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I brought a young blood home March 1. She ate a live mouse 2 days later. Since then I have offered mice and rats living and freshly killed, I also tried a 2 day old chick but he has no interest at all. She is about 15" long so I think she's pretty young. How long can a young blood python go without eating? What can I do to get her to eat? I have left a mouse in the enclosure overnight, dangled a fresh kill in front of her but to no avail. I have a hiding box for her and the enclosure is 30" by 15".

Hey,
You might have to give a better idea of what the set-up is like, other than, just the fact that the enclosure is 30"x15". But, barring all of that I would say off the back, that the enclosure is too large to begin with and should be smaller for such a young animal. Young snakes, are very likely to be flighty and insecure in large enclosures and apt to feel very threatened, if they feel that the enclosure does not offer them security.

My suggestion: I would start by changing the cage type, and placing it into a plastic sweater box, like the RubberMaid, #2221 or the 2223. They are large enough for a blood the size of your snake, and yet small enough, that it offers them the kind of security that they need at their young age. I use both of these sizes I've recommended and all of my young charges, do well in them and all of them eat for me with alacrity and no exceptions. Of course too, there will be other factors that will need adjusting, such as the substrate type. Although, I am a simpleton and only use newspaper, whilst others prefer to use cypress mulch, and it is a wonderful product to use for young snakes mind you if you can find it cheaply; as the product maintains humidity well. But, I find that newspaper works well and is easy for me to change out when it is soiled, and I detect the odor of urine. Bloods will pass copious amounts of urine, with no evidence of urates from time to time, just after a meal and will be also, evidenced by a yellowish tinge to the paper.

At any rate, an ambient temperature of about 78-80 degrees is fine, and a hot spot ranging from 85-90 is also, good, but anything above that number will trigger problems so I would stay away from anything exceding that. Humidity should also, be kept at about 60-80 percent and no greater than that, as that would indicate a saturation point (wet), and that is a sign that your moisture content within the enclosure is too high.

By providing plenty of aeration to the box, by making several 1/4" holes to the side, you should be able to regulate humidity, with no problem. From time to time, I spray the newspaper substrate, if it gets too dry and also, their wet hide spot. I use paper towel in the wet hide spot, by wadding up several layers of it (5-6sheets 2 ply), and wetting it down. ( I don't make it sopping wet, just damp, and change it out every week if I detect odor ). I usually re-wet it, about 3-4 days after, by spraying with warm-water from a spray bottle, just till it is damp enough.

I use a heat rack, so my set-up is different than yours is too, and so you'll have to make heat adjustments accordingly, to your set-up. All of the racks and tubs are heated using 11inch and 3inch Flexwatts, controlled by a thermostat made by Helix Controls (the Helix Basic); but there are others on the market that work just as well, and will range in cost from high to moderate. (Thermostats are an indespensible tool, when used with several racks and cages). I also use several digital thermometers, that have been calibrated against a lab grade mercury thermometer, to give me an idea of what deviations exist from devise to devise (thermometers), when compared to the mercury thermometer.

This is a short list of what you can do to make your snakes home a little bit better, and perhaps get it to eat. Of course some adjusting or acclimation will be required before you see any change in its desire to eat, but it is worth trying if you are seriously interested in getting your snake on the fast track to a regular feeding regime.

Note: I did not outline several key factors here, regarding the acquisition of the snake - as in who the dealer is and whether the snake is a captive born import or a wild caught snake; or whether it is U.S., captive born and bred.

-Angel
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Discovered and defeated of your prey, You skulked behind the fence, and sneaked away. --Dryden.

I hear people say over and over and over that young snakes need small enclosures. In the wild they have nothing small! I've personally never had trouble with a decent size enclosure for a very young animal including but not limited to green tree pythons. It's more about the setup and if they feel safe and so on. In the wild they would have plenty of places to hide so it needs to be that way in their enclosure. Just some thoughts,

John

Sure...but when dealing with a young, finicky snake, often the best approach is to keep the setup as simple as possible, and in this case that can mean moving the snake into a smaller enclosure. The point now is to reduce stress on the snake to the point where it is willingly feeding w/o hesitation, and growing & thriving. At that point, experimenting with "big enclosures" would be more appropriate. The snake's health should be the foremost concern, IMO.

K
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"Remember the days of the old schoolyard?" - Cat Stevens

>>I brought a young blood home March 1. She ate a live mouse 2 days later. Since then I have offered mice and rats living and freshly killed, I also tried a 2 day old chick but he has no interest at all. She is about 15" long so I think she's pretty young. How long can a young blood python go without eating? What can I do to get her to eat? I have left a mouse in the enclosure overnight, dangled a fresh kill in front of her but to no avail. I have a hiding box for her and the enclosure is 30" by 15".

When I brought home my P. curtus he was the same way....ate right away and then nothing. He had developed a minor upper respiratory and while being treated just didn't want to eat. What did get him eating was a washed mouse heavily scented with dwarf hamster. I don't know why but I do seem to have luck offering hamster or gerbil scented prey to recovering or reluctant eaters.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

I had a similar problem, and while reading the response to your post from Angel, it made me think of it....
I purchased a 1 1/2 year old male Blood Python in January...he had a very difficult time adjusting, was very skiddish, would hiss when approached, and he refused to eat....the previous owner(seller) told me he ate F/T rats weekly. Well this guy would not eat for me. For 3-months he refused to eat. I became utterly distraught, upset, and just wanted to get rid of this very difficult snake and 'adopt' him out to someone who could give him perhaps a better living enviornment. He obviously was miserable with me, until a kind person saw my post and replied to me....and for weeks on end he worked with me via email to correct all of the 'deficiencies' present in my cage set-up, my temps, my humidity, and my overall living enviornment which I had set up for my Blood python.

The bottom line was.....my Temps were too low, as a result, the Blood Python went into 'semi-hibernation' and was in no state to eat. Once I was able to get my temps way up to where they should have been --- Whoosh! He ate, and has eaten regularly every week since than. He is more alert, active, and obviously feeling alot better - I bought the necessary heating elements to make sure the basking spot and ambient air temps in his 20-gallon glass tank are up to speed at all times.

Hope this helps you...