First Time Feeds

In the world of snake keeping, there is, as with any hobby, a whole set of do' and do not's that circulate by word of mouth by keepers, and are taken as gospel, being passed on in turn as correct. With Royal Pythons, one of the "golden rules" that is instructed to new keepers is "leave the snake to settle in for a week before handling". I've never really been one for following instructions without question, and am much more of a trial-and-error person - after all, advancement comes not from doing the same, from from doing differently.

You may remember that last week I took on a little female Pastel that the previous owner could not switch to frozen/thawed prey, and was stubbornly sticking to live only. I took her on with the firm intention of getting her on frozen/thawed rodents as soon as possible. After collecting her, I left her alone for the first day to settle in to her new home uninterrupted, so that she could explore at her leisure and accustom herself to the best spots.

Contrary to the "rule", I have handled her every day since, for a couple of minutes at a time, observing closely for changes in behaviour and increases in stress levels - twitchy / jumpy movements, and insistence on heading for a particular spot. By the end of the first week, she was proving to be a confident little lady, and would even leave her secure cork-bark tube hide to enquire at my presence.

Normally, I would attempt to feed within the first week of arrival, however as she had proven to be a very stubborn feeder for the previous owner, I decided to leave her to build up a hunger for another week - Royal Pythons are extremely efficient and can go many months without food, so two weeks was only a fraction of the available time I had before giving in and offering her a live rodent, but hopefully it was going to be enough to attract some interest from an offering, and work from there. It also meant she had another week of being handled daily and getting used to me before my first attempt at feeding.

I decided to risk letting my cockiness get the better of me - not only was I prepared to throw caution to the wind in terms of breaking the "do not handle" rule, on top of attempting to switch a live feeder only onto frozen thawed prey, I also dared to throw into the challenge switching her from mice onto rats - some Royal Pythons can display a stubborn preference for one prey type, but I prefer them to be on rats from an early age, for reasons I'll cover another day.

I'm extremely pleased (and relieved) to say that my efforts were an astounding success: I prepared a small weiner rat of a slightly larger size than I would normally offer by thawing it in a freezer bag through the day, and as a little trick, placed some smelly hamster bedding in the bag to scent the rat. Once it got late in the evening (Royal Pythons are crepuscular, not nocturnal as commonly believed) I heated the rat up by dunking in hot water for a few moments (still in the bag) and got creative with the tongs by mimicking live behaviour. It took a long time, but eventually, as the pic shows, she struck - and took care of the rest without any further help from me! Although I'm obviously pleased to have not only switched her onto live, but rats too, this is not a complete success by any means, and it could be many more weeks before I can confidently say she's properly converted. I would have also preferred that she fed in the feeding tray rather than the comfort of her own RUB (again, for my own reasons), but it's a starting point to build on.

This week also saw the arrival of a cheeky little female Fire (who we've named "Scully" on account of a section of her pattern that looks like a typewriter "X"), who only hatched five weeks ago. Again, aside from arrival day, I've handled her every day since, or at least called in to say hello with a stroke when handling has been impossible due to her occupying her favourite hide. As she was previously established on frozen/thawed mice by the breeder, this meant that by my theory of daily handling, first time feeding should be without issue - aside from her once again refusing to leave her tube.

I decided to try and coax her out by dangling a little mouse just away from the entrance hoping that she'd follow, but the little bugger got the jump on me and snatched the mouse clean from the tongs, and dragged it into the tube to eat in privacy.

So there we have it: Two snakes, one a "live feeder only" and one a 5 week old hatchling, both handled every day since arrival, and both fed successfully this week without incident. Rule: Shattered.

I'm not too sure where the "leave for a week" rule originated or under what logic, but it seems to be one of those things that one person tried, and everyone followed suit. My theory on my method is that it takes a day or less for new arrivals to get used to the lay out of their new home, and the new sounds and smells - but a little longer to get used to being handled and the close presence of a human. In principal, what I'm suggesting is that leaving new arrivals to settle in with no contact for a week could actually be detrimental to feeding efforts, as not only do they have to deal with presence of food, but the looming presence of an unfamiliar person too. By my method, the human contact element should be a familiar routine come feeding day, leaving just the job of tackling prey to be taken care of.

Whilst there is a world of experience out there from keepers that have been around the hobby for a long time, I encourage everyone to try their own thing, determine what works from what doesn't, and build on that experience base. Not all rules are absolute!

RUB's Versus Viv's continued...

I last wrote about the merits of the use of RUBs as suitable housing for young Royal Pythons, however at the time none of my residents lived in one, as my current pair have always lived in vivariums, and never shown any sign of stress or discomfort, and are getting pretty big now. That changed this week with the somewhat unexpected arrival of my newest Royal Python - a little skinny Bob Clark bred CB11 female Pastel (otherwise know as a Jungle Pastel), who has affectionately been named "Rowntree".

Note the blushings on her sides shown here

In terms of genetics and morphs (to recap on previous blogs), Pastels are a heterozygous, co-dominant breed (the other gene in the pair been a Normal), with the homozygous form been Super Pastels. They are characterised by their bright yellow/orange appearance, clear bellies, exaggerated blushings in the patterning, and brightly coloured eyes.

Pastels are a "base morph", which when paired to a Fire for example, can produce a Firefly, as well as many more "designer" morphs when paired to other single of multiple gene morphs.


The purchase of Rowntree was as a result of browsing the classifieds section of a snake keepers forum (always dangerous) where I happen to chance on the rare encounter of a very decent and genuine seller concerned more with the health of the animal than cash. He quite clearly stated that the little Pastel was a live feeder only, and that he had not managed to convert her over to frozen/thawed, and was looking to sell to someone with experience and lots of patience - rather than someone purely interested in breeding potential! Coincidentally, Ifrit (my male Fire) was Bob Clark bred, and was also a very picky eater when he came to me, but after lots of patience and a little trial and error in terms of routine, he is turning into a very keen feeder - so I have the confidence that with lots of patience and a few tricks, I can convert her over to frozen/thawed prey and provide a healthy and caring home for her. So after a few days of exchanging emails, Rowntree was to become a new resident.

Rowntree's home for the next year or so

I wrote in some depth previously about the benefits of RUBs for young Royals for promoting a sense of security - this is quite commonly a remedy for none-feeding Royals. So, following the confirmation that Rowntree was to come to me, the first job was to set up a RUB for her. Whilst I have recently become an advocate of RUB's, I do not condone bare RUBs which contain little more than a water bowl and newspaper substrate. There is some continued debate that the snake cares not for décor so long as their basic requirements are provided, but my opinion on the matter is that naturalistic décor, hides, and proper substrate should be provided to promote natural behaviour, a sense of security during thermo-regulation, stimulation and exercise. This in turn should reduce stress and hopefully encourage a healthy feeding response. I think this picture shows my thoughts on the matter, and hopefully the results will speak for themselves...

This week was also cleaning week for my adult residents, Monty and Ifrit. They both live in 3foot vivariums, although Ifrit's one is slightly larger in floor space. As Monty is rapidly approaching breeding weight (1266 grams as of last week), it made sense to make preparations for breeding season, and swap them around to give her the larger of the two - especially since Ifrit will be bunking with her for three days a week throughout breeding season. So, after a spring clean and a rearrange, here's how the other half live;

 

His

Hers

Not too shabby huh!?