Woma feeding success!

[benjamind2010]

Just updated an older thread and happy to report that the male woma (the best one I have) has taken a rat last night. I'm thrilled! He's started feeding again for me so I guess it was my temps not being right. I think he'll start powering ahead now! I'll be cooling him for breeding later this year and look forward to any further progress

Thanks to everyone who provided valuable input! I needed some constructive criticism and it turns out you were right! Many thanks and best wishes for the upcoming season!

Of course, I apologise to Brett regarding my posts back in December, especially about the male (I remember I said it was a dud snake due to frustration, which it certainly wasn't), but even the female too, as these snakes were definitely feeding before I got them - the female had missed one feed, but I won't blame anyone for that as I have no idea why - I presume she will eat again once she is offered something she really likes but we are still trying to get her back on track. It could be that she simply didn't like what I had offered her, she was in fact eating rodents while Brett had her, and she wouldn't have become her size had she not been a regular feeder, so I will not hold Brett responsible for what happened to her either - so it could be anything, a mate of mine told me some of the best feeding womas have refused to eat some rodents at times (they smell them and decide they don't like them for whatever reason and refuse to eat them) so different things are being tried - quail, chicken, etc. She didn't have the biggest appetite for a woma but I know she was reasonably well fed. Assist feeding in the worst case scenario only.

 

[thomasssss]

thats great mate did you use tongs this time? hopefully the female will be feeding next for you

 

[GSXR_Boy]

All the best with them.

I must have missed the bit where you apologised to Dicky though lol

 

[AirCooled]

Congrats on hopefully the start of getting him back on track,also you might want to make sure he gets up to a healthy weight before you cool him for breeding.

 

[Tildy]

Yay! Huzzah for you and the Woma. Hopefully the female will be not far behind him. Let us know when she is eating too. I would give him time to recover from his fast before cooling him I reckon.

 

[benjamind2010]

I'll definitely make sure he gains respectable size before I cool him down for breeding. He hasn't really lost condition to be honest. Womas will seriously slow down their metabolism when they are not hungry due to incorrect/volatile temps, so it's not like their metabolism is going full bore when they are not eating. Even hatchlings take considerable time to lose significant condition while they are not eating, so a 450g/550g woma will not lose much condition. The female was weighed very early this morning, and she is still a reasonably good weight, if a little bit thinner than when I first got her. I've been assured she will make it through without any real problems, so she wasn't in any danger at all. As for the male, he wasn't in any danger whatsoever, he still maintained very good condition whilst he was not eating for 2 and a half months. Snakes can go a very long time - in some cases up to 2 years - without eating before things get critical. I've been assured that a couple months here and there is nothing to be concerned about and is in fact not uncommon - even good feeders can sometimes spontaneously decide to take a break from their food - but they usually do this when being cooled, or in many cases even if they are not being cooled, around the time they would be breeding because they have an internal clock that tends to have it's own set of rules.

 

[Sutto82]

I'll definitely make sure he gains respectable size before I cool him down for breeding

Didn't you say that these woma's are only 6 months old? If thats the case then I don't think you have to worry about putting on weight for the cooling period because they won't be ready to breed yet.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Congrats, I am really happy that you have gotten a feed into one of them, hopefully it will trigger it back into regular feeding.
What did it take? ie fresh/frozen and what size?
Also did you use tongs?


I hope are ready for the stress of getting hatchies to feed

 

[dickyknee]

Didn't you say that these woma's are only 6 months old? If thats the case then I don't think you have to worry about putting on weight for the cooling period because they won't be ready to breed yet.

They were 6 months old when he brought them back in september last year.

 

[Perko]

Your considering breeding?:shock:

 

[benjamind2010]

Your considering breeding?:shock:

Next year perhaps. This year I decided not to, for the time being.Really, womas are one of the easiest of species to keep, so once I've kept them for over a year I should be ready to start breeding. As I said, next year maybe.

Congrats, I am really happy that you have gotten a feed into one of them, hopefully it will trigger it back into regular feeding.
What did it take? ie fresh/frozen and what size?
Also did you use tongs?

I dangled the rat by it's tail through a gap about 1/2 inch wide with the tub just barely moved out of it's closed position - enough to wiggle the rat around gently - so it was very much like using tongs, but maybe even better since I didn't have to pull back or anything. The snake took an interest in the rat, started sniffing around it, so I gently let it down into the tub and pushed the tub back into closed position. After a couple of minutes the snake started pushing into the rat, sniffed the head of the rat, then promptly took it and pulled it under the newspaper, didn't see the snake again for a while but when I did it had a noticeable bulge and the rat was missing

I believe it was the temps that were causing the male to stop eating, volatile temps were the culprit, and as Ramsayi said in another thread the temps on the cool end are perhaps more important than the temps on the hot end - I think that's because the cool end temps influence the air temps which would be important for most species.

 

[Ramsayi]

nm

 

[Jarden]

Easiest to keep ? Yet you had a major rant because you couldn't get her to feed? hmmmmmmmmmmmm id wait a fair while before trying to breed if you couldnt get a older " Woma " to feed which are one of the most food responsive pythons then i personally wouldn't think you're up to breed them just my own opinion

 

[Boidae]

Don't get ahead of yourself mate, just focus on keeping your adult pair feeding..
Congratulations anyway.

 

[benjamind2010]

nm

Well it turns out you were right about the cool end temps. I am beginning to agree that they are more important than the hot end, as the snakes generally move to a cooler area if the hot end becomes uncomfortable for them. I've been told that snakes can stop eating if they get too hot too, but I think that only becomes a problem if there is no cooler area for them to relocate to in those cases. My hot end is around 34-36 degrees now from what I just recorded this morning, the cool end was around the 25 degree mark, give or take 1 degree, which should be fine. It was 27 yesterday, and 28 the day before, we've had a bit of a cool change, but nothing to be concerned about. My rack system is now better insulated so should help to even out the temps during the dark hours.

 

[Jarden]

If ur having troubles with the cool end drop the temps abit my woma thrives and i only keep him around 30 - 32 never misses a feed sheds well and poos frequently . No need to have them up " HOT " Just because they're from the desert they learn to adapt any thing over 30 is fine. I wouldn't want it up around 36 degrees not only because it will be hard to keep the cool end cool but because the dimming stat will hardly dim LOL then you got a briiight enclosure that is all

 

[brisbaneboy]

i agree with the people sayin u should wait a while before u even think about breeding i have 2 jungles and a bredli who have also had a 2 month fast a while ago the jungles not the bredli temps were fine i was planning on breeding this year but am going to wait till next year. get to know how to keep and maintain your snakes before breeding as it could be a problem if you have a clutch and cant get them to feed. would love to see some pics of ur snakes as i want a woma too when i can afford another set up

 

[benjamind2010]

i agree with the people sayin u should wait a while before u even think about breeding i have 2 jungles and a bredli who have also had a 2 month fast a while ago the jungles not the bredli temps were fine i was planning on breeding this year but am going to wait till next year. get to know how to keep and maintain your snakes before breeding as it could be a problem if you have a clutch and cant get them to feed. would love to see some pics of ur snakes as i want a woma too when i can afford another set up

I'll let you know in a couple of years if I'm successful. I decided to give it a miss this coming season, but next season should be ok. It depends on how big my womas get, but I think the large female I have will be big enough and in very good nick to drop a clutch...whether or not the male is up to it is another thing. Some males will breed, some won't. Sometimes it's like tossing a coin.

 

[hnn17]

after all this still dont know what these look like, can you pls put up pics ?

 

[benjamind2010]

The womas or the enclosure? I can do pics of both now that I have a working camera.