Overactive carpet?

Moreau · 01-08-15, 11:16 AM

I have a 2012 male diamond jungle jag and he is extremely active. Almost hyper active. He does have neuro issues as well, so when he is roaming his cage constantly he is upside down half the time. He is in a 45 x 28 x 12 pvc cage, he has perches, and it is heated by heat tape. He hardly ever perches, mostly is on the ground.

Is this a common thing for a male to be this active? He seems to be on the move all the time. I feed him a medium rat every one to two weeks. I will be upping him to large though soon, as I think medium is getting too small for him. Could this be a hunger thing? Or a mating thing? I have no females old enough to breed him, my oldest is only three, and she is an IJ and not what I would choose to mate him too anyway. None of my other snakes are this active.

**millertime89** · 01-08-15, 11:32 AM

Could be hunger, could be mating, could be he's looking for a more comfortable place, or it could be he just wants to. Some of my snakes will be hanging out and then for whatever reason they just decide to start cruising. My Motley retic did this at about 12am last night when I was trying to sleep and she kept sliding her water bowl around. Very annoying. It could also be the neuro issues. I would just pay a little more attention to him and check for mites as he could be trying to itch them.

Moreau · 01-08-15, 12:00 PM

Definitely no mites. I wouldn't worry if he was only doing it now and then, but he does it a couple days after he eats and then pretty continuously. I wonder what would make him more comfortable..... Strange boy. I guess the neuro issues could be a factor, as he is my only jag I can't compare to any others.

**millertime89** · 01-08-15, 01:01 PM

Sounds like he's searching for food since he starts to do it a few days after he eats. Correlation is not causation but it's not exactly possible to ask him what he's doing. If you want to dig further I would alter the feeding schedule and see if his pattern changes or stays the same. Maybe offer a smaller meal and then the day before you would expect him to start being active offer another smaller meal to see if he still does it or not. At this point I'm just throwing out ideas though.

Moreau · 01-08-15, 01:09 PM

Thanks millertime89, that is a good suggestion. I can also try a larger meal and see if he stays sated longer.

Zelg · 01-30-15, 05:26 PM

I recently have been having trouble with going from large mice to small rats (pet store hear only has small sized rats). He's taken really small sized rats befroe but the store began only carrying a slightly larger size for their smalls i guess.Trough my trial and errors I've decided on going with two small mice, one after another and spaced apart about 30-40 minutes after I see him finish eating (I wait for my BP to go back into his hide before I toss the other one in). He's back to eating regularly without refusing food. Once he's a little bigger I'll go with the small sized rats again.

Also, I realize this is specifically a carpet question but I figured many snakes (or owners?) share the same feeding issues, so just a thought

marvelfreak · 01-31-15, 06:36 AM

Sounds like on the hunt for food or mate. Just because there's no females of age doesn't mean he still won't get the urge.

sunkissedpython · 02-01-15, 12:34 PM

One trick I always learned with feeding, especially for a snake that sounds like yours..is during feeding time to introduce a second meal after he finishes the first. I personally noticed I got a better response when I did that verses just trying to feed bigger prey items. Some snakes I've had really just need an extra snack here and there to keep their growing selves content