Snake wont eat tong fed???

[Conquerer]

Hey guys,

Got two jungles who havent been eating since i got them (month) and today one of them fed.

He didnt attack the food on the tong, showed no interest but i left the food there for 5mins and he ate it.

It took him 2mins of flickering hes tongue around to find it, another 2mins flickering hes tongue almost licking the rat before he ate it. When he ate it, he still did the constrict though but no lunge attack.

Any one know what this behavior means?

 

[cement]

Hi mate,
It generally means that he is not really hungry.
But...
it could be because he has never had rat before
it could be because he is a bit cool
It could be the size of the food
It could be that the rat is already dead
Or a whole host of other things.

Sometimes they just aren't hungry enough or feel a little insecure in their environment. Even small for their age snakes that are fussy feeders will absolutely smash a food item when hungry enough and the food item smells half decent to them.


You have animals that can go ages without feeding.

 

[mysnakesau]

Probably nothing. The important thing is, is that he ate. Perhaps their previous owner fed them by just leaving food in their tank for them, rather than risking a feed bite. He doesn't have to attack to be healthy. So long as he eats, that's all that matters. Glad you got him going. Lets hope the other starts for you, soon.

 

[Conquerer]

Hey mate,

Ahh okay, they are about 2 years old. Forgot to mention.

 

[redbellybite]

I have a big coastal that will only eat if I drop it in his cage and leave him to it ...he wont feed from a tong ,but my others do ...as Kathy said, as long as its eating,does'nt matter the method you use ...

 

[cement]

Ah ha! Yep as long as he ate.
You can scent the rat too with other smells to find one they like and then wean them onto straight rat over time.

 

[Snakeluvver2]

I like just leaving the rodent in there. Especially with my big coastal, I dont really want to get bitten by a massive snakes because he mistook me for a rat. hahaah

 

[Conquerer]

Got them both feeding off tongs now, wow! they strike hard!

Before I went to feed my other snake a fuzzy, just thought give it another go at a mouse since its been a few weeks since last mouse attempt, the jungle-A striked at it. Wow was so happy. So i quickly defrost a 50g rat and fed him, he took that down too.

I went and defrosted another rat to try Jungle-B, no go, so i defrosted a fuzzy mice, striked! then gave it the rat and strike!

So both seem to go into eating mode once offered a mouse first, hmm. Anyways happy as, my stress is over!