Animal_gal
07-06-2008, 12:41 PM
Hey guys.
In 03 i got my snake Smeagol. He had been bred, raised, and hand fed by the owner of a pretty private pet shop for over a year. He was born a runt and was the only of his siblings that the owner kept; the owner had a hard time letting go of him.
He's been feeding well the whole time I've had him. He had a respiratory problem at one point and has regurgitated once. He's only refused food once, probably about the second time I fed him. These were all several years ago. Otherwise he's been completely healthy and happy.
Initially he only ate one mouse but he's grown quite a bit and he progressively began eating bigger mice and more of them. Right now I'm feeding him three large adult mice every two weeks.
In my curiousity I weighed him today. He's 6.5 years old, 651 grams, and about four and a half feet.
My problem is that after he eats he doesn't go into hiding anymore. When I put him back into his cage he immediately gets a drink of water and crawls around like he's just as hungry as when he started. This has been going on for a while. Sometimes after a couple days he'll kinda give up and disappear for a while. This has been going on for a while now.
After he eats three mice there's a good sized lump in him that remains for a few days, which if I remember correctly is one sign that I'm not necessarily underfeeding him.
I've tried giving him a fourth mouse once in the past and he acts that same way afterwards.
So I have a few questions. I've done some research and tried searching some of the forums here but thus far none seem to cover my issue. Why would he act this way? Is his size and weight fairly healthy for his age? Am I over or under feeding him in any way? Should I look into getting small rats or try a different feeding system?
I feel like an idiot--he's been doing so well for so long now, and now that something seems a little off I really don't know what I'm doing wrong, if anything at all.
Thoughts or feedback would mean the world to me. Thanks.
In 03 i got my snake Smeagol. He had been bred, raised, and hand fed by the owner of a pretty private pet shop for over a year. He was born a runt and was the only of his siblings that the owner kept; the owner had a hard time letting go of him.
He's been feeding well the whole time I've had him. He had a respiratory problem at one point and has regurgitated once. He's only refused food once, probably about the second time I fed him. These were all several years ago. Otherwise he's been completely healthy and happy.
Initially he only ate one mouse but he's grown quite a bit and he progressively began eating bigger mice and more of them. Right now I'm feeding him three large adult mice every two weeks.
In my curiousity I weighed him today. He's 6.5 years old, 651 grams, and about four and a half feet.
My problem is that after he eats he doesn't go into hiding anymore. When I put him back into his cage he immediately gets a drink of water and crawls around like he's just as hungry as when he started. This has been going on for a while. Sometimes after a couple days he'll kinda give up and disappear for a while. This has been going on for a while now.
After he eats three mice there's a good sized lump in him that remains for a few days, which if I remember correctly is one sign that I'm not necessarily underfeeding him.
I've tried giving him a fourth mouse once in the past and he acts that same way afterwards.
So I have a few questions. I've done some research and tried searching some of the forums here but thus far none seem to cover my issue. Why would he act this way? Is his size and weight fairly healthy for his age? Am I over or under feeding him in any way? Should I look into getting small rats or try a different feeding system?
I feel like an idiot--he's been doing so well for so long now, and now that something seems a little off I really don't know what I'm doing wrong, if anything at all.
Thoughts or feedback would mean the world to me. Thanks.