The Wonders of Cypress Mulch

[SerpentineDream]

I added 3 young ball pythons to the crew several months ago. Two are sisters, hatchling Super Mojave BELs. One is a subadult male Mojave Spider. From the start they gave me fits not wanting to eat F/T (they were started on live). The little ones started to lose weight and I was very concerned. I had to assist feed them a few times after all the gimmicks I tried failed to get them to eat. One eventually started taking food on her own and now strikes as hard as a bullet the moment a rat pup is presented. The other sister needed to have the rat's head placed in her mouth and her body coiled around it. Then she could be put back in her enclosure and would finish it on her own. The subadult male refused to eat period, but he wasn't losing much weight and seemed OK so I didn't force him.

Temps were perfect, everyone had plenty of hides, I wasn't handling them since they weren't eating. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to get them to eat short of feeding live, which is very hard to get here.

The suggestion was made to try replacing their aspen bedding with cypress mulch. I read the article supporting it but it still just seemed too easy. But I gave it a whirl.

Last night, after a week on cypress mulch: First sister ate like a champ. Good. Second sister was offered a thawed, warmed rat pup as usual. Made it skitter around the floor a bit as if it was a live rat. Made it "walk" in her general direction. She struck, coiled and ate! Tried it with the subadult male. He was in his log hide. Didn't force him out, just made the weaned rat appear to snuffle around as usual. Poked its head into his hide so he could get a whiff, then made it start to retreat. His head shot out and he grabbed it, coiled and ate.

Nothing changed except the cypress mulch. Same temps, same methods of trying to entice them to strike.

So.... Thanks, Albert!

This is what I needed to see (and I noticed she popped her beloved TP tube and now needs a new hide!):