Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive had my jcp for about a month now and she hasnt eaten since ive had her. I have let her settle in her new habitat for about a week and a half. I have tryed putting her in a box she bit coiled and let go. I have tryed feeding her from a perch in a box same happened then and i have even given in and fed her in her cage and left her alone for a while. I saw her start to eat the back end of the rat pub but as she tryed to pull it from the branch she released again. The breeder said she was eating good on frozen rat pubs almost every week and i even have the feeding chart; i just cant think of what i can try next besides live or even mice. But id rather stick to what she has been used to. Others have even told me to force feed her but that too me just seems to stressfull. If you have any suggestions or actually think i should forcefeed her i would appreciate the responses.
-Megan

hmm thats a tuff one when my male got bitten on the head he stopped eating for like 3 months so we took him back to were we bought him and we put him in a small bag with the mices head cut open and he we put him in his cage still in the bag and left him under the heat lamp and he ate it in like 20 hours(was on live then but now is on frozen like my female and my burm) well now mine is a good eater takes frozen right when u put it in ohh yea mine are all on rats now my jcp are on small and my burm is on the biggest sized rat and he is moving to rabbits very soon
-----
1.1 Morelia Spilota Cheyni - Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.0 Albino Burmese Python

What sized cage do you have it in? Baby JCP's don't adapt to large cages well, and need to start off in smaller ones. I had a little trouble getting my male to start off eating. I finally put him in a small brown paper sack with a small fuzzy mouse, folded the top down and put a couple staples in the top to hold it closed. Remember to poke a few small air holes first. I just left them both in the sack, placed the sack inside the cage and left them overnight. The next day there was only one fat little snake in there. I fed him that way for several weeks then he would take them readily after that. Now he stays in his hide box during the day, and crawls onto his branch at night to hunt. I feed him a small mouse every 4 or 5 days now, and he's really starting to grow. But remember they are nocturnal, so I've only fed the male at night. My female is a pig now and will eat at anytime. If the paper sack trick doesn't work, after trying it a few times, I'd try putting it in a sack with a brained pinkie, kinda gross but that's what I'd try next.
I bought my female in Jan a couple years ago, she didn't eat until June of that year. Now, she was already about a year old and had some size to her, and of course I was worried sick, but she finally started eating and is now a real eating machine.

-----
1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.1 Ball Python
1.1 Corn Snake
0.1 Gray band Kingsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
1.0 Bullsnake
1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback (Hondo)
0.1 Spouse (WC)
0.0.8 hatchling ball pythons

What size is the enclosure, what are the temperature ranges, how much humidity, does the cage have enough hide areas to make the snake feel safe/comfortable, and do you have climbing branches for it to hang out/hunt from? How are you providing heat for the cage. What are you tring to feed the snake? Rat or mouse, what size? If frozen thawed, what temperature are you heating rodent to. How are you thawing and/or heating rodents? How are you presenting the rodent, tongs, tweezers by hand etc. What time of day or night are you trying to feed the snake If you can answer these questions it might give us some ideas of where you should go next. If you can, post a pic of the snake and the cage set up. Good luck,
Kirk

-----
1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.1 Ball Python
1.1 Corn Snake
0.1 Gray band Kingsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
1.0 Bullsnake
1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback (Hondo)
0.1 Spouse (WC)
0.0.8 hatchling ball pythons

Thank you for your advice I tryed leaving my rat in overnight and covered the cage completely, which by the way is a 40 gallon breeder and she is a year and a half. Well withing 30 minutes or less she had swallowed it down.
-Megan

COOL! When I feed my young male, he's up in his branch, and takes a warmed thawed pinkie from my tweezers, and then I turn off the light and leave the room for about 10 mins or so, as to not disturb him. Good luck with him.
Kirk

-----
1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.1 Ball Python
1.1 Corn Snake
0.1 Gray band Kingsnake
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
0.1 Pueblan Milksnake
1.0 Bullsnake
1.0 Rhodesian Ridgeback (Hondo)
0.1 Spouse (WC)
0.0.8 hatchling ball pythons

-Megan, I'm fairly sure it sounds like an environment issue. Its amazing how in-tune tropical pythons are to changes in the environment, their wild instincts (basic fight or flight type reactions/changes) propel them to certain behaviors. I would check with whom you got him from and try to replecate their temps as close as possible. If you can't get in touch with them try just bringing the higher end temp of the cage up.