My chondro suddenly refused f/t mouse

Well my new chondro ate for me three times, all were f/t mice. I offered him/her one the twice the past week and he/she had no feeding response what so ever. One side of his/her tank is at 85 and the other is 75-78. I spray his/her tank once or twice a day and let it dry out at night. I offered him/her some different size perches, he/she went with the Y shaped branch that was a bit thicker, about a 1/2 inch, than what i had at first, about a 1/4 inch, and the one that he/she came with which was about 3 inches around. He/she is in the original tank i got with him/her the only difference is different perches and a fake plant or two. The first three feedings went great he/she took them right away. He/she has been less active at night also, except last night i woke up at 3 am to check on him/her and he/she was off its perch coiled up on the ground. Should i try a live mouse? :confuzd:

No need to try a live mouse. Green trees have much slower metabolisms than the more commonly kept snakes. feeding every 2 weeks should keep feeding responce like you're used to and still ne healthy for the animal.

How old is your animal? That you are refering to it as he/she makes me think it is still quite young (i.e too young to sex) and because of that I would not advocate every 2 weeks if that is the case. More like every week. I only recently took my 5 y.o. female to every 14 days. Before that she was on a 7 day cycle.

What time of day are you feeding? Are you warming the F/T. How are you heating? Are you heating at night? Have you tried tail tapping?

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Originally Posted by asplundii

Have you tried tail tapping?

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What is tail tapping?

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Originally Posted by asplundii

How old is your animal? That you are refering to it as he/she makes me think it is still quite young (i.e too young to sex) and because of that I would not advocate every 2 weeks if that is the case. More like every week. I only recently took my 5 y.o. female to every 14 days. Before that she was on a 7 day cycle.

What time of day are you feeding? Are you warming the F/T. How are you heating? Are you heating at night? Have you tried tail tapping?

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No clue who old the animal is... I just don't know how to sex a snake so I'm not about to learn with my chondro, i offer at night with a small flashlight to not disturb him. I don't use any heat at night, my room stays 69-73 at night. He/she is one a 12 hour light cycle as well. Never heard of tail tapping, please explain.

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

What is tail tapping?

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Chondros caudal lure. Sometimes, if you gently tap/bump the tip of their tail with the food item, it will elicit an instinctual feed response.

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Originally Posted by asplundii

Chondros caudal lure. Sometimes, if you gently tap/bump the tip of their tail with the food item, it will elicit an instinctual feed response.

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Oh, great info. I will try that next time mine refuses a meal. Thanks.

DSGB,

Okay, I can understand not wanting to learn sexing on a chondro. About how much does your animal weigh? I just want to get a feel if we are dealing with an animal that is a couple years old or something bit older.

Also, forgot to ask, do you know locality?

It seems unlikely but the flashlight might irk the animal enough to keep it from feeding. Might be worth looking into... If you can get a hold of one consider using a CF blacklight in a lamp in the same room. Should give you just enough light to see by and not disturb the snake too much. If you can not find a CF black light I might be able to hook you up with one if you can swing by Tech...

Maybe I missed it but did you say if you heat the F/T once it was thawed? These guys will really key in on heat (note, do not try feeding after taking a hot shower, that is asking for trouble.)

If you had a very difficult feeder I would recommend every 7 days to get responce up. I do not think feeding every 2 weeks would cause an issue. The snake should still grow and have enough nutrition to perch all day and roam at night. With that said, I do not see a problem with feeding an adult every 7 days as long as the animal is acting normally and not obese.

Green trees will dangle the lower part of their tail to attract food in the wild. Notice, it's a different color. Typically black, my PNG is blue. Try a day time feeding. I get off work around 5 and go home and feed without any issue. Offering multiple meats together will stress the snake. I strongly recommend at least 3 day break before your next attempt. Moving the mouse across the cage might help create a responce.

as you can see, asp and myself have different methods. I wouldn't say either one is wrong, so many people do it so many different ways and a lot of them seem to work out fine. Hit up moreliaviridis.yuku.com and you'll find a ton of information a long with people more than willing to help.


Edit to post on asp, who was typing while I was.

It's a biak type.
Cheapest light you can get that he can not see (debatable) is a standard red light for heating.

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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069

Oh, great info. I will try that next time mine refuses a meal. Thanks.

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No worries.

I recommend you also check out Greg Maxwell's site (so long as you are not on a Mac...) for so good quick and dirty info and if you like what you read there then get his book.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by DavidG

as you can see, asp and myself have different methods. I wouldn't say either one is wrong, so many people do it so many different ways and a lot of them seem to work out fine.

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Yes indeed and I was not trying to say you were wrong :) My concern was more that, as an unsexed, it was a youngin and 2 weeks without for a youngin might cause problems...

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Cheapest light you can get that he can not see (debatable) is a standard red light for heating.

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You can get CF black lights for pretty cheap. And I was not shooting so much for not see as not disturb much. Black lights throw a softer glow (that some will argue is akin to moonlight, not sure I buy that but...) than a flashlight. That softer glow would allow him to see the snake and such without the harder glaring light of a flash light :)

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=86766

This is his post with pics. Might help you out with age.

Thanks for the link. I'll look it over. Have to run now but I'll check this first thing in the a.m. when I get to work.

ANd DS, if you ned a good vet who knows chondros let me know. I know a guy here in Atl.

Thanks guys. I don't have a scale but id say he is around 100 grams or more.

And yes i heat the mouse up with a hair dryer.

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Originally Posted by DSGB

And yes i heat the mouse up with a hair dryer.

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Seems overly complicated to me. Why not just a bowl of hot water?

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Originally Posted by DavidG

Seems overly complicated to me. Why not just a bowl of hot water?

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Most of my chondros will not accept wet mice....strike, wrap, and drop. Hot water and a bag work ok. I just use a lamp or heat pad. Sometimes steam heat works great too. I know several people that use hair dryers.

Will, I wouldn't worry too much about chondros feeding every time you offer. I have some males that eat only 10-12 meals per year. One male in particular is 14 years old and a breeding machine. Females rarely refuse food with the exception of shedding, reproduction, or illness. There are plenty of tricks to getting them to feed.

Thanks Brandon and everyone else. I'm just gonna leave him be for a week or so and offer again. The first time he ate for me was during the day, maybe ill try that again. He seems a bit more aware and spunky today on his new perch.

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Originally Posted by asplundii

Chondros caudal lure. Sometimes, if you gently tap/bump the tip of their tail with the food item, it will elicit an instinctual feed response.

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Sorry to bring up an old post, but I just wanted to say that I did try the tail tapping method with my new Chondro, and it worked like a charm. He refused a f/t mouse one week, and started to the next week. I was about to give up, but remembered this post. I gently tapped his tail with the mouse a few times, and he struck, coiled, and ate. Thanks again asplundii!

Great news, He ate, crapped and had a complete shed all between 2-8a.m. last night now he is nice and firey.

sounds like it didn't want to eat due to a shed coming on. now you know for next time on this guy! it seems (and maybe someone else will back me up on this) that these guys have their own individual ways of doing things. so this may be a pattern for your GTP.

Yeah it was kinda hard to tell when he started his shed cycle cause he is so yellow. I thought he looked a bit dull but wasnt sure. I love this snake more and more every week!!

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Originally Posted by DSGB

Yeah it was kinda hard to tell when he started his shed cycle cause he is so yellow.

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It does not get any easier when they are all green LOL. One giveaway is the eyes, mine always has a distinct haze to her eyes when she is in the blue.

Still learning more and more about chondros everyday!!! I learn better from experience but Gregs book has helped out a bunch!

My guy turns blue. One of them. The others it's a gamble.
not in shed
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...ure11011-1.jpg
opaque
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...e11014redo.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...e11026redo.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...e11027redo.jpg