6 month old antaresia not feeding

[Carl12]

Hey guys and girls, I have a 6 month old childrens who’s been awesome but the last 2 weeks she’s been acting strange and I was wondering is someone could shed some light on why…. I’m new to snakes so don’t have much experience hence the post. She’s been an awesome feeder that took food every time I offered but the last 2 weeks she’s wanted nothing to do with the fuzzy mice I normally feed. It’s almost like she doesn’t see them. She’s also been hiding a lot more the usual. It is still pretty cold here in Sydney and her temps are hovering between 27 - 31 on the hot side. I know that’s abit cold but with the current heat Mat it won’t go higher. She also shed about 2 weeks ago so I’m assuming that might have something to do with it. I’m just wondering if anyone has tips to get them feeding or if I’m just being paranoid. Any help and or tips are much appreciated. Trying my best to give her the best care I can!!

 

[Tsuchinoko]

With the colder weather, could it just be brumation? A lot of snakes go off food and start becoming inactive when temps drop as they go into a hibernation-like state, it could explain her lack of interest. You can always keep trying to feed to be sure, just do what you normally do, its seemed to be working, making sure the food is warm enough, not spoiled and jiggling it around so its enticing is pretty much all you can do. I wouldn't be too stressed, with my little experience I've learnt that snakes can go without food for longer than you'd think and sometimes they just inexplicably refuse to eat for a while.


If you're not familiar with brumation, look it up and see if it matches whats happening - regardless, if her weight is good for her age and you see no other alarming signs, try not to stress, sometimes they just don't want to eat. Good luck!

 

[Carl12]

With the colder weather, could it just be brumation? A lot of snakes go off food and start becoming inactive when temps drop as they go into a hibernation-like state, it could explain her lack of interest. You can always keep trying to feed to be sure, just do what you normally do, its seemed to be working, making sure the food is warm enough, not spoiled and jiggling it around so its enticing is pretty much all you can do. I wouldn't be too stressed, with my little experience I've learnt that snakes can go without food for longer than you'd think and sometimes they just inexplicably refuse to eat for a while.


If you're not familiar with brumation, look it up and see if it matches whats happening - regardless, if her weight is good for her age and you see no other alarming signs, try not to stress, sometimes they just don't want to eat. Good luck!

I appreciate that info, I’ll look into it more

Just an update for everyone, she finally ate tonight, I fed her a pinkie instead of a fuzzie to hopefully just get her feeding again and then go back to fuzzies. I thought I’d give feeding at night a go and just squeezed the pinkies head with the feeding tongs to hopefully get a feeding response and it worked.

 

[Mack86]

How long did she go without feeding @Carl12 ? Glad she ate in the end. I've considered going back to pinkies again to get mine to eat but I'll wait until August and try again. If no success perhaps I'll try your method.

 

[Carl12]

How long did she go without feeding @Carl12 ? Glad she ate in the end. I've considered going back to pinkies again to get mine to eat but I'll wait until August and try again. If no success perhaps I'll try your method.

Almost exactly a month ago, try squeezing the head or sticking something sharp through the brain to get the scent out. That got both my jungle and childrens feeding who both didn’t want a bar of it until now. Definitely a lot of anxiety gone because of it tho!!

 

[Vixen.]

Glad it ate, but pinkie is equivalent of nothing for them, would have eaten a fuzzy. They're brumating, it's a cold winter, late August early September they'll all start eating regularly again.
I know it's hard and anxious for us mammals to see them not eat, but they're reptiles, more specifically snakes, this is natural and normal for them to go the WHOLE winter without eating. 6 weeks here, or 8 weeks there is 100% normal and healthy for them.

 

[Mack86]

Glad it ate, but pinkie is equivalent of nothing for them, would have eaten a fuzzy. They're brumating, it's a cold winter, late August early September they'll all start eating regularly again.
I know it's hard and anxious for us mammals to see them not eat, but they're reptiles, more specifically snakes, this is natural and normal for them to go the WHOLE winter without eating. 6 weeks here, or 8 weeks there is 100% normal and healthy for them.

I have learnt that pinkies have zero nutrition in them, usually only used on hatchlings for first couple of feeds.

Definitely hard to get head around them going off food for sure, but really trying to listen to the good advice I've been given from yourself and other experienced members on here to just chill and try in August (maybe even late August) when it begins to warm up again.

 

[Carl12]

Glad it ate, but pinkie is equivalent of nothing for them, would have eaten a fuzzy. They're brumating, it's a cold winter, late August early September they'll all start eating regularly again.
I know it's hard and anxious for us mammals to see them not eat, but they're reptiles, more specifically snakes, this is natural and normal for them to go the WHOLE winter without eating. 6 weeks here, or 8 weeks there is 100% normal and healthy for them.

Maybe maybe not. I might just be imagining things or overthinking it be she seems quite scared of fuzzies as they are quite large compared to her head. Maybe 1.5 times her size. I know she can eat them because she has but every time I’ve offered them the last month she hi tails it in the other direction but now that I offered a pinkie she took it straight away. I could be completely wrong in thinking this but is it possible that the fuzzies could be scaring her in some form? Reading that it seems silly to me that a snake can be scared of food but I’m hoping you understand what I’m trying to say. yea being new to reptiles and having them suddenly go off food can be quite stressful even though it’s nothing to stress about lol.

 

[Mack86]

Maybe maybe not. I might just be imagining things or overthinking it be she seems quite scared of fuzzies as they are quite large compared to her head. Maybe 1.5 times her size. I know she can eat them because she has but every time I’ve offered them the last month she hi tails it in the other direction but now that I offered a pinkie she took it straight away. I could be completely wrong in thinking this but is it possible that the fuzzies could be scaring her in some form? Reading that it seems silly to me that a snake can be scared of food but I’m hoping you understand what I’m trying to say. yea being new to reptiles and having them suddenly go off food can be quite stressful even though it’s nothing to stress about lol.

I actually experience the exact behaviour you've described, so I know what you mean. I have no answer, hopefully someone else does?

 

[Carl12]

Almost exactly a month ago, try squeezing the head or sticking something sharp through the brain to get the scent out. That got both my jungle and childrens feeding who both didn’t want a bar of it until now. Definitely a lot of anxiety gone because of it

How long did she go without feeding @Carl12 ? Glad she ate in the end. I've considered going back to pinkies again to get mine to eat but I'll wait until August and try again. If no success perhaps I'll try your method.

I actually experience the exact behaviour you've described, so I know what you mean. I have no answer, hopefully someone else does?

We must sound so stupid asking these questions surrounded by all these experienced keepers. I’m reading threads about breeding pythons and all this other crazy technical stuff that I have no clue about and we are just asking these basic questions. Hopefully one day we can have that sort of experience and we can be the ones helping all the newbies

 

[Mack86]

We must sound so stupid asking these questions surrounded by all these experienced keepers. I’m reading threads about breeding pythons and all this other crazy technical stuff that I have no clue about and we are just asking these basic questions. Hopefully one day we can have that sort of experience and we can be the ones helping all the newbies

It is rather embarrassing yes, but I am sure they all started somewhere too..

 

[highlander969]

Hi Mack86 and Carl12. I have an Antaresia Childreni that is about 18 months old. It went for approximately 3 months over the winter last year only eating once. As long as it is not losing weight it should be fine. Stick with the same size food you were offering before (don't go back to smaller) he/she stopped eating and try offering every 2 weeks.

 

[ThePup]

For what it's worth, my 8 year old Children's generally stops eating in about May and won't eat again until maybe September. His enclosure temps remain steady, but they seem to be able to sense the shorter days and cooler air coming in through the vents. I try every month, but he won't touch it until he's ready. We moved from NT to ACT, so I was concerned the first year he did it as well, there might even be a post from me around here somewhere!


And 1.5x the head size is nothing. The medium rats mine takes are probably double his diameter. If you can't see the scales expanding and skin between them after a feed, you need bigger food.