

[scrapcollecta]

Following on from my last update.....my hatchie has now eaten 4 pinkies but always only if coated with mashed garden skink. In between these feeds I would try normal pinkies, unfortunately I always find the normal unscented pinkies still there in the morning... basically no interest!!! As winter has set in and coupled with all the rain that we've had, garden skinks are no where to be found, I then remembered a conversation with Jerry Li about 6 months ago where he recommended cutting open a mouse to entice non feeders to eat.

I then slashed the gut of a freshly killed pinkie allowing the guts to spill out, left it in there over night...SUCCESS!!!!!!

Next step is to get her eating whole pinkies without the need to go thru the messy part.

Have you tried my suggestion of sugar coating the pinky with lizard? if it doesn't work try cutting open a pinkie!

 

[scrapcollecta]

Having shared my success story above....

I still have a pair of 3 year old adult wheatbelts which I bought 2 April 10 which still hasn't eaten...I tried adult mice , i've tried weaner rats, I've tried lizard coating them, i've tried bird fearther coating them...still no response. However, I did get bitten by one of them which was a shock at the time as these guys have never bitten before. (I guess because it smelt the bird feathers on my hand)


Anyway, I've given up on the adult pair so I'm now turning the heat down for the cooling process for the winter. My theory is that we are not doing anything wrong, I believe the change in the enviroment at the previous owner compared to their current situation has somewhat altered and the snake is a bit phased. It may be the enclosure is a lot bigger or smaller than what the snake is accustomed to or the food you are prepairing is different eg you may be feeding frozen whereas the snake is used to fresh warm food, maybe the snake is not used to the pungent odour of fresh rodent perhaps we are not reproducing the same heat gradients that the snake is used to etc etc... I changed over from beardies to snakes late Nov 09 and I now have 13 snakes . Quite a few came home refusing to eat, the majority will eat within the week with some holding out for a fortnight.

The hatchie and the wheatbelts are the worst I've experienced.

A message to all the experienced snake keepers out there: PLEASE KEEP ADDING SUGGESTIONS TO THIS THREAD I'm sure it will help out a lot of people for years to come!!

 

[beeman]

Scrapcollecta, Useing mashed up skinks was unnecessary for the hatchies, You have more than likely given them a huge parisite load doing this and will need to now worm these animals.
Most of the hatchie problems experienced are keeper caused
and can be rectified by improved husbandry techniques.

 

[rleer]

OK, he has finally eaten. I placed a cover over him at night and put the pm in within him. In the morning he still had not eaten so I put the pm near his mouth and he slowly took the mice down..have down this three times and is the only way he will eat at the moment..YEH..

 

[Opalsdad]

Congrats!! I have a Childreni who has never missed a feed from pinkies through to adult mice. I use frozen food but bag them and put them in a sink of hot water. When they are defrosted and fairly warm I just jangle them in front of her and there gone. A couple of times I tapped the food onto her nose when she was a bit reluctant but then she took it.