Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male albino burm, about 5' long, that I have had since October. He has always been the sweetest thing, but the last couple of days have been crazy. I fed him on 2/13, one large rat. He started striking at anything that moved yesterday, 2/14, so I figured he was still hungry. I fed him another large rat on 2/14. He is still doind the same thing today. His temps are correct, 90 degrees on the hot, 80 on the cool. I don't know why he could be doing this, he has never done it before. Could he STILL be hungry. Should I try and offer him a third rat? Anyone have any opinions on this?

Sometimes pythons (of any age) can get quite "touchy" when they have a meal in their belly. I figure this is just their instinct kicking in when they are more vulnerable from being full. I personally just don't usually bother my snakes while they are digesting, but usually once a tame python smells and thus identifies you they will settle down somewhat. I wouldn't feed him more, no. Two large rats in two days is a lot for a 5 foot burm. You don't want him to regurge.

>>I have a male albino burm, about 5' long, that I have had since October. He has always been the sweetest thing, but the last couple of days have been crazy. I fed him on 2/13, one large rat. He started striking at anything that moved yesterday, 2/14, so I figured he was still hungry. I fed him another large rat on 2/14. He is still doind the same thing today. His temps are correct, 90 degrees on the hot, 80 on the cool. I don't know why he could be doing this, he has never done it before. Could he STILL be hungry. Should I try and offer him a third rat? Anyone have any opinions on this?
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"Half of my enemies are dead.... I have yet to meet the other half." [Ghengis Kahn]

"He was such a sweet boy, always so nice. He used to help me take out my garbage every Friday." [Jeffery Dahmer's neighbor]

"Sure,... you say that now. But what will you say when you are looking into my dark, merciless eyes." [Walter Wego]

"Charlie won because we never knew where he was. We had superior numbers, but he had stealth, patience, and sheer determination to prevail. We lost the moment we decided to engage, only it took us 10 years to lie down and die." [General Enevi Tability on the Vietnam war]

Well, I got home yesterday, and he seemed to be calm. I covered him overnight, and when I woke up this morning, he seems to be really calm. I put my hand in the tank to "pet" him a little and he looked at me kinda weird, but no strikes and I am still bite free. Yeah!! Thanks for the replies, I think he just got spooked. He seems fine now.

Jason

My little rescue is doing good and eating small rats now and is going through her first shed since I got her around Christmas, but I think my first bite may come from her. She is vicious.

That's great bro, good to hear. And you bet, I'm glad to help. I'm also glad that you didn't offer him more food. I feed over 100 large pythons each week and I have to tell you, it has been my personal experience that one of the worst things one can do is feed an already fed snake. That's where I have experienced the highest risk of regurge. It's not good for the reptiles to have different stages of digestion going simultaneously. And it has also been my experience that once a python has regurged they run a high risk of forever having a more sensetive stomach and are always more susceptible to regurging again in the future. I have some case studies of young individual burmese and retics on this very subject. Every single individual snake had similar "post regurge" requirements. From their first regurge they had to be fed much smaller meals to avoid regurge. If they were given even a moderately "large" meal the majority of it was regurged within 3 to 4 days. In every one of these individuals they had experienced no prior trouble digesting large meals until they were fed additional meals while digesting a previous meal.

I think any experienced and knowledgeable herper will agree. It is always best to allow snakes to fully digest before feeding them additional meals.

>>Well, I got home yesterday, and he seemed to be calm. I covered him overnight, and when I woke up this morning, he seems to be really calm. I put my hand in the tank to "pet" him a little and he looked at me kinda weird, but no strikes and I am still bite free. Yeah!! Thanks for the replies, I think he just got spooked. He seems fine now.
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>>Jason
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>>My little rescue is doing good and eating small rats now and is going through her first shed since I got her around Christmas, but I think my first bite may come from her. She is vicious.
-----
"Half of my enemies are dead.... I have yet to meet the other half." [Ghengis Kahn]

"He was such a sweet boy, always so nice. He used to help me take out my garbage every Friday." [Jeffery Dahmer's neighbor]

"Sure,... you say that now. But what will you say when you are looking into my dark, merciless eyes." [Walter Wego]

"Charlie won because we never knew where he was. We had superior numbers, but he had stealth, patience, and sheer determination to prevail. We lost the moment we decided to engage, only it took us 10 years to lie down and die." [General Enevi Tability on the Vietnam war]

...

Can’t help on the “why” if it’s a sudden change in temperament after having him for 3 or 4 months. But as far as you dealing with it – does he have a hide box to retreat to? You might also want to tape some paper on the front of the cage or cover it up in some other way until he chills out.

As far as whether to feed it another rat, it really depends on how much the snake and the rats weigh. Don’t laugh! It’s amazing how differently people judge the size of things. So without knowing that or being able to see them, I really couldn’t judge for sure. But my instinct is to say, sure, offer him another rat. They’re more apt to regurgitate (if it is simply a matter of too much food) when they take in too much all at once. He’s not as likely to even accept another food item if he is “too full” right now.

-Joan