Spot, and his Crazy Antics

[MoreliAddict]

Hi all!

Some of you are familiar with Spot, my granite carpet python who I've shown off on this site a few times (click the link in my sig for pics :D). He's always had very strange eating habits, and I'm making this thread in hopes to figure out weather or not his behavior is "normal".

Spot is a male, Irian Jaya Carpet Python. Spot's about 2 years old, and his sheds measure to just short of 3.5 feet.

When I first brought Spot home, he refused to eat for me. I tried him on f/t for a month or two, and figured that maybe he only takes live. I gave him a live rat, and sure enough, he took it - this was the first time Spot ate for me. I offered him another live rat the next week, no luck. No luck with live the week after, either.

I contacted the breeder at this point, and was told that Spot has always eaten f/t well:confused:...

At this point, since live feeding wasn't giving me the success I'd really hoped for, I went back to trying frozen thawed. About a month or so after he ate that live rat, he took a f/t rat right off the tongs for me. At this point I decided to never offer him live again.

I offered him another frozed rat the next week, this time he took it. I was very happy that he had eaten two weeks in a row since he's been so hard to get feeding. I continued to offer food weekly, and sure enough, Spot took about 6-7 rats in a row (all being offered every 7 days, and he shed within this time).

Then, after a handful of consecutive successful feedings, Spot stopped eating for me. I continued to offer once a week, a month passed, and Spot decided to eat for me again, this was about a month ago. I thought it was weird that Spot went from eating every week, to waiting a month before eating again, shedding had nothing to do with this. Now, over the past month, Spot again won't eat for me. The last rat he took was a month ago, and it was another month when he took the one before that.

I know Carpet Pythons to be voracious, Spot's extremely reluctant. He eats maybe once a month, and I offer food every week to 2 weeks. Is this normal??

Thanks to all in advance

[marvelfreak]

What size do you feed him? It sound like he just not very hungry i would try just offering food once every 3 weeks and see if he eats.

[CDN_Blood]

In my experience, the majority of IJs are fussy eaters and don't normally have the appetite that other Carpets have. That tends to lead their keepers to bend to their wills and start odd feeding routines and trying too hard to get them to eat that it can turn them off of the idea of food. It can also see them develop strange eating habits, so my advice is to stick to f/t rats of larger proportions and only try every few weeks. It'll eat when it's hungry enough.

If you start offering other things to get it interested, it can develop a taste for only those off-beat things - I've seen that a lot with IJs and it can cause the keeper more stress than it does for the snake itself.

[MoreliAddict]

What size do you feed him? It sound like he just not very hungry i would try just offering food once every 3 weeks and see if he eats.
I feed him medium sized rats. If he takes, I wait 10-14 days. Can't get him to take 2 in a row. Yeah, I'm starting to feel he doesn't get hungry too quickly.

[MoreliAddict]

In my experience, the majority of IJs are fussy eaters and don't normally have the appetite that other Carpets have. That tends to lead their keepers to bend to their wills and start odd feeding routines and trying too hard to get them to eat that it can turn them off of the idea of food. It can also see them develop strange eating habits, so my advice is to stick to f/t rats of larger proportions and only try every few weeks. It'll eat when it's hungry enough.

If you start offering other things to get it interested, it can develop a taste for only those off-beat things - I've seen that a lot with IJs and it can cause the keeper more stress than it does for the snake itself.
This makes alot of sense, after reading it I'm not really worried about Spot. I appreciate the feedback. Since he took his first f/t rat with me I've been dead set on only offering f/t rats for the rest of his life.

http://www.lilwaynehq.com/forums/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

[shaunyboy]

I feed him medium sized rats. If he takes, I wait 10-14 days. Can't get him to take 2 in a row. Yeah, I'm starting to feel he doesn't get hungry too quickly.

imo at his present size,if he's taking a medium rat monthly,i wouldn't worry mate

a few irians i've worked with were wierd feeders compaired to other carpets

cheers shaun

[MoreliAddict]

So Spot has been voracious lately. Always out, and hasn't missed a feed basically since I started this thread (and started offering slightly smaller prey). He takes it off the tongs with alot of force, and stays in feeding mode for like 12-18 hours (look at my avy, that's his expression now whenever I open the cage). He's also had a bit of a growth spurt since I made this thread. I also upped him from a 2 X 2 to a 3 X 2 and he seems a bit happier so that's good :D

[Tekpc007]

i notice i much better feeding response by using a blow dryer on the rodents for a good 2 minutes. i think it makes them smell more and of sourse the heat pits ' light up ' . Since doing the blow dryer thing i have had zero issues feeding finicky snakes.

[Necrias]

I have a burm that is the same way, he will eat great for 6-8 weeks then for another 6-8 weeks he will forget what food is yet constantly cruise his cage and act hungry. So in the year I have had him he eats on average only once ever 3-4 weeks. I've just accepted the fact that he may be the dumbest snake on earth lol.

[MoreliAddict]

I have a burm that is the same way, he will eat great for 6-8 weeks then for another 6-8 weeks he will forget what food is yet constantly cruise his cage and act hungry. So in the year I have had him he eats on average only once ever 3-4 weeks. I've just accepted the fact that he may be the dumbest snake on earth lol.
That's identical to Spot's behavior. I've learned to accept it to.

But, I'm pretty sure that he eats more consistently when I feed him slightly smaller prey...

[shaunyboy]

That's identical to Spot's behavior. I've learned to accept it to.

But, I'm pretty sure that he eats more consistently when I feed him slightly smaller prey...

my black and white diamond jungle preffers smaller prey items

she would rather have 2 or 3 small rats,to say 1 medium or large rat

she's the ONLY carpet i have with this weird prey size prefference

cheers shaun

[MoreliAddict]

Just wanted to update everyone on this.

For months now, since I've made this thread, I've had Spot feeding 100% consistently, every week.


But, I'm pretty sure that he eats more consistently when I feed him slightly smaller prey...

He's simply reluctant to take prey that's the size of a medium rat, unless he's real hungry. When I was only offering mediums, he'd only take every couple months, because he was just that hungry.

I have been offering him 2 small rats (back to back) every 7 days, he's been eating both of them every week, for months.

Earlier this week, because I was having so much success with him, I offered a nice medium rat. Spot wanted nothing to do with it. Last night, (4 days later), I offered him a small rat and he snatched it off the tongs as I was lifting the rat to the enclosure, no hesitation. He also took a second one from me after that (with a bit less intensity as the first one).

Thanks again for everyone's help, and my word of advice is to know what your snakes preferences are...

[shaunyboy]

imo its really good that you finished this thread,with all the relevant info mate:cool:

cheers shaun