A few months ago I switched my juvenile jungle from fuzzies to hopper mice and ever since he's seemed to have a difficult time feeding. He's been big enough to comfortably eat a hopper since back in July/August, but more than half the time he will just strike/wrap, hold on to it for like 10 minutes, seems to inspect it very closely all over, then just loses interest and goes back up to his perch. He's still eating every 2-3 weeks on average so not a super urgent issue but its probably not a great sign in a pretty young snake (not quite a year old). He last ate 3 weeks ago, last night I saw him hanging out in that typical hungry position hanging down from a branch so gave him a mouse, to which he did the same thing. Struck, wrapped, then lost interest in a few minutes.
I just wanted to ask for advice since this is my first snake so definitely not an expert, and would hopefully like to resolve whatever is causing this in case it becomes more serious further down the line. The only husbandry issue that stands out to me is that his enclosure is a bit small for his current size, but its not nearly as bad as some of the ones you see out there and a good upgrade is in progress at the moment. Temp range is about 32 - 23, got a pair of hides with lots of clutter and stuff to climb. Nothing there immediately stands out to me to cause a snake to not eat, so I am wondering if I maybe just got the only picky carpet python in the world. In that case would it be worth trying a different source or even trying out rats?
Would really appreciate any insight into the possible cause here or if anyone has any similar experiences.
I just wanted to ask for advice since this is my first snake so definitely not an expert, and would hopefully like to resolve whatever is causing this in case it becomes more serious further down the line. The only husbandry issue that stands out to me is that his enclosure is a bit small for his current size, but its not nearly as bad as some of the ones you see out there and a good upgrade is in progress at the moment. Temp range is about 32 - 23, got a pair of hides with lots of clutter and stuff to climb. Nothing there immediately stands out to me to cause a snake to not eat, so I am wondering if I maybe just got the only picky carpet python in the world. In that case would it be worth trying a different source or even trying out rats?
Would really appreciate any insight into the possible cause here or if anyone has any similar experiences.