Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I just purchased a baby jungle carpet python about 2 weeks ago. He will not eat for me. I have tried fuzzies, pinkys, live and frozen. I also tried leaving the food frozen, and then live in his cage and nothing. I also would dangle the forzen fuzzy infront of him, he would strike at in but in deffense. Then i tried putting him in a small container with a frozen pinky, then a fuzzy still nothing. I have kept snakes in the past, and raised, boas, other pythons, etc. I'm out of options and don't knwo what else to try. Please help.

...you mean thawed. How would you feel if you swallowed a block of ice the size of a basketball? Only ever serve feeders when COMPLETELY thawed ALL THE WAY THROUGH. It is extremely dangerous to do otherwise.

Don't panic about 2 weeks fasting. That's nothing. Here are a few things to try. But, only try to feed ONCE PER WEEK - it's no big deal if he goes another month or so without food.

First off, ensure cage conditions are PERFECT. Small enclosure, no bigger than 2/3 the length of the snake. A perch to climb on (and hunt from). 2 hide boxes - light bulb boxes work well. Temps will rise and fall in a small enclosure, with no real gradient - but you can achieve a desire gradient throughout the course of the day. Daily low of 75, daily high of 90. Remember, JCPs are found in North-East Queensland, where daily max in summertime is anywhere up to 105. That said and done, leave a couple of days and then try one of the following per week -

1. serve warm. you can warm by placing in hot water. (or, alternatively, in a plastic bag and then in hot water)
2. cut the scalp open, exposing the brain (of the feeder, not the snake). The brain fluid is very potent.
3. Put it in warm into the enclosure and leave for a while. Do not disturb the snake. Keep him in a dark place for an hour or so. Could also try leaving overnight.
4. Following (3), after an hour or so of having the prey item in with the snake, try and provoke the snake by tapping him with the feeder. You may want to rewarm.
5. Dangle with tongs. The snake will form an 'S bend' if you slowly lower the feeder into the enclosure. The tongue will flick rapidly. He will become alert. Put the feeder beside his head (not in front), as this is where the heat censors are. Touch the last bend in his neck before his head.
6. Ensure the feeder isn't too big. If he is striking, but not coiling, it could be because he feels it is too large a meal to handle.
7. Try feeding dusk or dawn.

Good luck.
Cheers.
Aaron.

I also got the impression that you are feeding the prey while they are still frozen. This can kill a snake, because a snake is cold-blooded and relies on an outside heat source to stay warm. Giving a snake a frozen prey item is like putting a person in a -30degrees F fridge and saying "Live!". But seriously. The frozen item would lower the snakes body temperature and ultimatly kill it. So thawing is also a good idea.

To thaw, I put the prey item in a bowl of hot water. And then I wait. When the prey is squishy all the way through, then it's ok to feed. DON'T use the microwave. The prey will either explode, or get hot spots, which can also kill your snake by burning it's insides.

Braining the prey always works quite well for my reluctent feeders.
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0.1 Irian Jaya carpet python
0.1 Ball python
0.3 Crested Geckos
2.2.7 Leopard Geckos (male-jungle, hypo tangerine carrot tail. female-normal, albino. babies-leucistic, blizzard, normal)
0.1 Western Hognose snake
1.0 Eastern Milksnake (currently free roaming in my home =/)
1.0 Albino Lavender California Kingsnake
1.1 Bearded Dragons
0.2 Water turtles
1.0 Umbrella Cockatoo (belongs to my mom and I)

now that the emergency frozen food talk is out of the way...the next thing I'd consider is to NOT handle the JCP until it is eating. They are sometimes tough to get eating, usually because the cage is too large. I'd put him in his new cage, and leave him totally alone for at least a week maybe two before I ever started to try to feed him. Then, I'd get a large live pinkie mouse or small live fuzzy mouse (they don't seem to like pinkies and being pythons seem to prefer meals on the large side) and put it in a small deli dish with small air holes with the snake. Do it at night before you go to bed and chances are the snake will be hungry enough by then to eat or sometimes they just get sick of being that close to the mouse and eat it. In summary, JCP sometimes have trouble getting started feeding if you handle them or if you put them into too large of a cage. Start with those things first before you go to other routes, like braining the pinkie.

Ooo I must have been lucky with my baby carpet python. He took a prekilled, frozen/thawed pinkie a week after I got him. Lucky me. I've read tons of stuff about how people have a tough time getting a baby to eat. Yay!