Never have I

[Hooglabah]

Come across a snake so unwilling to feed as this little spotted python!

Temps:35 hot end on a heat mat.
He's in a click clack with plenty of hides, healthy aside from not eating.
I have tried:
Leaving one in over night,
Braining, scenting (lizards, birds, rabbits, fish even a dead bat).
Gut popping, patience (waiting for almost an hour on some occasions with pinkies in tweezers).
I've tried with different foods rats, bits of chicken, rodent tails, assist feeding, forced feeding(just now got the
Day old pinkie mouse down his throat for sure and he spent 20 mins getting it out).

What I haven't tried
Live feeding
Pinkie pump
Herpa vite ( or whatever that packaged puree'd stuff is).

What I won't do
Feed reptiles (live or dead)
Give up.

Any other suggestions people I'm almost at 5 months with no food as far as I know except the very occasional pinky rat tail.

Also anybody breed mice in the melbourne metro area I'm getting sick of paying pet shop prices for wasted food.

 

[kawasakirider]

Good luck mate, has it eaten since you've owned it at all? How old is he/she?

 

[Hooglabah]

It's eaten two pinkie rat tails (cut from it's siblings pinkie rats)... Not without alot of struggling on both our parts, hard to spit up something that is most of the way down your throat.

Its about 5 months old.

 

[D3pro]

I had trouble with a female albino... she decided to eat when I offered a larger food item. Maybe that will work for you?
A larger mouse (hopper) nice and warm and a bit smelly... place it in a plastic bag and defrost it dry (by placing the bag in hot water with out getting the food item wet)

Try live feeding if that doesn't work.

Has she had her first shed?

 

[Bez84]

Whats its history? Id try a live pinky left over night or a larger food item ive found this works with some problem hatchys couple times live and then they take dead no worries.
Have you tryed dipping the food in egg or sometimes tuna oil works well.

 

[scorps]

Has she had her first shed?

5 months old, think it would of had its first shed by now

 

[gillsy]

Just try a skink, get over the "wont feed reptiles" it may only take 1 skink to get feeding, and then you can scent pinkies with them.

Even use skink tails if your that opposed to it.

 

[Nicole666]

35 degrees would be a bit warm on the heat mat try 29degrees for the heat mat then warm the tank till about 32degrees with a moonlight lamp, have you tried feeding at night or in the arvo when the suns going down, some snakes only feed at night when they are most active. have you tired leaving it for a week and keep the enclosure darkened?

 

[solar 17]

my suggestion would be to go back to your rat tail but dip it in raw egg [yolk and white] then assist feed this tail but having the egg on it forms two functions 1/ food/nutrient 2/ a lubricant to gently massage the tail well down, now immediately after this put the snake under cold running tap water obviously not his mouth but in a real world that doesn't create any real problems now keep taking him in and out from under the tap until he forks his tongue then put him in a foriegn container for a couple of mins [for observation] then back into his enclosure... solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Hooglabah]

suddenly shocking a little snake with ice cold tap water seems counter productive to good health. However you have been in this game longer Than I, can I ask what's it supposed to achieve?

 

[FAY]

Feed live pinkies. I had two that started on these. Would not eating anything else. They had one, then I gave them three more each.
Next feed dived on the thawed out frozen, now they attack me lol

BTW it is legal to feed live in this case.

 

[Hooglabah]

Only bother feeding at night with these guys, usually lights off and just a little touch of I can only just see what I'm doing.

 

[FAY]

They are just waiting for the right food source to come along. imo

 

[Hooglabah]

Torch so i I can see

Well his sibling eats whateve and is getting more confident every day.
The problem guy is a stress head, snappy as they come.
Ill try solar said with the rat tail dipped in egg yolk till I can get my hands on a live mouse.

 

[kawasakirider]

Feed live pinkies. I had two that started on these. Would not eating anything else. They had one, then I gave them three more each.
Next feed dived on the thawed out frozen, now they attack me lol

BTW it is legal to feed live in this case.

Where can you get a live pinky from?

 

[dangles]

Breeding your own or see if someone breeds close by that will let u buy 1 of them

 

[Elapidae1]

35 degrees would be a bit warm on the heat mat try 29degrees for the heat mat then warm the tank till about 32degrees with a moonlight lamp, have you tried feeding at night or in the arvo when the suns going down, some snakes only feed at night when they are most active. have you tired leaving it for a week and keep the enclosure darkened?

This does not make sense.
35 degrees is fine. Out of interest how would you maintain a heatmat at 29 when the enclosure is 32 degrees?

I agree with Fay.

 

[wranga]

try alive pinkie dipped in egg late at night

 

[Hooglabah]

Well rats tail soaked in egg went down a treat, came back out a treat as well>.<
This little guy won't eat I'm just gonna have to suck it up a go a small gecko me thinks.