Accidental Constriction????

[Tobe404]

I don't get my bigger Murray Darling out as often as I used to. Not sure but maybe that's why she's been squeezy lately?

But since it's been hotter i have been feeding her every week or so a 500-ish gram Rat.

Fun and games at times when she's around 2m long and 2.5 - 3kg lol. Keep in mind those are just estimates.

 

[Sdaji]

To give you some idea, I usually have my Antaresia on adult mice by about 6 months and they're often average adult size by about 1 year. Most people would consider my methods to be a bit extreme, but it shows what they're comfortably capable of.

 

[Mick666]

Last year i was trying to get my carpet hatchies feeding on pinky mice, they were really difficult to get feeding. I was told by a very experienced breeder that I should skip the pinky's and fuzzies and go straight to hoppers. This year they are smashing them. I'm so grateful for that advice, it's made my life so much easier. I'm not sure what size the stimmy's would eat as hatchies, I assume they are a lot smaller than baby carpets. But being a year old, I'm sure he would take something a lot bigger than a fuzzy.

 

[Sdaji]

Last year i was trying to get my carpet hatchies feeding on pinky mice, they were really difficult to get feeding. I was told by a very experienced breeder that I should skip the pinky's and fuzzies and go straight to hoppers. This year they are smashing them. I'm so grateful for that advice, it's made my life so much easier. I'm not sure what size the stimmy's would eat as hatchies, I assume they are a lot smaller than baby carpets. But being a year old, I'm sure he would take something a lot bigger than a fuzzy.

Yeah, pink mice are far too small for hatchling Carpets. Many inexperienced people give their snakes feeds which are too small. You want at least 10% of the snake's weight (I usually go for around 25%) for growing pythons. Rather than ever giving a python a feed less than 10% I'd just feed less often other than in unusual situations.

 

[LittleButterfly]

So I need to feed him two mice per feed and then upsize? Should I also move him to a lower traffic area (currently in laundry, much to my dismay) Looking to move him into study and also unsure when to put him in his larger enclosure

 

[Sdaji]

So I need to feed him two mice per feed and then upsize? Should I also move him to a lower traffic area (currently in laundry, much to my dismay) Looking to move him into study and also unsure when to put him in his larger enclosure

Approximate 15-20% of the snake's body weight is a good size for a meal. Without seeing the mice and snakes next to each other it's difficult to say.

If the snake is happy where he is, the location is fine. If you want to move him for whatever reason, it'll probably be fine. I tend to take the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' strategy, and as long as the snake is happy and healthy I'm never in a hurry to upgrade their cage, but again, if for whatever reason you want to and he is generally a happy, healthy easygoing snake, then a move will probably be completely fine. For me, I move them when it either looks like it's clearly time or if I get the feeling the snake would be better off in something larger (that's difficult for newbies but after doing it for decades I have a pretty good feel for it).

 

[LittleButterfly]

Approximate 15-20% of the snake's body weight is a good size for a meal. Without seeing the mice and snakes next to each other it's difficult to say.

If the snake is happy where he is, the location is fine. If you want to move him for whatever reason, it'll probably be fine. I tend to take the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' strategy, and as long as the snake is happy and healthy I'm never in a hurry to upgrade their cage, but again, if for whatever reason you want to and he is generally a happy, healthy easygoing snake, then a move will probably be completely fine. For me, I move them when it either looks like it's clearly time or if I get the feeling the snake would be better off in something larger (that's difficult for newbies but after doing it for decades I have a pretty good feel for it).

Took him out today and he is back to normal. We moved him to a quieter area because the vibrations from the washing machine was probably driving him crazy. I would like him to be a bit bigger until I move him into his bigger enclosure.

 

[dragonlover1]

It wouldn't just be the vibrations that were a problem,but the smell of the chemicals in there. I only have my incubator in the laundry and would like to move that out too but it's the coolest room in the house so it's more stable. I don't think the traffic affects them too much, we have 1 near the front door, 1 on the kitchen table and others scattered around the house.

 

[Flaviemys purvisi]

It wouldn't just be the vibrations that were a problem,but the smell of the chemicals in there. I only have my incubator in the laundry and would like to move that out too but it's the coolest room in the house so it's more stable. I don't think the traffic affects them too much, we have 1 near the front door, 1 on the kitchen table and others scattered around the house.

+1

 

[chloe.j.f]

He was constricting to hold on. If it was a good response he would’ve bitten. If you find him doing it again put him in a better position and support his body.

How old is he?


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[Sdaji]

He was constricting to hold on. If it was a good response he would’ve bitten. If you find him doing it again put him in a better position and support his body.

Hungry pythons will constrict without biting in the right circumstances. If they are a bit confused and are already in contact with the animal they'll often start constricting (you can play with this with your own pythons, it's sort of fun). If you want to get a python to constrict something without biting the easiest way is to get one already biting something else and then putting another thing (say, a mouse) on its body in another spot and it'll often constrict that one too, but if its head is being distracted by watching something or whatever and you put the mouse on its body you can get it to constrict without biting. Once in a while they'll just do it of their own accord. Usually we don't see them constrict without biting because we either wave a dead rat in their face and they grab it or we leave it in with them and they wander over and eat it, but handling a young, confused python with your hand is actually a fairly good way to trick a hungry python into constricting without biting because it can feel that it's in contact with something made of food (it's literally part of an edible animal) and the snake is really confused about where the head of this animal is or which part to bite because it's not the right shape or size according to what it would naturally encounter, so it's quite common for them to constrict with intention to kill (not that they have any chance of actually killing your hand) without biting in this situation. I've only been working with snakes for around 30 years and have only dealt with several thousand, maybe you know more than I do, so correct me if I'm wrong.