Worried about our Diamond Python

[Jorman]

I just recently became a snake parent to Jordan (named by my ten year old son!!) and I’m worried about how Jordan is doing.

I had thought diamonds were active snakes but Jordan is mostly found in the cold part of the enclosure in his hide which can get down to 16c.

The hot end is around 29-32c but he rarely climbs up to that part. UVB Light is on from 7-5pm.

He had a small rat 2 weeks ago but had refused two others. I’m making sure they are nice and warm before offering to him.

In our quest to get him to eat we take him out of the hide to the basking spot. But maybe I shouldn’t do that?? Maybe Jordan is in a state of brumation? It’s bloody hard looking after reptiles! You want to know they are ok but how do you know?

Should I be doing anything else?

 

[Sdaji]

It's pretty funny, literally more than half of the threads which come up when I log in are 'my snake isn't eating', and it's early winter in Australia.

Snakes typically stop feeding in winter. It's literally the thing they do. They're supposed to cool down in winter, especially cool snakes like Diamonds.

It's like worrying about your kid sleeping through the night and not eating. It's normal. Don't wake them up, don't try to feed them. Offer a feed some time in mid spring.

 

[Jorman]

It's pretty funny, literally more than half of the threads which come up when I log in are 'my snake isn't eating', and it's early winter in Australia.

Snakes typically stop feeding in winter. It's literally the thing they do. They're supposed to cool down in winter, especially cool snakes like Diamonds.

It's like worrying about your kid sleeping through the night and not eating. It's normal. Don't wake them up, don't try to feed them. Offer a feed some time in mid spring.

Funnily enough it’s come up to the basking spot. We have a water bowl on the bottom of the enclosure but I just added a small dish to the basking shelf and he drank half of it in one go.

if it’s in the basking spot should I offer it food?

 

[Herpetology]

Funnily enough it’s come up to the basking spot. We have a water bowl on the bottom of the enclosure but I just added a small dish to the basking shelf and he drank half of it in one go.

if it’s in the basking spot should I offer it food?

I wouldn't feed it untill late august, regardless of what its doing. You'll find it will get some heat and then go bunker again.

 

[Sdaji]

Funnily enough it’s come up to the basking spot. We have a water bowl on the bottom of the enclosure but I just added a small dish to the basking shelf and he drank half of it in one go.

if it’s in the basking spot should I offer it food?

I wouldn't offer a feed until mid September, unless it's so hungry it's actively trying to eat anything which moves. Diamonds will typically bask in winter, but absolutely no, don't pester them trying to feed them.

Captive snakes are typically overfed. What you're talking about is like waking your kid up at 3AM and trying to get them to eat some mashed potato. Hey, occasionally they might decide to eat some, but it's not in their best interests and most likely you're just going to stress out everyone involved and reduce the kid's health.

When it comes to pythons I think more in terms of the amount of feed they get per year rather than per week or month. I usually feed large adult Carpets about 5-12 times per year (I'd go towards the lower end of that range for Diamonds), I don't stress too much about whether that's mostly in summer or early autumn, I don't want most of it to be in spring, and I'm certainly not in a rush to shove it into them when they're not especially keen.

Basically, you can piss them off trying to feed them when they're not hungry, establishing a pattern of 'Man, I hate this jerk, always hassling me with feed I don't want, I hate him, I hate eating, I hate my life', or you can wait until they're hungry and establish a pattern of 'I love eating! It's so satisfying to eat! It's great when that guy comes along and gives me a feed!'. Either that or you have a pig of a snake which will always eat, in which case you have an obese snake, which makes you a $#itty keeper.

Just let them be snakes, don't feed them during winter, I wouldn't bother until mid spring (unless they're clearly very hungry or underweight). Feeding during peak feeding season is fun for everyone involved (except the rat, I suppose). When the snake clearly wants to eat or fed very enthusiastically a few weeks ago and looks hungry again, that's the time to feed.

 

[snaker]

So long as a snake isn't super skinny and malnourished you shouldn't be concerned if they don't eat frequently. They are the masters of conserving energy, and use very little in captivity. As the earlier post pointed out many if not most pet snakes are overweight and this can be far worse for long-term health.
He will let you know quite clearly when he's hungry.