JCP keeps saying no . . . to food

[reptileexperts]

Hi all,

Long time keeper / breeder, first time Morelia owner. I purchased 4 Carpet Pythons in the last 3 weeks, and one of them is starting to show possible signs of a very bad feeding issue. The first meal was taken right away 2 days after the shipment arrived. It was a Frozen Thawed Rat pup. Since then feeding time has past twice without any desire to take the food. The first time she was fed in cage, worked fantastic no issues. Second time tried the same, no luck, left the food in there for an hour, no long. This was at 8 PM, their lights are off at 7 PM and on at 8 AM right now. Fed the next morning (offered food) again, no luck. This was the same prey size / type that was offered on the first feeding.

Four days later, I went ahead and tried again, rejected in cage. Moved to a feeding tank, again refused and just looked at me like I'm the dumb one. Tried an old faithful turn to trick with colubrids and placed her in a paper bag with the frozen/thawed/warmed prey. Again, nothing she just constantly tried to escape. Waited till the next feeding day 3 days later offered in cage. Nothing. Her sister eats like a champ and feeds right in the cage. Their future Sire also eats like a champ and is already on his second shed since I first got him. I usually don't worry too much with this stuff till I know there's a problem, but right now I'm just missing the tricks and was hoping someone had a trick I haven't tried yet.

The cage is spot cleaned every 2 days right now. All snakes have been routinely deficating, including the one who is refusing food. No mites have been found, they have a daylight bulb that provides air heat, and they have a heating pad regulated with an on/off thermostat. The ground temperature hovers around 87.5 and the air temperature around 85 at mid and 90 at the highest basking point. The cool side of the tank is 77 and during the night the cool side drops down to 75 but the UTH stays constant at 87.5 to provide heat during the night.

I have a new shipment of frozen thawed on the way from Rodent Pro, went ahead and ordered a bag of hoppers just incase she will take to a mouse (hoping its not an imprint problem - but have to wait for that shipment).

Here are the snakes for those who are curious, I'll add photos of the fourth one who arrives tomorrow morning (Pure Coastal Jag, Kerry King Dam VPI Sire offspring by Caponetto).



Male, Simba



First Female, Nala



Second Female, Canon - This is the girl with the eating issue.

Cheers

[The Serpent Merchant]

Are the F/T rats heated to 100 degrees?

Do they have perches in their tanks? if so have you tried feeding her from the perch (mine loves this)

I wouldn't be too worried yet. you could try leaving a F/T in over night and see what happens.

For the most part Carpets are eating machines but there are some who have issues.

[reptileexperts]

Yes Perches, Yes heated via hot water (not sticking a probe in the rats), when shes on the perch I get her to smell the prey but she just ignores it after the fact.

Today I even went to the local pet shop and bought live rat pinkies and a live fuzzy. Both were rejected. She acted interested in the Fuzzy for a good bit, but never tried anything, she just ignores the pinky 100%.

Also, anytime I have offered food I have turned off the lights just incase there is a "heat" problem for discerning food.

[reptileexperts]

Left a rat pink in the cage with her overnight. No go pink was resting on the UTH side of the cage under her perch. . . New female did come in this morning though and she is a stunner!

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Maybe the prey is too small?? If your babies are as small as the one I just got then they should be taking something slightly bigger than a mouse fuzzy. Look at my "Kings first feeding" thread, and a but further down there's another one I posted when I first brought him home from NARBC. He's pretty small but he ate a barely weaned mouse and had it swallowed before I even had a chance to take more pics.

The week previous to this I had offered a large fuzzy and he showed no interest.


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*Factoid: "There are no such things as Hogg Island or Columbian boas"

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Oh I see where you offered a rat fuzzy.. Ok I thought you'd offered a mouse fuzzy. Well that should be big enough then. Maybe try offering a weaned mouse. Since mine ate tonight I'll offer a rat fuzz next time and get him onto rats right away, but he took the mouse wean fast.


----> Signature <----
*Factoid: "There are no such things as Hogg Island or Columbian boas"

[The Serpent Merchant]

Maybe the prey is too small?? If your babies are as small as the one I just got then they should be taking something slightly bigger than a mouse fuzzy. Look at my "Kings first feeding" thread, and a but further down there's another one I posted when I first brought him home from NARBC. He's pretty small but he ate a barely weaned mouse and had it swallowed before I even had a chance to take more pics.

The week previous to this I had offered a large fuzzy and he showed no interest.


----> Signature <----
*Factoid: "There are no such things as Hogg Island or Columbian boas"

x2

Carpets can eat huge meals compared to their size. When I got my carpet he weighed 40 grams. I started him on mouse hoppers and then quickly switched him onto similarly sized rats.

[coldbloodaddict]

I think you're stressing the snake plus yourself out offering food too often and in too many different ways...

Leave the snake completely alone for a week then drop a live hopper/small mouse in it's enclosure...If that doesn't work, wait a week and try again...

[reptileexperts]

Yeah, the snake in question is being left alone at the moment and hasn't had a meal offering in about 5 days, waiting till the Rodent Pro order comes in and we'll see if she takes her meal then. Again, none of the others have any issues, and are all taking onto Rats. I have some Dark Hoppers coming in that I feed my Hog-nosed, I'm going to attempt to get her started eating again on these and see if there's any change. If not I'll proceed to trying live hopper, I have tried live rats already with absolutely no interest in them. Prey size has been offered from normal size to lower to higher. She is also only drinking from the glass in her coil, not sure how common this is, the other snakes have been drinking from the bowl for the most part, even my male that refuses to get off of his vines under the light (he stays there till the lights go out then wanders around for a few hours). I have been misting the cage glass every other day and she continues to drink in this fashion. We will see. . . Are JCP prone to large enclosure stress like GTP? I am having a cage wall built very soon and want to get them into the new life cages as soon as possible as they will have a lot better temperature and humidity controls, but I don't want to expose them to a 2x2x2 or 3x2x2 or 4x2x2 cage untill they are ready (Male gets the 2x2x2, female JCP's each get a 3x2x2, and the Coastal gets a 4x2x2). Thoughts?

[reptileexperts]

Female just took a mouse! I got my shipment of Rodent Pro in and ordered some Dark Hoppers for my Hog-nosed. These worked GREAT, she got excited about her food, but wouldn't take it. So I offered it to the male in the other tank and he ate it quick. I prepared a second one this time popping its stomach and letting it bleed out. I rubbed the face with the blood from the inside and made sure the hopper was around 100 Degrees F. This time when I offered the food she got VERY excited and went into S- feeding pose. I set the mouse on her perch and she instantly grabbed it. The feeding delay is over! Very excited