Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Apologies for not posting in the carpet python sub-forum but it does seem fairly lifeless lately, the main forum seems to get more responses. I already have a king and a corn for about 6 years so have some snake experience.

I bought a female carpet python during the Summer, adult just over 7ft long,thick and very healthy and tame. She was an excellant eater and shed in August. After that she ate one more rat and refused to eat after that. I was not over concerned as she had good fat reserves and was always quite lively and healthy looking. It was coming into my first Winter with her so I said maybe it's normal behaviour for her.

I bought a habistat to control the temperature more accurately hoping this might bring her to eat but nothing. She started to hide a lot more and become more inactive so I said she must be in brumation which was great because I'm hoping to get her to breed this year. I#ve been dropping temperatures gradually over the past few weeks. Then last night she shed her skin much to my surprise. She hasn't eaten in nearly 3 months?

Now my question is do I feed her? I have a male carpet lined up for her around the start of December so its only another 3 weeks or so before we start the mating process. I could feed her something small like a chick? So she easily digest under the cooler temps. When i say cooler it still hits the high 80's during the day droping to 65-70 at night. This is my first attempt at getting snakes to breed and there is quite a demand for Carpet Pythons in Ireland so I'd be really delighted to get a success first time trying.

I've read loads of husbandry articles but nothing mentioned about shedding whilst cooling. Yes a shed after mating once her eggs start to grow and a shed in my other snakes after Winter usually indicates they wanta eat again. But never this early in the year.

Hope this hasn't confused you's too much.

Email me or msn me at nigeldarts@hotmail.com if you've any further queries or respond here. I;ll let you know how I get on, I'm leaning towards not feeding her at the moment although if she goes for me tonight when I remove her shedded skin my mind will most likely change!

I am a bit out of my element as I do not keep Carpet Pythons.

With all snakes you are either bruminating or you are not. If you have already cooled her down, do not feed. They can go a number of months without eating. Keep her cool, keep her hydrated with a humid hide and clean water and wait it out.

You'll just want to bulk her up in the first couple weeks after warming them back up. I like getting at least a couple feeds in the female before pairing them with a male. Males often won't eat after cooling with will constantly cruise in search of a female.

BTW: The shed during brumination is not unheard of.

Also, I don't handle my animals during brumination unless husbandry issues require it (EI: spilled water bowl or fouled substrate).
This is why you start seeing comments in posts like "I miss my snakes" this time of year.

One additional point. Equally important can be the cooling of the male. It is my understanding that this is less critical with Neotropical species like a carpet python but in subtropical and temperate species, brumination has been linked with viability of the males' sperm.(demonstrated in Corn snakes at least...)

Is the male being cooled now as well? This would at least ensure they are on the same cycle, both primed to go at the same time.

Again, I a bit out of my element as I don't breed them but the statements above are fairly consistent across the board with various snakes.

Good luck with the pairing.
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Later,
Paul E. Turley

I dont have the male, I'm lending herself out to a reputable supplier who has a male carpet and splitting the goods if any.

I took the shed out last night and she hardly noticed so she still looks pretty sleepy. Looked a good shed too. Have posted on a few forums and the advice all seems to be the same, maybe a small adult rat. We plan on pairing her up in the first two weeks of December so it may be no harm to offer something small that she can digest during the day.

There is no reason to feed her during brumination. In fact you can kill her if he metabolism has slowed enough.

During brumination, everything slows in the snake's metabolism. Including digestion.

If she eats, the decomposition rate of the rat would not be significantly slowed and may outpace her ability to digest the rat.

Don't feed during brumination... ...PERIOD.
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Later,
Paul E. Turley

I would disagree with Pauls comments to an extent.
We feed our carpets while they are cooling but only if we feel they need it. We do not feed however during the peak of the cooling period when temps are are their lowest. Even then we only feed perhaps 1-3 times in the winter. But I have never had a carpet regurge if fed a small meal during the other periods of cooling. Actually, I have never had a cooled Carpet regurge at all. But quite a few of our carpets choose to not feed anyway once they feel the "bite" of winter.
Just my opinion though.

-Yasser
Link

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Given that she's still spending most of her time hiding and is generally not reactive I'm not going to feed her. I don't think this is a yes/no answer as to whether or not to feed during brumation you have to read the body language of your snake and mine tells me she's healthy and not really interested in whats going on around her. So thats whats brought me to my conclusion. Hopefully hooking her up with a male in early December.

All of collection still gets a 95 Degree hot spot throughout winter/spring. That way if someone looks like they want food, I can feed without any reprocussions. I let the ambient temperature do all the work for me, and I've never had any problems with animals not breeding.