Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im obviously not worried yet, but I assume be prepared for all possible situations.

I purchased a pair of white lip pythons last saturday at the Pottstown, PA show from a friend. They are in all apparent good health, and are not thin, therefore they have been eating.

The very same day, the female ate. The male grabbed and wrapped, but did not eat. If they dont eat the first day, I dont even look at them for nearly a week, except to spot clean if necessary. I went to feed yesturday (saturday, 9/6/03). The female wrapped and didnt eat, but thats fine, because shes blue now. The male wrapped and let ago again as usual. I dont watch them, I just make sure they have it and then leave. I again tried to leave food in the foot of the hide box overnight, and still nothing.

My husbandry is very simple. They are in rubbermaids (solid, so no stress from the outside, not to mention they are in my room, that i dont even sleep in, so theres not much in and out). I use paper towl as substrate. There is a fair size water bowl, to fit their whole body. There is also a hide box filled with wet moss. They seem to prefer the hide box the best. Temps range from the mid to high 80s during the day, and low to mid 70s during the night. The temps to flucuate a bit being that my quarentine room isnt quite acclimated and draft proof.

Im assuming theyll eat sometime soon, its only been a week. I consider yesturday their first feeding, being that 90% of my snakes dont eat when they get home.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks
Chris

Hi Chris,

well, if they look healthy I wouldn't worry to much. Some of my animals first fed after 2-3 weeks after I got them.
What did you try to feed? Mice, Rats or something else? A lot of wlps will only accept mice. They will strike at rats but as soon as they nailed it, they will let go again. They perhaps have recognized the different taste or so. Some wlps obviously have made bad experiences with rats or have never been fed with rats so that they have to get used to them and that can take quite a long time.
If you've tried with rats, try again with mice in a week or so. That's what I would suggest.

Anyway, some wlps need some time to settle down!

Keep us updated!

Cheers,
Wulf
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http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com

Thanks wulf,

Ive ready that in a few places that they can distinguish the difference. Ill try mice next week. I use rats for everything, because i breed my food, and other than offspring, all my young snakes can take pups. What are your thoughts on the fur issune that rolf discribes in the next response down? Again, im ppretty sure the female will eat, its just the male. Im not even that worried about him.

Other than mice, the other two things I have considered were live (which i dont like, but smaller snakes can be safely started on live), or a feeding box, because after he wraps once and realizes he doesnt want it when I come back, he wont even strike at it, he just runs off. I however dont tease feed as much as I could, in my opinion, it seems like that pisses him off to the point of not wanting to eat it, also possibly a stress issue?

Ill keep everyone updated, and get pics sometime soon.

Thanks
Chris

Hi Chris,

yes, they sure know the difference and there are a lot of wlp out there that will only feed on mice. My big female wlp only feeds on mice too and so do her offsprings! I was in trouble because they were unwilling to feed on anything. Then I tried to feed african dwarf mice (about 5 bucks each) and just placed it into the cage...*wam!* gone. So I had to breed these small mice too. Now after a while they take normal mice and tiny rats but I had to be patient. But the female still only wants mice, so now I also breed mice.

Rolf's suggestion sounds quite interesting! I've never heard of this before nor did I experience any difference if the fur isn't all in one direction. But it would be interesting to check this anyway. We can always learn something new.

If not used to it most wlps wount accept dead preya so that you have to tease them by banging the prey against their body or have it right in front of their nose.

Well, anyway, no need to worry!

Cheers,
Wulf
-----
http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com

It seems that tease feeding makes them even more not interested. They just run away and try to get out of the cage. I didnt push it because I read this as stress and learning towards more disinterest. I could however be completely wrong, but I didnt want to ruin it if that was a possibility.

thanks
chris

Hi Chris,

well ok, it tease feeding often works fine in neonates and youngsters unwilling to feed on their own. I had a couple of these that were as nice as a duppy dog when young they even were afraid of baby mice! (yes, it were wlps!). They didn't want to feed on anything so I teased them with mice dumping them at the midbody (not the snout) and they began to develope this "get lost" attack than finally led to striking and feeding.

Stress...ok, I'm perhaps of these guys who believe that in nature there is even more stress every day and that a bit stress from time to time doesn't really matter. This sort of stress isn't that what kills the animals. The real stress is an inpropriet housing and bad climate (temps and humidity) conditions. This is real physiological stress, because the body systems have to do a lot more work.

Cheers,
wulf
-----
http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com

I think ill try a little more tease feeding this weekend. Im going to try rat pups one more time, after that its mice, after that I guess live, or a feeding container. I dont expect to have to go that far, I just like thinking ahead of things.

How do I post pics???

i put an address to my print room in the "Link URL"...i guess Ill see what happens. Thats to my printroom, you can find my whitelips under breeding projects, along with the rest of my collection.

thanks
chris
Link

I think ill try a little more tease feeding this weekend. Im going to try rat pups one more time, after that its mice, after that I guess live, or a feeding container. I dont expect to have to go that far, I just like thinking ahead of things.

How do I post pics???

i put an address to my print room in the "Link URL"...i guess Ill see what happens. Thats to my printroom, you can find my whitelips under breeding projects, along with the rest of my collection.

thanks
chris
Link

Hi Chris,

well, perhaps you should leave the rats until the pythons are a bit older. It's hard enough to get them feed on mice but rats has to develope over a long period. You should offer small white mice and they have to move. So if you feed dead you'll have to play with them, if you feed live mice, just throw on in and watch (you will not have time to relax then!).

You can post pictures by using img and /img tags, each within these [ ] brackets. One in front of the link, the second behind the link to the picture.

Hope that helps.

Good luck on feeding!

Cheers,
Wulf

-----
http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com

Hi-
I'm going to assume that you're feeding frozen thawed food, because I've had the same problem in the past with mine constricting and not eating. I remember reading somewhere that some snakes locate the head of their prey by using the lay of the fur. So what I've started doing is after thawing the rats, I pull them through a towel with a pair of tongs to mat the fur down in it's natural direction. Since I've started doing this, it basiclly has'nt been a problem. If you actually do watch them eat, you'll probably notice that they constrict for a very long time before letting go. When they try to find the head - unless they grab it when they strike - they gently kind of probe around the rat with the end of their nose until they start to swallow it. Kind of interesting to watch. And also, mine never eat when they're in shed, so I don't even try that anymore. If you try this, I'd be interested to hear if it works for you, good luck.
-Rolf

yeah, I do actually notice them probing around, never considered how the fur lays, Ill definitely try that next time. I have 4 snakes that will eat during a shed. 1.0 4ft green anaconda, 0.1 5ft dumerils boa, and 1.1 juvie albino monocled cobras. These guys dont strike me as the type that will, but if they do, great, if not, oh well.

Ill keep everyone posted, and maybe have some pics soon.

Thanks
Chris

I bought a pair at the Hamburg show in June. I've had all kinds of problems with the female, including respiratory congestion, dehydration, weight loss. She is still not feeding (fed once right after I got her). She simply seems to have no interest. The male, on the other hand, is feeding regularly, has grown noticably, and seems to be thriving. The odd thing is that their cages are side by side and they are kept under virtually the same conditions. The male hides ALL the time, and feeds on mice left in the cage overnight. The female is ALWAYS out laying right under the light. She seems to perk up after a long soak in a water filled container, but still hasn't fed again. She is getting quite thin now, and I'm afraid I am going to lose her. Individual snakes, individual temperaments, identical conditions. One thrives , one doesn't. I guess I should have researched the species a bit more before I tried them. -Bill