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Q: My python is suddenly always hungry and snappy...
Posted By:

forbesyy

In Relation To:

Mo

My Murray Darling Carpet Python is around a year old and since we bought him 4 months ago he eats one mouse pinky or small rat pinky a fortnight and is fine. A few days before he is due for a feed he will get restless but never strikes at anyone. The pet store only had pinky mice avaliable the other day so we decided to feed him 2 of them and see if he'd eat. He did and then seemed to be hunting for more. He has eaten 5 tiny pinkies in the past 2 days and is striking if we attempt to handle him. (we haven't tried to pick him up since he has eaten of course, but before the first pinky he was anxious and attempted to bite us). 

So, we're wondering what to do. Should we keep feeding him til he isn't hungry anymore or leave it now for another fortnight? It just looks like he is super hungry because that is the only time he ever strikes. 


Points: 100
Topics: General Health , Feeding , Digestive
Tags: Bite, Feed, Hungry, Python
Species: Pythons > Morelia > Morelia spilota ssp
Administrative: Show/Hide

Member Comment 10/16/2011 7:42:42 AM

JThompson79
Well someone told me before that symptom your describing is probably under feeding him. When I got my first jungle he was eating fuzzies and the fact they can eat 2/3 their size of girth. Try to feed him a fuzzy then keep him on every 5-7 days.
 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 8:28:15 AM

Dropthetwinky

Yeah I know it looks like it's hungry but you probably shouldn't feed it 5 pinkies in one week. +1 to JThompson79 for using fuzzies

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 9:47:40 AM

browncoatbreeding

+2 for Thompson and Drop

99% of the time when a snake has a drastic temperment change like that, it is due to underfeeding/enclosure issues.

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 9:55:36 AM

samfred

Under feeding sounds like the problem

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 11:07:28 AM

Doomtrooper

Give that Poor snake a small mouse not a Pinkie  he is a year old  he should get fed every  5-7 days

 
Accepted Answer 10/16/2011 11:09:30 AM

Miss Andrea

I looked at his tracking and didn't see many feeds. I want to make sure you understand. He needs to eat one decent sized prey item (it's girth should be about the same as his) once a week. 

Feeding him several days in a row will only make him more snippy. It's keeps him in 'feeding' mode. Feeding once a week is much better for his health and his additude. He will have a good full tummy for a day or two, feel quite content for about four or so days, then he'll start getting hungry again and will be ready for his next meal. The down time is very important and feeding him daily, he has to constantly be digesting food.

Also, the larger/old the prey item, the more the snake can get out of it, nutritionally speaking. Pinkys are just born and haven't fully developed. A hopper mouse is a better prey item then a pinky rat because the hopper mouse has a more balanced nutrition where the pinky has a lot more fat. 

You'll be amazed at how a small snake can eat such a big rodent. Have faith that your little guy can eat something larger and let him figure out how to eat some slightly more challenging than pinkies.'

Good Luck!

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 11:20:22 AM

Doomtrooper

+1   exactly !

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 3:34:00 PM

Tiki108

I agree with everyone, feed him something bigger, I was always told anything that is 1.5 x the size of the largest point of the snake.  I had a year old irian jaya that used to eat 3 adult mice a week, no questions asked, but she still would strike, she was just mean though, lol

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 3:34:47 PM

Tiki108

Oh and a lot of young carpets can be nippy, they usually grow out of it though.

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 9:21:07 PM

LisaT

From the age and looks of size in pic, i know pics can be off, there is no reason you should not be able to give and adult mouse.  Bits at a time would make any animal grumpy lol....You will have a much more content snake if it is feed appropriate size and  every 7 days. 

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 10:22:56 PM

tmth

My hatchling carpets always start out on pinky *rats*. I would definitely increase the size of his food to a hopper or weanling mouse, if you need to feed mice, or pinky/fuzzy rats. Carpets are actually very good at eating large prey items, more so than some other species of snake. You should feed one or two larger prey items every 7-10 days. 

 
Member Comment 10/16/2011 11:07:16 PM

YShennanBot

+100 to Andrea

He need something substantial to fill him up. Like the others said, he can handle much bigger than a pinky mouse, and he's looking for something big to munch on. And that easily becomes us when they're not happy :)   

 
Author Comment 10/17/2011 12:24:50 AM

forbesyy

We tried feeding him pinky rats (very small ones) and he did alright with those and was happy to eat once a fortnight but the pet shop didn't have them. We only had the tiny ones because that's all they had at the time. 

He is never snappy so I don't think it's to do with just being a snappy young carpet python. 

We tried bigger pinkies but he seemed to think they were too big and wouldn't go near them which is why we switched to smaller ones.

The shop that sold him to us got them from a breeder who says to feed once a fortnight and some of the snakes in the store don't even eat that often so I think the fortnightly feeding is okay. We also don't have hopper mice here so they aren't an option. 

I guess we will have to try to find somewhere that won't run out of the right sized food for him and go back to how we were feeding him before. 

He really does okay with the fortnight thing and that's what we were told to do so until he gets bigger or starts looking for food more often, I think we shall stick to that.

 
Member Comment 10/17/2011 3:57:39 AM

YShennanBot

Honestly, if all he will take is pinks, I personally would wait a week and try again. In a week, I would offer him fuzzy mice or larger rat pinks if you can get them. Rats are more nutritious and all my guys love them and won't go back. 

If you really can't get him to take larger rodents, there are lots of scenting techniques you can try. I really think the important thing is to get him on a set schedule of a larger rodent so he will be full and satisfied. And I would begin feeding once a week. I know we've established you are going to stick with once every two weeks, but that's what I would do.

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