Stubborn JCP

MDT · 03-25-13, 05:42 PM

My large "most likely to be female" JCP for some reason decided to go off food around November. I figured "ok, this happens...I'll keep offering on schedule and eventually she'll start eating". Well, She didn't. At least the large rats she was eating previously. Up until November, she was pounding down a large rat every 10 days. She's currently at about 2000 gm. Still looks healthy, she's active and has good tone. While I was feeding my smaller snakes medium mice, I had a few extra thawed out and thought "why not, lets see if she'll eat them". Well, she did. She ate the mice like she was pissed at them. Now if I give her a mouse she'll eat it, but refusing rats. I can scent the rats with mice, I can make sure they're warm, whatever, but she has reverted to mice

Any thought on converting her back? I'll have to feed her a butt load of mice to keep her fed.

charlesc84 · 03-25-13, 06:23 PM

Sometimes my carpets are apprehensive with larger prey. I would try a medium sized rat and see what happens.

Terranaut · 03-25-13, 07:20 PM

I had the same issue but I never gave in to mice. Mine was big enough to take a 2lb bunny so I tried that and she took it. Try giving her rats the same size as the mice and go from there. Be patient. They can go months without food and be fine.

MDT · 03-25-13, 07:30 PM

Both great suggestions...thank you guys. I'm not hugely worried about her not eating. She's maintaining well. Her weight is actually pretty stable. It's more of a pain in the butt thing.

franks · 03-25-13, 08:49 PM

I had a very similar experience and caved and gave her a mouse just to get her eating. This is how i got her back on rats. I took a frozen mouse, put it in a ziploc bag, then broke it in half. I then put my rat in the bag and defrosted them together. By the time they defrosted the rat was pretty soaked in mouse blood. I then squeezed half of the mouse out onto the rat head. (all in the bag of course lol) She struck and took the rat no problem. Hope this helps.

shaunyboy · 03-26-13, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by franks

I had a very similar experience and caved and gave her a mouse just to get her eating. This is how i got her back on rats. I took a frozen mouse, put it in a ziploc bag, then broke it in half. I then put my rat in the bag and defrosted them together. By the time they defrosted the rat was pretty soaked in mouse blood. I then squeezed half of the mouse out onto the rat head. (all in the bag of course lol) She struck and took the rat no problem. Hope this helps.

^^^^^
this is what i would do mate

i only feed my Diamond Pythons 6 month of the year and they're thriving,so i would'nt worry too much about not feeding after a winter fast

as long as they're not rapidly losing wieght (then imo it would be a health issue causing the fast)

i scent as above minus doing it in a bag,its smelly and gross,but worth it in the end

i have even sewed mouse heads onto rats bodies,for the really stubborn mice over to rats feeders

cheers shaun