carpet not eating

[CopperNightShade]

I have offered my hatchling carpet frozen and thawed mouse and rat... nothing is even getting a strike! I have tried to feed inside the enclosure as well as in a separate feeding tub.

It has been 4 weeks since his first and last meal since he has been with me.

Help?

[mainbutter]

First - contact whoever you purchased it from, let them know the situation and ask for help, they may know a bit about the snake and its habits before leaving their care.

Second - what do YOU know about this snakes habits before and after you acquired it? How are you keeping it? What did it eat the first and only time? What kind of carpet python is it? How big is it?

Third - you may need to try live, try to find a source of live RATS. Carpet pythons are notorious for being difficult, if not impossible, to switch from mice to rats later in life. I've never fed a mouse to any of my carpet pythons and never will.

A couple tips on feeding:

Feed at night. They are nocturnal, and I always get pretty extreme feeding responses after lights-out.

Make sure the feeder is pretty darn warm, heat signatures detected by heat pits will signal the snake to potential prey.

We have a picky BRB who feeds consistently by placing him in a tupperware (with air holes poked in it), lid on, with a thawed feeder in it. I have found the technique also works well with a picky hognose snake of mine.

Hit up moreliapythons.com, a great morelia forum with plenty of carpet python keepers. I've never had to deal with picky carpet pythons *knock on wood* so far, but you may find some carpet-specific suggestions over there from people who have had to deal with picky carpets.

[LizardPants]

A carpet refusing food is much more cause for alarm than a ball, so I second everything mainbutter says above. Do everything he said.

[CopperNightShade]

First - contact whoever you purchased it from, let them know the situation and ask for help, they may know a bit about the snake and its habits before leaving their care.

Second - what do YOU know about this snakes habits before and after you acquired it? How are you keeping it? What did it eat the first and only time? What kind of carpet python is it? How big is it?

Third - you may need to try live, try to find a source of live RATS. Carpet pythons are notorious for being difficult, if not impossible, to switch from mice to rats later in life. I've never fed a mouse to any of my carpet pythons and never will.

A couple tips on feeding:

Feed at night. They are nocturnal, and I always get pretty extreme feeding responses after lights-out.

Make sure the feeder is pretty darn warm, heat signatures detected by heat pits will signal the snake to potential prey.

We have a picky BRB who feeds consistently by placing him in a tupperware (with air holes poked in it), lid on, with a thawed feeder in it. I have found the technique also works well with a picky hognose snake of mine.

Hit up moreliapythons.com, a great morelia forum with plenty of carpet python keepers. I've never had to deal with picky carpet pythons *knock on wood* so far, but you may find some carpet-specific suggestions over there from people who have had to deal with picky carpets.

Thank you for all of your suggestions - with your help he is no longer hungry! He must have eaten the live rat pink I left in his tank overnight, because it is missing and he weighs more. Wewt. I hate to feed live, though. Will I ever be able to switch him over to frozen, thawed rats?

Just so you know, he is a mutt carpet (coastal/jungle/diamond.) The breeder couldn't tell me much about him because he had just acquired him from another source. The one time he ate for me he downed a thawed rat pink without even blinking an eye. Currently he is on paper towels with cardboard hides because he is being treated for mites. His temps are ~95F-75F.

[Colin Vestrand]

glad you got your situation taken care of.
just wanted to share a tip..... this will sound dumb, but i've had success with the most stubborn carpets.

a couple times, i've simply put them in a deli cup, and gone for a long car ride... kinda like you do when your baby won't stop crying. i'm not sure what it is about it, maybe it just takes them out of their comfort zone enough to trigger the instinct after being in a small box?

[vangarret2000]

Lower the hot side to 90. It would have been better to know how much of each carpet is in him to be able to make his habitat better. Carpets have similar husbandry but still can be differnt. Example a jungle will need s little more humidity and lower temp then a coastal would.

You mentioned you are treating him for mites? If he has mites that would be why he isn't eatting. Having mites would be stressful. Stress causes snakes to stop eatting.

Don't ever give the carpet a mouse. THey will need rats when they are full grown and you wouldn't want it to get hooked on mice.

First solve the mite problem. Then if you want it to be on f/t switch it over once the mites are all gone. If there was no issue with mites then you probably would have been able to keep feeding it f/t with no problem.

[vangarret2000]

glad you got your situation taken care of.
just wanted to share a tip..... this will sound dumb, but i've had success with the most stubborn carpets.

a couple times, i've simply put them in a deli cup, and gone for a long car ride... kinda like you do when your baby won't stop crying. i'm not sure what it is about it, maybe it just takes them out of their comfort zone enough to trigger the instinct after being in a small box?

Do you actually take the snake with you on the car ride? If so I think this is bad advice and should not be tried as a method to get a snake eatting IMO.

[Colin Vestrand]

yes, i do mean take the snake with you.

he's talking about a hatchling, which he just got from a breeder who knows no history on the animal... .i stand by my comments as they are based on experience, rather than other people's opinions on a forum. it has worked for me, and for several other associates of mine (fellow breeders).

like i said, it sounds like odd advice, but it is not BAD advice... thanks.

[vangarret2000]

yes, i do mean take the snake with you.

he's talking about a hatchling, which he just got from a breeder who knows no history on the animal... .i stand by my comments as they are based on experience, rather than other people's opinions on a forum. it has worked for me, and for several other associates of mine (fellow breeders).

like i said, it sounds like odd advice, but it is not BAD advice... thanks.

I also stand by my opinion. I think it is bad advice.

[Lolo76]

Don't ever give the carpet a mouse. THey will need rats when they are full grown and you wouldn't want it to get hooked on mice.

I've only ever fed my JCP (usually f/t) mice, since that's what I feed my other snakes - it's just a personal preference, plus I have a couple of BPs who hate rats. Is it really that big of a deal, and how many mice would he need as an adult? Sorry to hijack the thread, but this statement caught my attention. Oh, but mine is a total PIG, so he probably wouldn't be hard to switch.

And to the OP, I have a feeling the mites were contributing to his fast... I had a mite outbreak once, and the snakes who were affected refused food until they were gone. How are you treating them, btw? I used Provent-a-Mite, and with two treatments I never saw another mite.