he wouldn't eat

[zoe]

ok i know it's normal for snakes to not eat every now and then but my guy's a REALLY good eater and never refuses a meal and today he did...he last ate 2 weeks ago and he had 2 pinky rats and he's totally cleared out his system...
i offered him a decent sized mouse today and now i'm not sure if it's too big (the guy at the store said it would be ok). would the snake refuse to even attack it if he knew it was too big? i took some quick shots with my phone (they're really bad but u should be able to see the approx size) to see if anyone thinks it was too big.
i guess the other option is that he liked the rats more than the mice and he's being stubborn now?
this is him...

and this is the mouse...

 

[zoe]

i forgot to mention that i finally took the mouse away cos something gross was coming out of its guts...REALLY stinky
eeewwww :x

 

[Brodie]

maybe it is in shed, they normally won't take food in shed . but maybe he does like rats better give them a try.
Cheers

 

[cyber_crimes]

Whats the temp and photoperiod? It could be going off food due to winter months at the moment. Give it summer time temps and photo period if this is the case.

 

[zoe]

he's only 4 1/2 months old so he's staying at summertime temps with natural light lighting the cage

 

[cyber_crimes]

OK,
Well over winter months there is a decrease in photoperiod.Try arteficial lighting (roughly 14-15 hrs a day) to match summer time temps and this should get your little one eating well again.

 

[lutzd]

Guts?

When you mention stinky stuff coming out of the mouse, this could be because the guy sold you some refrozen food (I'm assuming here that they were frozen??). I've had a couple of bad batches of frozen rat pups, and my snakes refused them as well.

If the frozen prey items were partially thawed and refrozen, it can result in exactly what you describe.

How long did you have them before you got home and put them in the freezer again? Or did you take them home and immediately give it to the snake?

 

[Vat69]

I really wouldn't worry about it, 2wks isn't a very long time. (I know this is seriously hard to do when you're a newbie). This same thing happened to me with a hatchling diamond. Eating like there's no tommorrow, then one day, she refused, and didn't begin eating again for another 3months. It was around this time of year too. I tried everything, but I guessed it had something to do with the time of year.
Give him some space and see how you go, he won't lose condition for a while yet.

 

[zoe]

yeah they're frozen lutzd but i didn't notice the stinky stuff at first...i think jules might have had a *** at it when i wasn't looking so maybe he pierced its guts or something cos it was coming out of the abdo area and looked like poo but smelt A LOT worse. (i dropped it on my boyfriend's bag but we'll keep quiet about that one hehe) :twisted:
i doubt these would have ever been partially thawed cos these people were the ones who told me never EVER to do that...if the snake doesn't eat it then chuck it away.
i would have taken it pretty much straight home but i'd be on a tram for about 15 mins before i got them into a freezer.
i might go and get him another pinky rat to try on saturday and see if he's just being stubborn. what a snot.
so does that mouse look too big to anyone?

 

[Brodie]

Yeah looks fine, It is soooo amazing at the size of prey snakes especially pythons can eat no matter how much you hear about. a 6ft carpet pythons has been recorded to eat a cat...... so I wouldnt worry.

 

[NoOne]

If it's been eating rats it may not switch to mice straight away. Mice have a different smell ( to a snake) than rats. Some young snakes can be very picky like that.
I've got adult stimsoni that won't eat rats but put a mouse in front of their nose and it's gone within the mintue

 

[zoe]

i have 2 cats hehe..right now i gotta worry bout the snake but the cats will have to watch their backs in the future!

he was eating pinky and then fuzzy mice all along then last time (2 weeks ago) i offered him pinky rats and at first he kinda attacked em like he was pissed off at them but after a while he grabbed em and wouldn't let go...but for a while he wouldn't eat them (i think this was cos there were a lot of people floating around my house that day) but if i tried to take it back he kept snatching it back off me. i was thinking maybe he liked the rats so much he didn't wanna switch back :roll:
oh i just realised....this is his first meal in his new bigger home, but he's been in there since his last meal 2 weeks ago.
is this is the part where everyone rolls there eyes and says 'well OF COURSE that's why he's not eating...'?

 

[Greebo]

The change in enviroments could be the reason. If that is the reason then you only have to be patient.
I am wondering from the photo of the mouse if you leave the mouse in the cage for him to eat or if you dangle it in front of him?
I have had good eaters become finicky for no reason but usually they come around again. Snakes are strange creatures to be sure.

 

[sobrien]

Eating cats :?: pppppfffftttt, thats nothing. I 've seen plenty of pics of carpets eating wallibies :shock:

 

[Brodie]

Yea but How big Im talkin about an NT carpet that was a lil under 6ft

 

[sobrien]

Oh, k.

 

[zoe]

the pic i saw of a python eating a wallaby was a scrubby tho so we're talking what...15ft?

greebs i dangle it in front of him, i just put it there to take the pic. sometimes i kinda poke him with it cos i've heard that can help them to strike. it's just weird cos even when we first brought him home in a new cage he ate 10 days after getting here no probs.
my latest theory is that he could tell the mouse was bad and that's why he didn't want it. he kinda sniffed it and checked it out for a while...he didn't totally ignore it or anything.

 

[NoOne]

Try just leaving it alone with mouse for a hour or so without disturing it, thats how i get most young snakes feeding. Once they feel alone and sercure they eat it.