Reptile & Amphibian Forums

All of the sudden my JCP is acting strange. He is 2 years old and I have had him since he was a baby. He has not eaten in over 2 1/2 weeks, but shows no weight loss. And he is constantly wandering around his cage. Where as before he would bask then hide,,,then repeat. No change in mood. Any ideas or do they tend to go off eating in winter. The ambient cage is 80 F and under the basking is 92-95 F. Atnight it drops to around 78 F.

Thanks
David

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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

Yup- almost all of my snakes have slowed way down in terms of eating.

That includes all of my pythons (JCP, Olive, Bredli, waters, etc.), kings, gophers and pines.

Don't sweat it- as long as he looks good (weight wise), I'd just wait it out.

You might want to try offering smaller meals- seems to be doing the trick for me.

Remember, when it cools off, their metabolism slows down, so they're not going to be as hungry when they're burning more calories with the warmer temps...

//Todd

so glad to hear he is not the only one,,,,thanks
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

He may be looking for that lucky lady in his life. He's probably gone off feed, and is restless because he wants to mate. Just keep offering food like usual, and he will go back eventually.

he is just 2 years,,,so young to be having those thoughts,,,,lol
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

That was the age one of my boys first bred I could send some pics of a nice girlie to hang up in his enclosure if you'd like, but that would probably only encourage him :-P Just kidding!
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"

Mike Curtin

Don’t even start to worry at 2.5 weeks! For a two year old two weeks should be a normal feeding regiment anyway. Mine had a bad encounter with a mouse and threw all that she didn’t eat for almost 8 months. She didn’t start to look skinny for 6.5 months. She’s fine now. They can go a very long time without a meal, it’s quite surprising. If they don’t eat after about two months (in the winter it’s especially common) bring your snake to the vet if you’re worried. Most of all, at this point don’t sweat it! All my snakes seem to know when it’s winter. I use to keep the light on as if it was still summer and my heat stayed the same and they still knew. I now try to follow their natural photo phases they experience in nature. Good luck, and relax, spring will come and the pet shop will run low on rodents because all the pet snakes will kick in to eating again.

the light on the tank below his enclosure is dead center...check to make sure the bottom surface of his tank isn't too hot regardless of ambient temps.
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"

Mike Curtin

Hey Mike,
I use a low wattage bulb in that tank, but checked it. The temp was fine,but I moved the tank anyways. Going to keep the pythons on one side and the colubrids on another. Thanks for noticing.

David
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Ball Python
Jungle Carpet Python
Eastern King
Mexican Black King
Sonoran Gopher
Aberrent Cal King
Anduran Milk
Hypo Brooks
Amel Motley Corn
White Sided Bull
Striped Pacific Gopher

I love the smell of aspen shavings in the morning...lol

"To serve man..it's...it's a cookbook!"

that posed a problem for me once
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"

Mike Curtin