live feeding blues..

[roseyoungblood]

Yesterday I successfully fed my new carpet python a p/k adult mouse, which she took like an entitled princess--no strike & constrict, just gobbled it up. The fact she fed so quickly & easily made me a little annoyed when I went back to the shop today for 2 live pinkies for my ball python. I've tried to feed him p/k but all he'll be receptive to are the live ones.

To get him to eat even those he him-haws around them for a few hours & then randomly attacks. Today he was constricting one & got the foot of the other caught in his death grip. He then left it injured and in pain for another hour or so before deciding it would be a tasty morsel after all. It's a great sign that he's eating regularly now but I'm a little disheartened that he continues to require live. I tried to feed him live off tongs to get him used to p/k but my success rate with that, even live, was not frequently enough. Instead, he lost weight.

Any suggestions, or do I have a permanent live eater on my hands after all?

[The Serpent Merchant]

Are you feeding a BP mouse pinkies? Even BP's right out of the egg can and should be on mouse hoppers. Try bumping you the rodent size and see what happens.

[Mike41793]

Also putting 2 prey items in at the same time may be overwhelming or confusing him.

[roseyoungblood]

I successfully fed him a small hopper live after he refused p/k fuzzies, next he refused another small hopper, then a fuzzy live, then he refused live fuzzies for 2 weeks, ate another, then refused, I then tried 2 live pinkies 'cause they were out of fuzzies again & ever since then he's eaten live pinks like clockwork. He's even getting ready to shed & still accepted my...offering (it's what it feels like lol).

[heathers*bps]

What size is this snake and what type of setup do you have him in? What is your husbandry like? ( temps, humidity, how you're reading them, etc. )

[Mike41793]

I have no idea what you just said lmao. Im not trying to be the grammar police but seperating that huge list into a few sentences would be nice...

[KatStoverReptiles]

Have you tried something larger? Perhaps something that moves around a bit more will stimulate his feeding response and at least get him feeding regularly. Mouse pinkies and fuzzies are awful small for even the littlest of bps...

[roseyoungblood]

I have no idea what you just said lmao. Im not trying to be the grammar police but seperating that huge list into a few sentences would be nice...

Sorry I do all my internetting from a small phone so sometimes grammar suffers as a result.

Anyway he's kept in a 10 gal on aspen. currently reading 89° on the hot side 77° on the cool side with digital thermometers. The heat sources are a night heat lamp & uth. Humidity is 50% though it fluctuates a little. He's approximately 1.5', a little on the skinny side. Shown no obvious signs of stress for quite awhile now & is only handled about 3x each week.

[The Serpent Merchant]

Sorry I do all my internetting from a small phone so sometimes grammar suffers as a result.

Anyway he's kept in a 10 gal on aspen. currently reading 89° on the hot side 77° on the cool side with digital thermometers. The heat sources are a night heat lamp & uth. Humidity is 50% though it fluctuates a little. He's approximately 1.5', a little on the skinny side. Shown no obvious signs of stress for quite awhile now & is only handled about 3x each week.

If you don't have a thermostat for your UTH, it might be too hot (they can easily get up to 130 degrees which is enough to burn & even kill a snake) do your thermometers have probes? and if so is a probe directly over the UTH?

[The Serpent Merchant]

Sorry I do all my internetting from a small phone so sometimes grammar suffers as a result.

I feel you on that one, I try to keep my grammar as correct as possible but auto-correct and screen size make that very difficult. (I find myself editing most of my posts to fix issues lol)