Posted by:
HappyHillbilly
at Sun Sep 9 22:07:24 2007 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by HappyHillbilly ]
Well, that stubborn 'lil rascal!
In your reply to "SnakesByDesign" you said, "His previous owner fed him only once a month and he had a history of constricting live food and not eating it."
So, it appears that his behavior now isn't really anything unusual. I can't help but feel that there's something in his history of constricting food and not eating it.
If the previous owner was feeding him 6-pounders (live) and he wouldn't always eat them after killing them, and he's playing around with 6-pounders (F/T) now, I suspect size could be a factor.
There's also the possibility that he's being territorial, protecting his territory. But, most territorial snakes are fairly hostile, aggressive, in one form or another, and it doesn't sound like he is, so I doubt that's the problem. They also generally only constrict as a last resort.
In your last feeding situation, if you had a set of tongs that you could've used to do what "SnakesByDesign" suggested, gently tugging on the rabbit while it's constricting it, he might've eaten it.
My adult male is a picky eater and has always been right about perfect weight for his size, maybe a tad underweight sometimes. Just before breeding season last year he went of feed for nearly 7 whole months. I was getting worried. Heck, I was a bit worried. He was pretty darn skinny.
I say that to let you know that they can go longer than we think without feeding. HOWEVER, that's YOUR call. YOU have to make that decision as to when enough is enough.
If you're pretty concerned about it's health due to lack of feeding you can always try a smaller live rabbit (if the previous owner was feeding him rabbits). You could continue to do so until you got him to what you consider to be a healthy stage, and then go back to trying to get him switched to F/T.
Otherwize, I'd wait another week & go with a smaller rabbit, probably even freshly killed (maybe, maybe not), and use tongs to simulate life, before he constricts it & just a little bit while he's constricting it.
I just can't help but feel that it's more to do about prey size than it is with movement, F/T, etc... Earlier I said maybe try a 4-pounder but now I'm thinking that a 3-pounder might be even better. If he eats it, great, wait a week and try two 3-pounders. If he eats them then you might consider increasing to 4lbs. And so on.
I'm sorry you're haivng such a rough go of it but you'll get it worked out. I also wish I had the perfect answer, the one that would DEFINITELY work, but I don't.
Keep your chin up & hang in there!
Later!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American
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RE: switching to F/T - HappyHillbilly, Sun Sep 9 22:07:24 2007