Heyeveryone my name is Mike I have had large pythons for about 10 years now right now I currently just have a baby reticulated python that I have purchased from LLL reptile he is amazing so tame and I just love him. I got him early October maybe late September he was eating large adult mice now he's already eating medium rats one bad thing about him that I've discovered is that he will not eat frozen food so I have no choice but to feed him life and I've went as far as to not feed him an entire month and he still would not respond to frozen food. Sorry about a couple of spelling and typos I may have I am speaking into my phone rather than typing I have a hard time typing. Anyway here's kind of finicky you want to comes to food for the first few months the mice were fine he ate them everything was great he does not eat during shed ever or even respond to food. Right now he has approximately 4 feet and about 1 pound exactly with about 1 inch at the widest part of his body. He devoured 150 g rat about three weeks ago so he's definitely due for another feeding now I have a 200 g rat due to the lack of life food supply around here that's just waiting for him. I tried feeding him Wednesday but then realize he was in the middle of :cens0r::cens0r::cens0r::cens0r: he just said his skin last night. About 10 minutes ago I just offered to live rat to him it is a large 200 g rat almost half his
body weight. he can easily take it we are talking about the gods of snakes here. Of course a meal like this I would wait about 3 weeks for next feeding. I like feeding larger prey less often. anyway I just put the rat in and he showed a little bit of interest in it but there has been no action yet and has been almost an hour the right is pretty still and is staying in one place I am trying to coax him over to the snake but I don't want to scare him either. I know they are ambush hunters but shouldn't he be more excited such as going after the rat or being a little more excited that the right is in there because he seems like he's not doing much at all except just sitting like he was for a few days now. So my question is could he not be feeding because he just shed last night would that have anything to do with it? Or am I just being impatient and need to leave the right in there longer and let nature take it's course. I have just always thought that the snake would immediately go after the right and there wouldn't be much of a mate waiting game. Also could it be the fact that the rat is too large I was thinking that but I also thought that it's not much larger than the last right he ate and I know he can handle it so why would he really think differently. He has to be hungry and also the rat is Brown has rats that he usually eats or white could I have anything to do with it. Just looking for some advice here I just want to make sure that he feeds and feed regularly and has a strong feeding response so if I should take the right out and wait a few days or I should leave him in there whatever you guys suggest I do any pointers would be helpful. It is very hard for me to find live rats in my area I have tried frozen way too much of this literally just not going to work once he is on two rabbits I will have easier access due to the fact of that Thursa lot of poultry shops around here that carry chickens rabbits docs etc. I am just wondering and easier approach to feed him something I should do every time I feed him maybe away I offer the rat should I cook the road toward him or should I just let him wait and stuck it out the cage is about a 40 breeder tank that I kind of made out of wood so it is pretty large but still I would think that he should go right for it. It is very cold around here right now I do the best to keep the temperatures right the hot side always remains about mid 90s to to the under tank heating pad so about one third of the cage is always mid-nineties for him to bask there's also the cooler side which during the day reaches low 80s and an ambient of about 80 something to Greece doing today the hardest part is that night at night it can reach the low 70s all around but he still has his heat pad so I was told that that is okay as long as he has his heat pad and he just ate a few weeks ago so I don't. Believe that the temperatures could have anything to do with it he seems to move back-and-forth frequently so he must have a good set up. Again sorry for the grammatical errors and I hope anyone can help me pictures and the way you guys handle your snakes and how you feed life would be great thanks so much I'm glad to come to this forum I hope it was I hope it is going to be very educational and help me raise my guy right. I am trying to add pictures of him and his enclosure if anyone could help me to do this and explain how it's done I'd be glad to show you thanks again