# When to begin feeding



## Rob Colbert (Jul 16, 2019)

Hi everyone, hope you are all well.

Thanks to the community I have learnt that this is the time of year pythons are Brumanating/ Hybernating.

My Boy 7 years old hasn't eaten for about 3 months and has lost some condition.

He refuses to eat and as I have wisely been told it's because he is not hungry

But other than the fact you will know he is hungry when he eats, when do pythons usually stop Brumanating/ Hybernating and begin eating?

Thank you for your help in advance


----------



## Herpetology (Jul 16, 2019)

They will start being active after you start increasing the heat and times back to normal, they will be more interested in looking for a female though, I am not too sure if they’ll take a feed during this time however


----------



## Rob Colbert (Jul 16, 2019)

Herptology said:


> They will start being active after you start increasing the heat and times back to normal, they will be more interested in looking for a female though, I am not too sure if they’ll take a feed during this time however




Thank you for your reply. When is the best time to start turning the best up, is it at the end of winter?

Kind regards Rob


----------



## Neil j (Jul 16, 2019)

Rule of thumb September to April


----------



## Yellowtail (Jul 16, 2019)

It's interesting to observe the wild carpet python behaviour on my property and in the area generally over winter.
I live on the side of Mt tambourine in SE Qld and while daytime temps are in the low 20's it has been cold overnight and around 4c early morning.  I am still having problems with wild carpets trying to feed on my birds and rodents, it appears they live in the roof space of my house and other buildings where they keep warm and continue to actively hunt food. Last week I removed a big obviously well fed one from a busy street near the Eagle Heights shops, it was crossing the road mid morning, sunny but only 12c and very cold there overnight.
Diamond pythons in NSW have similar behaviour patterns, many have adapted to living in heated roof spaces and still actively feed all winter on rodents and possums seeking the same warmth.
They clearly don't follow the rule of thumb Sep-Apr yet appear to be healthy.


----------



## Neil j (Jul 17, 2019)

Who’s keeping wild snakes¿ that’s just what Simon Stone was saying in his approach to keeping and breeding carpet python when I used to read stuff and consider it an accurate advice.
Wild snake aren’t caged have the solar Rays hurdling toward them on tap, micro climates in the bush like hollows and ground dwelling to escape the harsh cold. Not to act like I go around radio tracking and recording data and examining road guts contents. 
I’m still by all means an amature keeper and some stuff I said on this often toxic forum is pure hearsay. Hats off to those that genuinly educate I can’t string a sentence together compared to most of you So no dick measuring from me but I’ve continually been shot down on this forum for answering some basic question even posting pics of my snakes that aren’t worth Jack **** I’m told on here. Pure morph hatred probably. I don’t even know if someone is older or younger then myself forum. I sent a msg to the mods asking to be removed from the forum to no avail. 
your very proud of your wildlife and stuff.
Fair deal.
Im not a zoologist ecologist or biologist so I ask people sometimes what’s the go is and occasionally give answers that are not critical to the animal when no one else did in saying that I don’t even know what snake this thread is about no pics posted no ambient temps nothing. So feed your snake if want I don’t care. Do your worst mate.
I can’t help but feel I’ve grossly over reacted 
Sorry but moving foward.

I gave up trying to keep birds alive
If Cp didn’t get em bts did. 
Good bye


----------



## Sdaji (Jul 17, 2019)

Depends on the species, individual and various other factors. With experience you'll generally be able to look at a snake and know when it wants to eat. Newer keepers tend to feel an urgency to feed their snakes, while most experienced keepers would generally be happy to simply not bother feeding a 7 year old male python until November (Or October or in many cases even January). I had one adult male python which chose not to eat for two years. He did lose some weight, but nothing serious, he remained healthy and fathered clutches every season of his life until his late teens. At this time of year I just wouldn't be thinking about feeding an adult male python unless there was some sort of problem. You haven't said what species(or I missed it), but for large pythons I often only feed about 5-8 times per year (reproductively active females included).

In any case, it's mid winter, take two or three months off thinking about feeding him


----------



## Yellowtail (Jul 17, 2019)

My post above was to point out that even wild snakes feeding habits are influenced by their environment and there is no hard fast rule. I don't feed my adult snakes April-October but it is important to cool their enclosures over this period so their metabolism slows or they will still be seeking food and loose condition.


----------



## Dave Jenkin (Jul 17, 2019)

Yellowtail said:


> I don't feed my adult snakes April-October but it is important to cool their enclosures over this period so their metabolism slows or they will still be seeking food and loose condition.


 Hi there Yellowtail, would this apply to tropical ssp as well, given that they would not normally be influenced by seasonal changes?


----------



## Rob Colbert (Jul 22, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> Depends on the species, individual and various other factors. With experience you'll generally be able to look at a snake and know when it wants to eat. Newer keepers tend to feel an urgency to feed their snakes, while most experienced keepers would generally be happy to simply not bother feeding a 7 year old male python until November (Or October or in many cases even January). I had one adult male python which chose not to eat for two years. He did lose some weight, but nothing serious, he remained healthy and fathered clutches every season of his life until his late teens. At this time of year I just wouldn't be thinking about feeding an adult male python unless there was some sort of problem. You haven't said what species(or I missed it), but for large pythons I often only feed about 5-8 times per year (reproductively active females included).
> 
> In any case, it's mid winter, take two or three months off thinking about feeding him


Thank you as always for your sound advice that I have come to respect very much on this forum.

By the way he is Jungle/coastal X
[doublepost=1563741826,1563741505][/doublepost]


Neil j said:


> Who’s keeping wild snakes¿ that’s just what Simon Stone was saying in his approach to keeping and breeding carpet python when I used to read stuff and consider it an accurate advice.
> Wild snake aren’t caged have the solar Rays hurdling toward them on tap, micro climates in the bush like hollows and ground dwelling to escape the harsh cold. Not to act like I go around radio tracking and recording data and examining road guts contents.
> I’m still by all means an amature keeper and some stuff I said on this often toxic forum is pure hearsay. Hats off to those that genuinly educate I can’t string a sentence together compared to most of you So no dick measuring from me but I’ve continually been shot down on this forum for answering some basic question even posting pics of my snakes that aren’t worth Jack **** I’m told on here. Pure morph hatred probably. I don’t even know if someone is older or younger then myself forum. I sent a msg to the mods asking to be removed from the forum to no avail.
> your very proud of your wildlife and stuff.
> ...



Thank you for your help. I honestly appreciate it. I have to agree some forum members comments are toxic and are voiced from some dark places there heads are shoved very far up.

Sorry you had to listen to that crap.

Keep enjoying your reptiles bloke and ignore the twits


----------

