Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I brought home a 6-8 month old jungle carpet python last night. It is currently feeding strictly on live mice. I'm pretty pro feeding pre-killed rodents only (my three other snakes feed only on f/t rodents), and was wondering if anyone had any tips specific to carpets for switching from live to pre killed?

Also, the snake hasn't been fed in two weeks. How long is too long between feedings? It has good weight, but I clearly don't want to starve the little guy while trying to switch it over. My plan is to offer him/her a dead mouse on Saturday and see what happens.

Any advice is welcomed!

Thanks!

In my experience, Carpets will eat most anything When mine were young, they at live food once, and right after that I started giving them fresh killed mice, and I would use a pair of tongs, and after about a month of feeding, they both knew that tongs meant food. I would suggest feeding at least once every two weeks, if not once every 7-10 days.

Good luck with your new jungle.

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Pat
"You keep WHAT in your freezer?" "Mice. And rats. If that bothers you, I can call them 'cows' instead."

1.2 Water Pythons (Liasis Fuscus)
1.1 (100% het albino Clark Strain) Retics
1.1 Coastal Carpet Pythons
.1 Nhandu Chromatus
.1 Pitbull Wolfe mix

If if he doesn't take the p/k one, offer him a live fuzzy or hopper from tongs, and after he's swallowed it, offer him a dead mouse in the same fashion. BTW...offer the dead mouse as soon as he's just got the fuzzy down. That way he's still in feed mode.

Also, once you get him on f/t, switch him to rats...soon!
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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

I routinely have snakes go off feed for months at a time during breeding season (Aug - Mar for my breeder male woma this year). If the body weight's good, no worries switching him over.
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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