Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I traded some animals for a pair of Jampea dwarf retics about two months ago. They were supposed to be CB but came in as WC. The smaller of the two(about 4') eats like a champ on F/T small rats. I've tried everything I know to try on the larger one (around 5'). It won't touch live, pre-killed, f/t, scented with lizard or chicken broth. I've tried both rats and mice in all the above forms. The snake appears to be healthy, is active, and is holding its weight just fine, just no feeding response at all. It also has almost no defensive behavior, it just tries to hide. I'm planning to take both of them to the vet to have them sexed and checked out but I can't get an appointment till next week. Does anyone have any ideas why this snake won't eat and are their any other tricks I haven't tried? Please let me know.

Thanks!
Carol

Hi, WC retics and dwarfs in particular can be troublesome. They are especialy prone to oral infections and this is somthing that I would recomend you look for first. It is important that you are diligent in checking for any rubs/infections on a pereodic basis. This is one of the main reasons I gave up on WC dwarfs. Secondly they could be experiancing problems associated with paracites and will need to be treated accordingly. Once they have been treated time is your greatest friend, you should set up a nice cage where the animal can be alone and sheild it from any interferance. Stress is often the cause so cover any glass so that it will not feal threatend and give it plenty of time. Months may be nessisary. I have notice with WC retics, many do not seem to recognise "domestic" prey at first. If you are able to obtain a WC mouse it may be enough to get it to start feeding on its own again, I have never had a problem with a retic once it has begun eating on its own. Alot of the WC dwarfs I had were fussy eaters prefering to eat pk prey at night, and Very few of them would eat in front of me. Best of luck!

Thanks for the info! I have an appointment with my herp vet for next week, so I will definitely bring up the problems you mentioned.

Carol

Do your male Jamps go off feed at any time of year?

Bill

Hi Bill, I would expect males of an adult size/age to be succeptible to the call of nature. By that I meen in the fall when retics would normaly breed, they may be thinking of other things than eating. Some retics seem more prone to this behavior than others though as they are all individuals. However if you are asking about your baby I realy dont think that would be a cause. Prehapse you can email or call me so we can discuss it. -Thanks Shaun D

He's eating like a champ - one small rat and a large mouse (both f/t) every week. No problems at all -- a great animal in every way.

I was curious because I've read that retics will breed at any time of year, but wondering if the w.c. Jamp in this thread might have gone off feed for breeding like my adult male IJ carpets do.

Bill

I am so glad that he is doing well. You definetly could be onto somthing because most retics in the US "usualy" begin breeding in the fall. However I would not expect a FRESH import to know that, or be the least bit interested in breeding. The conditions are right though, so it is a possibility that they may be influenced. I would tend to think from experiance that being wc they are not acclimated yet to captivity. WC Retics and dwarfs in particular can take alot of patcience and may not ever make good captives. Luckily for keepers of dwarfs they are still rather quiet docile as imports but the problems far out weigh any good temperment, as I mentioned before becides a heavy paracite load they are prone to easy infections prehapse because they are more easily stressed? Bacterial infections, tumors, and paracitic infections, are common ailments in WC dwarfs. Patcience, and diligence, is the key to succesful acclimation however I still suspect the chances of having any pet quality animal would still be extremly small, even after years of work. Being docile may be great for handeling however it only adds to the stress level of the animal who is not used to human contact. Stress is a well known cause of supressed immune system and can be directly linked to many of the problems you would find in fresh imports, such as anorexia. I have had some experiance in the area of imported dwarfs and I can tell you that, it is alot cheaper and less stressful for the keeper to go with cb animals. Out of almost 20 import animals I obtained very few lived more than 2 years in my care, the animals that acclimated still had many problems some of wich were disabling. The problems I experianced were many, worms, seemingly endless stomatitis from constant rubbing, and debiltating tumors. I gave up on WC animals and took a big loss on them from vet bills and the fact many of them had to be adopted by people who had time to care for there problems. I can assure you that you made a great choice with the CB baby and hopefuly will never have to experiance any of such problems. By the way when are you going to get a cammera and snap some photos of the little boy?

-Shaun D

In addition to what Shaun stated about oral infections and snout rubbing, It has taken me nearly a year to acclimate a pair of Kayuadi retics. It first they would only eat live chicks, then scented rats and finally, regular rats. They can take a long time to acclimate, patience and persistance will be a must.