Please explain!!!

[Shauno]

One of my new jungle hatchies has been having some trouble with eating. I have tried to feed it pinky rats on a few occasions without any luck. I have also tried pinky mice but have run into the same problem. The hatchie appears interested in the prey and begins to eat it but doesn't have the ability to get it past its mouth/throat. It will try continually try to eat the item for a good hour or so and then give up. Today I tried again and had some success but this was short lived. The hatchie rejected the initial pinky rat that I offered it but quickly latched onto the pinky mouse. Again this took a good hour or so for it to eventually down its first feed since I purchased it. When I last checked it, it had something hanging out of its mouth. I am unsure as to what this is, hence my please explain thread. I have posted some pics and would appreciate any advice or possible explainations as to what may have happened.

 

[jdonly1]

:shock::shock::shock::shock:

 

[flood]

Vet! Asap!

 

[Jdsixtyone]

Dude call the vet now!!

 

[flood]

Dude call the vet now!!

Its 9pm..

 

[disasterpiece7.0]

How are you feeding?
when he tries to eat it is it head first or just chomping on it randomly?
Looks to me like that one he ate may have been a little over heated and popped on the way in, quite frequent with pinkies.
Try making sure he gets it on the head, and get something a bit larger then pinky mice, probably weaner mice.

 

[grimbeny]

Yea definatly looked like the mouse popped whilst it was hanging on. This is not all that uncommon, even though it is pretty gross. I dont think its somthing wrong with the snake.

 

[Slytherin]

Is the snake behaving normally? It looks like an exploded mouse to me but its better to be sure.

It sounds like the food items are a little too big for him, you could possibly try a part of the pinky (EG cut off a tail or cut the pinky in half, gross I know), so he can better swallow it. My friend had a python that had an injury to his throat that was healing and scar tissue restricted his swallowing, so she fed him cut tails then progressed up to larger food as he was able to take it. It worked for her.

He may just be a little guy for his age.

 

[Shauno]

Thanks guys,

I think you have covered most possibilities and I reckon that you are all right. Slytherin.. I have two other Hatchies of the same species and one of them is related and they pop the same size pinky down like jelly beans. Grimbeny/Disasterpiece... I always try to make sure that all my pythons eat head first , but it did try to eat the first feed tail first a couple of weeks ago. I have been in contact with the breeder who agrees that I may have fed it a mouse that has been defrosted and re frozen again, hence it possibly falling apart as it was eating it.

 

[fidzy]

looks like what others said, poop!.... get out your snake and disenfect the enclosure and let it air dry... keep an eye on the snake but doesn look like anything wrong. try smaller food items if you can

 

[Ewan]

I had similar problems with a mates snake that I was looking after. It would take ages to eat a pinkie mouse and some times would decide not to eat it after a while. Then I tried something with a bit of furr. He never looked backed.

As mentioned disinfect enclosure then try a fuzzy or hopper mouse.

 

[mysnakesau]

Does it smell really bad? I mean I know crap stinks but you should be able to tell a healthy stink to one that needs attention. Couple ppl mentioned the pinky could have popped, and then perhaps he has attempted to regurgitate it and only manage to get rid of some guts.

Is he having trouble eating because he is fussy? Food too big or just not capable? Either way, a check up with the vet could perhaps help you find out why he is having trouble eating. He could have something lodged in his throat, deformity in there, something is causing him discomfort, hopefully will work itself out.

 

[shamous1]

Too hot

Are you defrosting the pinkie's in water.

Is it possible that the pinky is too hot hence the mess and failure to eat? Just a thought.

I used to have 3 Jungle's and one did exactly the same thing whilst the other 2 ate normally. The only thing I ever came up with was too much of a defrosting and it happened to be the first snake fed each time.

Leave it for a week and if it's hungry it'll eat. Don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

[Slytherin]

I left a weaner rat in the hot water a little too long some time back and it went a bit squishy. When Snakey had it and was eating, it ruptured and bloodied his face. At the time, I couldn't tell if it was from his food or that he had injured himself. Later, I carefully scooped him up (being careful not to squeeze his stomach bulge), and gently inspected and cleaned his face. Luckily it was only rat blood but it freaked me out at the time!

As mysnakesau suggested, it would be a good thing to get a good reptile vet take a look at it to see if its experiencing swallowing difficulty from a blockage or a deformity.

Good luck with your little one.

 

[Colin]

as said in previous posts it just looks like the rodent has popped and thats its guts hanging out of the jungles mouth.

I only ever thaw my rodents this way. turn on the kitchen hot water tap till its hot. put the plug in and fill enough to cover whatever rodents Im thawing (at least and inch or two if its just fuzzies, weaners etc) toss the rodents into the water (not in bags) wait until thawed (not very long) remove from water (dont dry it and feed it wet) and place in between some small tongs or tweezers so as the head is offered to the jungle. flick it around near its head and it should take it no problem and they actually get the head correctly.

I feed hatchies to adults wet rodents. Its not necessary to dry the food item at all, despite what some people may say

I prefer to feed hatchies at night after about 8pm when the hatchies are actually awake and moving around their tubs. they usually all feed well at this time when they're awake. some will feed if you wake them and slap a fuzzie mouse around their head to rev them up a bit but others wont. So rather than end up feeding half or three quarters of them one night and having to try the rest the next night or one after I started feeding only when dark and only when most of them are up and moving about. this gets the best feeding response for me. I've suggested this method to people that have bought snakes from me and they dont seem have a problem feeding either.

Im not saying my methods are best or the only way etc.. just that they work for me.. hope some of the above helps

 

[Shauno]

Ewan... She ended up eating the remainder of the mouse minus its intestines and appeared to be more interested in it possibly as you said it had a bit of furr.

Mysnakesau... She generally has a go at most food offered but untill yesterday she couldn't get it down. No mate it didn't smell :lol: after speaking with the breeder he believes that the mouse that I fed it may have been defrosted and re frozen a few times, causing the mouse to fall apart as it was eating it. This is quite possible as I got a pack of mice with a snake that I purchased a few weeks ago.

Shamous... Yes mate I defrost in water, Its already been a couple of weeks since I have had her and my water temp out of the tap firstly takes ages to heat up and when it does it is no hotter than what you would shower in.

Slytherin... Yeah freaked me out too mate:lol: how did you tell if it was from the snake or the rat? as this was what I was unsure about. Initially I thought that the snake had thrown up its own guts, but when it came away from the snake I was a little less stressed.

Colin... Pretty much use the same technique as you mate and up till now it is working for me. I have been paying a little more attention to the snake in question and have been trying different times and prey items to get her to feed. She so far appears to be fine since she ate apart from trying to rip of a finger or two every time I check on her.

 

[mysnakesau]

.......I only ever thaw my rodents this way. turn on the kitchen hot water tap till its hot. put the plug in and fill enough to cover whatever rodents Im thawing .......

Eeewwwww! Do you thaw your snakefood in the kitchen sink? Yuck! I use hot water straight from my tap, too, but I use a bucket or a cup especially marked 'RATS' so nobody else drinks from it after its had dead rats in it :lol:

 

[Shauno]

I did say pretty much the same way not exactly the same :lol: and yes I too have special buckets for defrosting rodents.

 

[Slytherin]

Slytherin... Yeah freaked me out too mate:lol: how did you tell if it was from the snake or the rat? as this was what I was unsure about. Initially I thought that the snake had thrown up its own guts, but when it came away from the snake I was a little less stressed.

As Snakey was acting calm and settled I thought it must be the rat, not his blood but I wanted to make sure he hadn't split his skin between the upper and lower jaws. That feed was the first on weaner rats (going from fuzzy rats) and I was worried that he might have trouble with the stretch and he seemed to have trouble swallowing at first but I think it was a leg that got caught slowing him down.

I wiped the blood away and saw no injury to the skin.

I was intitially shocked when I saw your photos, I thought OMG the poor thing had thrown up his own guts!! I can see why you posted this thread!

 

[Jdsixtyone]

Vets at wollongong r open all nite and one of my uncle best friends is a vet so he helps a lot.