Bredli hatchling stopped eating

[tiggles]

Hi

Our Bredli (about 5-6 months old) has stopped eating. His/her last feed was 10th June. Before this he/she was eating a pinky mouse once a week. We only purchased him/her the beginning of May, and this is our first snake.

He/she hasnt lost condition or weight, should I be concerned? If so what can I do? Once a week we have offered a pinky mouse, which he/she just wont touch.

TIA for any advise.

 

[cridon96]

First thing to look at is what temp is the basking site at?

Has anything changed regarding how you are keeping it sometimes a move to high traffic area or over handling can turn them off a bit.

Do you have a perch? this may sound silly but all my bredli hatchies love sitting on their perches to eat (they will eat if they are not but majority of the time if they see me doing my rounds they climb onto the perch and wait).

One other thing is food size at 5-6 months old (mine are around same age) they should be big enough to be taking larger food mine currently eat fuzzy rats if they have never been fed rats tho they may be less likely to take them I started mine on pinkie rats so didn't have to worry about the change over.

other things to possibly try is pin heading (sorry if this is the wrong term) a food item this is where you puncture the head to generate a stronger smell this can work however I have found 9 times out of 10 a snake not eating is more to do with its environment than anything else.

I hope this helps

 

[Snowman]

Probably about to shed

 

[cridon96]

Probably about to shed

oh yeah forgot about that one, that too although 1 month off food preparing for shed is longish

 

[tiggles]

Thanks for the assistance guys, the air temp is about 28-32 degrees in the day, we have been turning the heat lamp off during the night, but leaving the heat mat on. Yes he has a hiding rock and lots of branches. We havent changed anything in his enclosure. Yes we have tried pinning the head on the pinky mice. He hasnt shed since 23rd May, this is also worrying. this is worse than worrying about my kids not eating, lol.

Maybe I should try baby rats (not sure what the appropriate size would be called)? Should I put him back in the small plastic container he came in from the breader?

 

[Snowman]

You don't need to 'worry' they can go months and months no problem. A friend had a hatchling Stimi escape that had only eaten a few times. Turned up 11 months later exactly the same size (tiny compared to its siblings from the same clutch) perfectly healthy and grew into a normal sized adult.

 

[tiggles]

You don't need to 'worry' they can go months and months no problem. A friend had a hatchling Stimi escape that had only eaten a few times. Turned up 11 months later exactly the same size (tiny compared to its siblings from the same clutch) perfectly healthy and grew into a normal sized adult.

Wow didnt realise they can go that long without food.

 

[smileysnake]

Try bumping your temps up 28-32 for a bredli isnt enough should be more like 32-34 bredli love higher temps solar 17 says he has his even higher and yes much bigger food my 5 month just ate 2 large adult mice i will be giving her a weaner rat in 2 weeks good luck

 

[Snapped]

Is he in a big enclosure or a tub? If in an enclosure, make sure you have enough hides, both in the hot end and cool end. I'd leave the heat on 24/7 for a hatchy, maybe the overnight temps are dropping too low?

 

[Ramy]

Wait until the end of winter before you get too concerned. Keep an eye on them, but if they don't loose condition or get lethargic I don't think anything is wrong. I don't feed my adult pythons for 3 months in the year, and my male diamond rejects for almost 5. Yes, hatchlings are smaller and not as hardy... but they're often tougher than people expect. I'd keep offerring weekly-fortnightly, just to see if he's ready to eat yet.

Once he starts eating again, bump up the feed sizes. They should be eating enough that there's a visible bulge in their body once they've swallowed it, and pinkies don't have a lot of nutrients in them anyway. You want it to take atleast 5 minutes to get down.

 

[tiggles]

His head is only about 1 cm big, if not pinky mice, what should I be offering him?

 

[cridon96]

I am horrible with measurements, but I would say fuzzy-weaner rat. Mine hatched at the end of march and all take fuzzy rats easily you would be surprised at what sized foods snakes are capable of eating.

There used to be a head to food size ratio kicking about but not to sure these days, I breed my own rats so I just leave them to grow till I think they are a good size for the hatchies I have at the time.

 

[HAMISH_NOAH]

It would be temp at night if they are too cold they won't eat, even though the heat mat is on carpet pythons are most active at night so it probably isn't staying in one position best of getting an infra red bulb and leaving it on all night to boost up the temps