Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a Sumatran short tail python that is a little over one year old. I got him when he was only about 2 months old and much smaller and started him out feeding on adult mice. Hes gotten much larger and over the summer i switched him over to small rats, i realize this is a pretty big jump, but i dont have access to rat pups. Anyway, he began eating the rats with mixed results, such as striking and constricting them, but not eating them. Usually it would take several attempts at this before he would usually eat them. As it is now, its been about two weeks since he has eaten and everty time i offer him a small rat, its the same thing: strike constict and then just sit there and stare at it. Is this because he prefers mice to rats and wont eat the rats? Btw, i've been feeding f/t rats and mice. I'm gonna try to scent the rats with some frozen mice i bought and see if that brings about some success. I keep the ambient temps of the cage between 80-85 and the humidity is usually about 60-70 percent, so i'm pretty sure everything is fine there. Has anyone noticed this behavior before, of striking and constricting, but then not eating? Sorry about the long post and thanx in advance for any help you guys can give.
-----
1.0 Normal Cornsnake
1.0 Sumatran Short Tail Python

Hey,
Absolutely have this experience. It is a blood and short-tail thing. I have one male black blood, and occasional blood too, that will do this. They are adults, but once I reintroduce the food from the forcep and wiggle the food around in front of them, they usually take the food and eat it. It does sometimes take a few tries, but they do eat. You might want to reheat the food too, and that does help restimulate interest in the food.
-Angel
-----
In life you can fall many times, but you're only a failure, if you don't try to get back up!
Evil Canevil

Yep I have a few that do this as well. All you can do is just keep reintroducing the food. Sometimes it helps like Angel said let them wait a few minutes without the food in the cage, reheat and then reintroduce it.

Oddly enough I actually have a brother and sister that do this. They eat in identical manner every feeding as well. If one takes in the first time the other does if one takes two times the other takes two times. Very odd, all I can figure is that it's somehow related to the length since the last feeding for these two snakes as I always feed the two at the the same time as well. But there very good eaters none the less, just have to check on them and make sure they take it down. I also had another do this that I came to the conclusion that she was temperature sensative. The rat had to be a certain temp before she would eat it, not too hot, not too cold... go figure.

Best of luck with the snake. A picky eater is ALOT better than one that doesn't eat at all. Just keep your patience!

Jordan
-----
"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

Thanx for the reply. He finally ate tonight, after a couple of tries of reintroducing the rat, i guess he is just a picky snake or just has to be in the right mood, either way i'm happy he ate.
-----
1.0 Normal Cornsnake
1.0 Sumatran Short Tail Python

Hip hip hooray! It's best to not be freaked out everytime that they refuse food, as there is always the slight chance that you are missing something. It's called idiosyncrasy.
-Angel
-----
In life you can fall many times, but you're only a failure, if you don't try to get back up!
Evil Canevil