Problem feeder

[warnerk]

I recently acquired a beautiful GTP who is almost 1 year of age, and at first I tryed feeding him live pinky rats, and it took a little bit but I did get him to finally eat the thing, but not until i covered his cage with a blanket when the lights were out did he actually swallow it. Ever since I have been attempting to feed him pre-killed pinky mice because it is next to impossible to acquire live pinky rats around here (albany NY). ANYWAY it has been exactly a month since i fed him last, and now he refuses to eat. Every time he is offered the prekilled food he hides his head immediately. He has gone through his shedding phase but i noticed there is a bit of skin still on his body in some areas. He is starting to noticeably lose weight, i need help.
http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/8417/37462010150578933160804.jpg

[lady_bug87]

Can we have some more husbandry information temps humidity, enclosure etc?

pinky mice should be waaayyy too small for a yearling. My May hatch is on mouse hoppers

GTPs can be very sensitive if anything is off even a little they can go off of food.

[warnerk]

Im going to be uploading a video of the entire enclosure along with the humidity and the snake in the next day. off the top of my head, the humidity is usually between 60-70% during the day and up to 100% at night. the temp is around 90 on the perch closest to the heat bulb and 82 on the furthest perch. at night the temp is at average 75. I will have more info very soon

[lady_bug87]

Why do you spike the humidity at night?

the temps should be OK if its used to eating rats it may not take any mice. Mine is the opposite it will not take anything rat. My advice would be to find rat pinks frozen thawed and try to feed that way. If you are really worried you may have to do an assist feed to get him/her started again

[warnerk]

I dont do anything to it, it naturally curves that way about an hour after the lights go off. then when the night bulb kicks on the humidity drops back down to about 80ish

[Gungirl]

Do you have a pic of the entire set up?

[warnerk]

Im gonna take a nice video and have it up tonight :D

[lady_bug87]

it may be a problem with ventilation. What kind of enclosure is it? The spike in humidity at night could be the issue in my opinion. Is the animal in a low traffic area of your home?

[warnerk]

very low traffic, my room the only reason i really go in there is to mist the cage and to sleep :sad: basically im the only one who really goes in there, and hes in the biggest exoterra cage they make.

[warnerk]

im sorry the enclosure is 18x18x24

[lady_bug87]

hmm I have mine in a front opening exoterra its 24x24x36 lxwxh with a screen top

[warnerk]

i have the step down from your enclosure, still open screen top and the front opens as well

[jarich]

Your temps/humidity seem pretty good (that 75 at night is a little cool, but if he is up near the top anyway then I imagine it never is in those temps) I dont think the humidity going up at night would be an issue at all. If it were to drop that might be something, but going up should make him feel like he is home. ;)

From my limited experience they take quite a while to acclimate. You said you recently got it; but how long ago was that? Do you have any foliage that he is able to hide behind while on the perch? Giving him some plants that hang between you and it will make it feel hidden and more secure. Mine didnt eat for literally a couple months after I got it, and that was after being a weekly voracious feeder with its last owner.

I wouldnt try switching the prey item as they can be very picky eaters. Its probably a big pain in the butt, however for the time being Id keep with the rat pups. Once its eating regularly in its new home, then you can think about switching things up and all that.

They are really picky things when you first get them, but if the habitat is right (and it sounds like it is) then they do get much easier. And ridiculously beautiful! :D

[warnerk]

Green Tree Python - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cufaSy2GQ_Q&context=C382d5d3ADOEgsToPDskKfpDUdD6WxCy6sdvj9_8vV )


Please just mute the sound because i accidently covered the mic pretty much throughout the whole video, i do talk about what your looking at but its next to impossible to hear

[David RB]

I suspect that the trigger to feeding or not feeding is the nocturnal temperature. You might consider raising the temperature at night such that there is a hot spot of about 28C. If I recall correctly this will equate to 82F.

[lady_bug87]

Not necessarily true, My girl's temp dips into the mid 70s at night and she feeds like a champ and is growing steadily eating mouse hoppers at 7mos

If the humidity at night is no issue I would attribute the lack of feed response to a change in prey GTPs can be picky eaters we had an issue when we initially got her with feeding. To get her to start I took the f/t prey and tickled her tail with it. Since it is my understanding that they 'fish' with the tip of it it was a natural hunting response that got her to eat. Since then the only time she refused a meal is when I offer a rat or any kind of rat smelling food item.

It could also be stressed after changing homes. Just offer food every 7-10 days and try tickling the tail and body with the food.

[David RB]

Not necessarily true, My girl's temp dips into the mid 70s at night and she feeds like a champ and is growing steadily eating mouse hoppers at 7mos

It could also be stressed after changing homes. Just offer food every 7-10 days and try tickling the tail and body with the food.

I certainly agree that chondros can be determinedly mono-phagous, not just to rat or mouse but even by the species of mouse as I discovered recently,to my cost, with an adult that had only ever eaten freshly killed house mice.
Once established then they will tolerate low night temperatures and continue to feed but this animal has recently been rehoused. This seems to be a substantial stressor to Chondros and I have often found that dormant RIs will manifest following a change in homes.
There is a lot of information on the temperatures that the Highland forms, in particular will tolerate in Karl Switak's book "Adventures in Green tree python country."

[Jenn_06]

with GTP you sometimes have to make them mad, rub the prekilled on him tap him with it just make him mad and then he will try to bite it a few times then cruel around it, worked for my little one and she never missed a meal after that.

[warnerk]

Yeah the only way i get a reaction out of the snake is when i touch him with the food but he has never struck at the mouse, he may start breathing heavy like hes about to strike but he never does. Im starting to adjust the temps a bit so that my average night temp is around the 80s, but I just noticed that he has a bunch of skin he looks like he might be trying to still shed. How is my set up? does it have everything he needs to be happy?

Green Tree Python - YouTube (http://youtu.be/cufaSy2GQ_Q)

^^^^^CLICK HERE ^^^^^

[lady_bug87]

I certainly agree that chondros can be determinedly mono-phagous, not just to rat or mouse but even by the species of mouse as I discovered recently,to my cost, with an adult that had only ever eaten freshly killed house mice.
Once established then they will tolerate low night temperatures and continue to feed but this animal has recently been rehoused. This seems to be a substantial stressor to Chondros and I have often found that dormant RIs will manifest following a change in homes.
There is a lot of information on the temperatures that the Highland forms, in particular will tolerate in Karl Switak's book "Adventures in Green tree python country."

of course, very well put.