Question about JCP feeding

[radstusky]

I've heard that you can feed carpets quite large meals for their size. I ran out of the large rat fuzzies I was feeding to Leto, my JCP, and I bought some "small rats" at the local pet store.

My question is can I feed this:
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5737.jpg

To this:
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5712.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5713.jpg

It seems a bit of a stretch to me, but I wanted to get the opinion of some more experienced people here. Leto is now about 110 grams, which is about 20 grams more than in the photos here. I would say that at his thickest he is probably about the diameter of a quarter.

thanks for your input!

[stephanbakir]

He should have no trouble eating it.

[red ink]

yes and by the looks of him he should be on that size food anyway...

[radstusky]

Thanks guys, I will go ahead and plan to feed it to him tomorrow night!

[millertime89]

what weight is that rat?

[Terranaut]

Diameter of prey can be as large or slightly larger than the carpets thickest point. Length is not the key. Its thickness. Er ah yeah I just said that ;) but its true.
That looks about right.

[Lankyrob]

I try to get rats that are 3times the girth of my JCP - he has one every 14 days. My JCP is about 5ft and my SD Retic is about 6.5ft and they both took the same size prey at the last feed.

[shaunyboy]

he will take that rat with ease mate

carpets will take 2,3,4 times their girth in prey sizes

i feed mines 1 large meal every few weeks,i preffer that to feeding smaller meals more frequent

all my carpets thrive on this diet

nice looking carpet you got there

cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

I try to get rats that are 3times the girth of my JCP - he has one every 14 days. My JCP is about 5ft and my SD Retic is about 6.5ft and they both took the same size prey at the last feed.


its amazing what a carpet python will take with ease rob,aint it :shocked:

cheers shaun

[Lankyrob]

its amazing what a carpet python will take with ease rob,aint it :shocked:

cheers shaun


Too right - he was fed AFTER doc and finished BEFORE him and was cruising around looking for more!

[shaunyboy]

Too right - he was fed AFTER doc and finished BEFORE him and was cruising around looking for more!

just gotta love carpets .....!!!

[radstusky]

Well, I put the rat in there a little while ago, and he came right out to investigate it. It seems that he isn't going for it just now though unfortunately. I'll leave it in there for a while (since I'm heading out to play some darts!) and see if he takes it. I think that you're all right that it's not too big, it could be that he's getting ready for a shed or something like that. Hopefully he'll eat it because I'd hate to see it go to waste!

Do you think I'd have better luck if I offered it with tongs?

[Lankyrob]

I use tongs and also heat the skull up nice and HOT, give it a nice target to aim for :)

[red ink]

Too right - he was fed AFTER doc and finished BEFORE him and was cruising around looking for more!


My male JCP gets fed a 150gm rat every 10 days or so.... third day after a feed the bugger assumes his usual position and the rat he ate is still evident in a buldge lol...

three days after a feed you find him like this (ambush position in front of the hide)....

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/Red-Ink-Buldogs/Greyham/b72f86b1.jpg

[shaunyboy]

Well, I put the rat in there a little while ago, and he came right out to investigate it. It seems that he isn't going for it just now though unfortunately. I'll leave it in there for a while (since I'm heading out to play some darts!) and see if he takes it. I think that you're all right that it's not too big, it could be that he's getting ready for a shed or something like that. Hopefully he'll eat it because I'd hate to see it go to waste!

Do you think I'd have better luck if I offered it with tongs?

i heat all my prey items up with a hairdryer,always giving the head an extra heat

i then offer with feeding tongs,by doing the dead mouse dance,shaking it around in front of the snake.with this method,all my carpets strike feed off feeding tongs

cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

My male JCP gets fed a 150gm rat every 10 days or so.... third day after a feed the bugger assumes his usual position and the rat he ate is still evident in a buldge lol...

three days after a feed you find him like this (ambush position in front of the hide)....

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/Red-Ink-Buldogs/Greyham/b72f86b1.jpg

its a great sight to see a carpet in hunting position

i have 14 carpet pythons on the wall at the end of my bed,its amazing to see them all in hunting mode at the same time,coming up to feeding time

all from the comfort of my own bed :bouncy:

your jungles colouring up really nicely red ink,i can't wait to see what he produces once up to size bred with your female:shocked:

cheers shaun

[bladeblaster]

thats just a snack for a carpet :freakedout:

[radstusky]

So he ended up not eating the rat unfortunately, so I put it in the fridge for now. I plan to heat it up again (using hot water) and then trying again tomorrow night using tongs.

[millertime89]

stick it back in the freezer, not the fridge

[shaunyboy]

stick it back in the freezer, not the fridge

i NEVER re freeze prey,i just wouldn't take the chance

like i would not re freeze a steak,i defrosted but didn't cook for myself

its just my personal prefference and i'm not having a go at you mate

cheers shaun

[millertime89]

I know man, we all do things differently, just saying if he's going to save it for later, better the freezer than the fridge.

[radstusky]

He finally shed yesterday so last night I tried the same rat again. Unfortunately he didn't eat it this time either. I left in in there all night so I've discarded it at this point. I'd like to find a little bit smaller rat to try since this is a big jump in size from the large rat fuzzy he had the last time he ate. Someone gave me a chick to try, does anyone know how JCP's like chicks?

Since he shed, of course I had to take a few pics:

http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5747.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5751.jpg

[millertime89]

they're semi-arboreal so I'm sure they'll take it eventually

[radstusky]

I tried feeding the chick last night then and... success! The chick was about the same size as the rat. Here are some feeding pics:

http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5758.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5759.jpghttp://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5760.jpg
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5761.jpg
Here you can see the letter "Y" on his side is all stretched out
http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af102/Stuart_Miller/100_5767.jpg

[shaunyboy]

try covering a rat in chicks blood and guts to see if he will take rats

you can also use a needle and syringe to extract the chicks yolk sac and squirt that over the rat (i've seen more success with the chick blood method)

it can be very very difficult to get carpets off chicks once they get a taste for them

carpets eating chicks tend to have the most horrible smelling poo ever mate

also it takes a lot of chicks to feed an adult carpet

glad he fed for you,thats a great looking feeding bulge he has there

cheers shaun

[radstusky]

I hope he has no problem going back to rats as I don't plan to keep him on chicks, especially if it'll make his poo smell bad! I'll give him plenty of time to digest this big meal.

Thanks for your info Shaun. Cheers!



try covering a rat in chicks blood and guts to see if he will take rats

you can also use a needle and syringe to extract the chicks yolk sac and squirt that over the rat (i've seen more success with the chick blood method)

it can be very very difficult to get carpets off chicks once they get a taste for them

carpets eating chicks tend to have the most horrible smelling poo ever mate

also it takes a lot of chicks to feed an adult carpet

glad he fed for you,thats a great looking feeding bulge he has there

cheers shaun

[shaunyboy]

I hope he has no problem going back to rats as I don't plan to keep him on chicks, especially if it'll make his poo smell bad! I'll give him plenty of time to digest this big meal.

Thanks for your info Shaun. Cheers!

my friends jungle only ate chicks and its poo was the runniest stinky poo i'd seen in a long time:eek:

it was smelly stuff :shocked::no::yes:

please let us know how his next feed goes mate

cheers shaun