Man, that sounds like a lot of work to get a snake to feed. Popping the stomach and rubbing blood on it? I'm glad I've never had to experience something like that. I've always just played the patience game. If I feel the life of the snake is in danger, I'll assist feed. You can always just wait it out.
As long as your snakes aren't losing weight, there isn't really anything to be concerned about. Best advice I can offer to someone that recently bought a snake that doesn't want to eat is "RELAX". Things will settle down, just monitor their weight and take things slowly. If they start to lose a considerable amount of weight, then is the time to take action to attempt to get them feeding.
04-05-2012, 06:32 PM
reptileexperts
The only reason it brought cause for concern was that she was considerablly thinner than when she first arrived. The fact she ate her first meal so agressively, then declined everything from that point on also brought worry - thought maybe just maybe there were mites in play from a dirty shipper . . . but checked that out thoroughly to find nothing on her or in the cage. Popping the stomach isn't a major ordeal at all. A small knife does it great :-) And it's a lot easier than Braining. Because of the history I've seen of Jungle Carpets being highly agressive feeders always taking prey, it made it a little worse off. If there was a problem I wanted to be able to identify it immediately and not let it get out of hand later. Believe me, I had a Nic. Boa that never took a meal on his own his entire life. The breeder gave him to me to keep alive via force feeding, which I did every week for 3 years till it passed (assumed stress finally caught up or some other underlying cause). I also had a BP refuse feedings for 10 months, force fed once since weight loss had become evident, and then 3 months after that meal he just randomly started eating again.
I know the limits of my animals, when its a new animal though, that I'm going on the word of a breeder about their feeding history I am a little hesitent till I get the snakes to take 3 meals (all my new Carpets have eaten 4 meals (2 for the coastal though), with the exception of this female who just took her second meal. I suppose the next one will be much better, if not I'll pop again next week and keep doing that till her feeding comes more natural for her. So while I appreciate the information, I was relaxed and just evaluative of a new snake who should not be exhibiting any signs of problems feeding. None the less, cheers.
