I presume that you are talking about Australian olive pythons, because of my 5 Papuan olive pythons, I've never had a difficult feeder (including two docile imports). I have had 2 Australian olive pythons for a bit over a year. One is readily taking live mice at this point although it took a few months of assist feeding first. The other one I assist fed hopper mice to for about a year until it will now sporadically take brained mice on its own if left overnight in the cage. I saw brained quail on your list, but not brained mice. It is a long shot, but you may want to give it a try. It seems that my Australian olives feed better when kept cooler than my other pythons (lower 80's for basking area rather than lower 90's), but I wouldn't swear to a correlation.

At this point, I'd probably trade my pair of Australian olive pythons for a pair of young fuscus as I hear they are a much easier Liasis and arguably prettier even if they sell for less. Conversely, I probably wouldn't trade my prized Papuan olive pythons (a completely different snake, in a different genus, but with a similar name) for any other similar snake- they are a fascinating species and an easy captive.

If you figure out a trick for the Australians, I'd love to know.

Bryant King

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