Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Good afternoon! I call on the wealth of knowledge flowing through the forums!

I purchased last year a healthy olive python of about 3.5 feet, I think he's about 3 years old and seems a bit small for his age. I found out that it may be because I can't get him to eat anything other than live chicks! I've owned a red tail boa for 5 years and have been successful in feeding thawed rats to her since the start, but my olive won't even look twice at the thawed chicks I bought. So I bought some older frozen quail chicks, now he did seem more interested in them but never actually struck and soon after noticing them becomes bored with their presence. So now I'm wondering what tricks I can use to get him to eat thawed birds before attempting to move him to rodents (thinking that might be easier). I think the quail I bought was too big so I'm going to order smaller ones this week but if it goes anything like the frozen chickens I wont have much luck. I've rubbed small rats on the quail, 'brained' the quail and even tried live rodents (not scented with quail though) so I'm sort of going mad over this.

I can't get live chicks over the winter so I've got to think of something, any suggestions? Temperatures are at recommended levels, he's not in a cage that's too big or might make him feel insecure and I've got a hide box he enjoys, just some background info.

He's very active and very sweet, only ever strikes at live chicks, I have been able to chain feed a thawed rat into him when he's at the end of the chicken so I don't think he's offended by them, I don't know, going nuts, please help

Sounds like a tough one! Did you try to "heat up" the frozen birds? Sometimes that works! If it does, then try smearing some warmed up bird blood on the face of a thawed rodent and maybe put some feathers in it's mouth!

That's not a bad idea, I'm going to thaw a rat and quail together then try to bleed the quail all over the rat, or at least its head, then try to place some feathers in the mouth, its worth a try! Thanks for the advice!

I've got all the glass of his cage blocked now to make sure he feels secure enough to strike at something, he's been cruising around in his cage the last couple days.

Oh! I should be trying to feed him in cage right? Less stressful then putting him in a alien cage?

I would!

I would agree.

All this 'feeding your animals in a separate cage' is rubbish.

I feed ALL of my snakes where they feel most safe and secure...

//Todd

Thanks for the advice, I tried leaving a f/t chick and f/t small rat in his cage over night with towels draped over most the enclosures front for privacy, still not luck :< I even plucked feathers from the quail and stuffed them in the rats mouth and under the chicks wing ect. He just cruised around in his cage all night, not bothered by the food at all. So I'm going to try a live adult mouse tonight and if that doesn't work I'll brain it and leave it in the cage overnight and see what he does. Should I put him in a smaller space with the brained mouse? Plastic container with breath holes and lid taped down? At the very least my Boa is fat and happy

Here is a pic of him eating a live chick, I know he'll eat something at least, just don't know where to find live chicks now. I don't imagine you can get hatched live chicks shipped from anywhere in the USA at this time of year.

Me too,...it would also take me a month of Sunday's with 130 or so snakes to feed!..LOL!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Hey there- I replied to your email, but it bounced.

//Todd

I'm sorry, I need to update my profile. Email me with rawonion at gmail.com

Thanks!

I have 2.2 adults, and one juvie male. One of the adults was only supposed to eat chicks, but she really likes hamsters, f/t. I'm just now getting her to take a rat right behind the hamster. I belive you can buy then online, and you can certainly get baby chicks from any of the rodent breeders that advertise here. Look at the top of the page and check their websites. The juvie I have would only eat live at first, but now he's on f/t. Takes time, but it should work. You might also try live ducklings.

Thanks for the info! I was wondering about hamsters or gerbils and now know to give them a shot! And thanks for the info on the feed providers, I'm going to start hunting through them for live chicks. The f/t chicks doesn't seem to excite him at all, but if I could get live shipped (not sure if possible) then I would be all for that just to get some food stuffed in there.

Depending on where you live, there are country livestock auctions where you can buy chicks of various sizes and types. Look in your phone book.

Whatever you do though,...DO NOT leave Gerbils or Hamsters(or any live rodent for that matter) in it's enclosure unattended. Hamsters and Gerbils are notoriousy known for attacking snakes that show no interest in feeding on them.

You may very well know this already, but for what it's worth, I thought I would mention it anyway.

good luck with the feeding!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I presume that you are talking about Australian olive pythons, because of my 5 Papuan olive pythons, I've never had a difficult feeder (including two docile imports). I have had 2 Australian olive pythons for a bit over a year. One is readily taking live mice at this point although it took a few months of assist feeding first. The other one I assist fed hopper mice to for about a year until it will now sporadically take brained mice on its own if left overnight in the cage. I saw brained quail on your list, but not brained mice. It is a long shot, but you may want to give it a try. It seems that my Australian olives feed better when kept cooler than my other pythons (lower 80's for basking area rather than lower 90's), but I wouldn't swear to a correlation.

At this point, I'd probably trade my pair of Australian olive pythons for a pair of young fuscus as I hear they are a much easier Liasis and arguably prettier even if they sell for less. Conversely, I probably wouldn't trade my prized Papuan olive pythons (a completely different snake, in a different genus, but with a similar name) for any other similar snake- they are a fascinating species and an easy captive.

If you figure out a trick for the Australians, I'd love to know.

Bryant King

Having had both types of Olives, I can't figure out how people ever thought they were related.

It was messy but in the end he ate!

I bought an adult live mouse and he actually tracked it around his cage for about a minute before becoming disenchanted, so I went ahead and killed the mouse in preparation for braining and leaving it in the cage overnight. Before doing so I tried assist feeding just by ever so gently slipping the mouses head into his mouth and after a few minutes he started working his jaws around it! I've never had luck with assist feeding (last resort stuff) but was stoked that it worked. I wish that I had a f/t small rat to chain after the mouse but I wasn't going to push my luck. Its promising that he was interested in the live mouse for the first time ever, I'm hoping he'll be like the others who posted, saying when young they were picky but eventually got over it and became strong feeders. Thanks everyone for the advice, I'll keep trying adult mice then small rats, only using assist feeding if he wont eat for 3 months (like this time).