Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I have had many problems feeding my jungle carpet python. she is about a year and a half old and is about 2-3ft long. since i got her she has only eaten maybe 4 times, the last feeding being about 2.5-3 months ago, it was a pre-killed rat pup. some of the things i have tried are frozen-thawed, pre killed, live, thrn repeated all the above while leaving her in a box overnight. i also tried all the above rat combos with them dipped in chicken broth. if you want to see pics, have ideas, or have any questions please let me know.

Thanks: Scott

I have a female of about the same size and age, and it seems she likes to keep me guessing about how she'll eat. With f/t pupps, I used to have to tap her on the side about 1/3 down the body, and then switch to the other side and she'd strike and feed. She went off f/t, and I raised the temp about 2 degrees and started offering larger p/k rats, "stunned" rats, or live as a last resort (hate the thought of her getting bitten). Hope this helps.
mike

Scott

Have you alway offered rats?. Jungle are well known for being rat haters. The fact that she will take them is a good thing. What worked pretty well for me is offering a mouse first and then offering the rat right after she gets down the mouse. This plays on there feeding responce, they tend to be less picky after there feeding responce has kicked in. This means you need to adjust the size of the food being offered. Get her used to eating reguarly and her apptite will grow along with her feeding responce. At least that is the hope. Then I would start scenting the mouse with the rat then just switch her over to rats. How are you offering the food are you thawing it and throwing it in there. I Thaw it and put it under a heat lamp for a minute or so. Just to warm the surface, Sometimes a prey item that really stands out thermally causes a responce. Don't go to crazy you don't want to cook the prey item. Also tease feeding off tongs. dangle the prew item off tongs and make it dance around maybe even touch her with it sometime the movement and the extra heat gets them excited enough to strike. However This scares some carpets, so don't persist if it isn't working. Also go slow don't try to feed to often this will only compound the problem. Winter also has an effect on some snakes and they go off feeding. I hope some of this helped. Let me know how it works out

Chuck

Chuck

what are you keeping her in? what temps? what type of heat source. does she have a perch? My experience has shown that they prefer lower temps than many other pythons...I turn off the supplemental heat for mine usually late june, when the temps break 80 in the house (I do have some in a temp controlled room - 84 works nicely). I have also found that many problem feeders do better with a perch. The tap feeding method described in a previous post is needed with many young carpets

So you don't run any other heat source after the ambient in the room breaks 80 degrees. I feel it is much safer to give a hot spot of 88-90 degrees. this will most of the time put your ambient in the low 80's and still allow for a cooler side of the tank. This sets up a good thermial gradient which allows the snake to decide what they need. Jungles do tend to do ok in a wide varity of temp ranges. However not giving them the option short changes the snake and sets them up for possible health issues IMO.

Chuck