WC is acting oddly....normal

[frankykeno]

Okay we just got this snake in today (FedEx). She's the wild caught, pet store bought, has had two owners in the last 7 months before we got her snake.

I expected her to be freaked out, maybe aggressive, balled up, hissing, frozen in fear...something.

She did check out her sterlite thoroughly but since it's gotten into the evening hours she's sort of lazily cruised her tub, had a drink or two, checked out the cool hide and had a lovely snooze or two in her warm hide. I just checked on her and she appears to be doing the lurking behaviour I see in my other two balls when they are hungry (you know where they hide in their hides and stick their head out waiting for dinner to wander by).

Now granted she hasn't been wild since sometime just before Feb 2005 but folks, what is up here? She isn't acting like I figured she would at all (not complaining) but confused. Should I try a feed in a week or two just like any new snake in the house or what? She even came up to the side of the tub to have a stare at me! Didn't even flinch, just looked, turned and went back in her hide, nice as you please. Back to lurking LOL.


~~Jo~~

[kavmon]

i'd just let her settle in and try feeding her on your next feeding day. alot of times people won't feed a snake they know that is going to ship out, so there's less of a chance of a mess in the bag. she might be hungry,curious!


vaughn

[Python-77]

90% of bps on the market today are wild caught of captive hatched babies. BPs are funny I have seen wild caught adults that would strike at anything that moved and I have also seen WC adults that shared the same traits as a CBB baby BP and jsut balled up. snakes are funny creatures you cant label anyone by the actions of another.

[mlededee]

it's great that she is acting so normally for you and not completely freaked out as expected. i have always waited a full week before feeding all newly acquired snakes except for one. it was feeding night for the others the day after i got her and as i was feeding everyone else she was pacing back and forth in her tub and worked herself into a total frenzy. i figured that she must smell the aroma of rat and decided to offer her one and see what happened. she struck it before i got it lowered all the way into her drawer. i guess what i'm trying to say is, if the snake is acting hungry and you are feeding the others anyhow you might as well give it a shot. she might just surprise you. maybe this new girl isn't going to be too much trouble to settle in after all.

[frankykeno]

Thanks for the advice folks. Vaughn, it isn't that she wasn't offered food prior to shipping. From what I've been told she's been refusing to eat much of anything other than the very occasional small prey here or there. That's actually why I was offered her as the previous owner had gone as far as she felt comfortable going with this snake. So not a food being withheld situation.

I'm wondering about something. She was in a rack situation and is now in a private tub away from the other snakes and our entire busy household. Could this be a factor? Can a snake be stressed further by being in a rack near other snakes it can smell or sense but not see? Just a thought I was pondering on....

Mike and I don't wish to push her at all. She will eat we feel in good time and is not in a critically thin state, though obviously needs some good eats. We are thinking about trying a smaller than body size prey though to start. Something like a nice juicy live rat pup to get her digestive juices going. This would of course be far too small for a snake of this size normally but what do you all think of offering this first, making sure she eats it and keeps it down then just working weekly (or even bi-weekly if she refuses some weeks) to get her up to more appropriate sized rats or at least multiples of smaller rats till she's on a strong feeding pattern?

When a snake fasts or refuses food for any significant length of time, is there information out there on what happens to them as far as the "flora and fauna" of their digestive tract? In other words, when you or I don't eat due to flu or whatever, we sort of lose our hunger response after a few days, then need to eat small meals to get back to normal again, or we might throw up from too much too fast. Is it like that with snakes at all, considering they are sort of programmed by nature to go through times of feast and famine I would think it's much different?


~~Jo~~

[frankykeno]

Adam thanks for the great advice about basically burying her hides. We use those great heavy rubber dog bowls and have set her up so basically she has to almost head down into the entrance of the hide. There is also bedding on top of the hides so they appear as "natural" as I can manage it.

She immediately got the idea and is using both already!

I don't think she's ever spied an Accu-Rite though LOL. I watched her for awhile last night and she was having a very close look at it, nudged it, tongue flicked it, just generally trying to figure out what in heck this thing was in her new home.

Funny to watch them "classify" something in their basic snakey brains....

Can I eat this....nope

Can it eat me....nope

File under....ignore this thing!

LOL


~~Jo~~

[Adam_Wysocki]

I'm sure the last thing she's thinking about right now is eating. She's probably a very smart girl looking for a way out. That's what 99% of all adult ball pythons do when you stick them in a new environment ... work on trying to escape.

Keep her warm (ambients in the mid to upper 80's with a 92-94 degree hot spot), keep her in the dark (the darker the better, all of my new snakes are in darkness 24x7 for at least the first month), and leave her alone except for topping off water and occasional cage cleaning (the less you disturb her the better) ... and if she doesn't eat after the first couple attempts, don't forget about the crumpled up newspaper trick!!

-adam

[frankykeno]

Thanks Adam and everyone for all the excellent advice! Yep Adam I have been saving newspaper since I knew we would get her LOL just in case.

Well since I can't put my hands on her....here's a pic of Saoirse that I messed with a bit with my Picture It! program



~~Jo~~

[rabernet]

She's very nice looking, I know you are glad to finally have her home!

[frankykeno]

Yep the first snake shipped safely...yippeeeeeeeeeee! Thanks again Robin for teaching me how to watch her progress through the FedEx tracking site.


~~Jo~~