gett GTP to eat

Originally Posted by JCCS

Never, ever force feed. The stress from that probably caused the death of the snake. You shouldn't even be touching chondros that young, much less force feeding. I don't know how much snake experience you have, but I'd probably get some more under your belt before trying a chondro again. They require a lot of patience and attention.

I've only had snakes for 6 years- and only boas and ball pythons, and by no means consider myself an expert. I've admitted that it was a bit of an impulse buy, with one of my biggest mistake being buying from a wholesaler, and not asking the right questions.

That being said- I stopped handling at all him after the first 2 weeks. I left him alone, and only checked to make sure he had water and when I tried feeding him. I admit I don't know much about them, and have been reading up on them a lot since getting him.

I don't really believe that the force feeding killed him... like i said before- it was a last ditch effort, and it obviously didn't work. Thinking about how he was looking at the time, I don't think that he would lived anyway.

I will be doing a lot more research on them, and will get one only when I feel like im ready. Im really thankfull for all off your suggestions and advice.

I wish you the best of luck in the future!

GTPs can be so touchy. I've also been keeping boas and such a long time. Both GTPs I tried to keep died, I never had luck with them.

I bred boas for a decade and started working with green tree pythons a couple years ago. I think you underestimate exactly how fragile neonate green tree pythons are. I'm not trying to give you a hard time, I'm just saying that force feeding as a rule is a bad idea with any snake, but it's a horrible idea with something as fragile as a neonate chondro.

I doubt it was the force feeding attempt that caused the death but I'm sure it did not help. If the snake was healthy to begin with, handling can cause spinal injury and stress them out; force-feeding can cause severe spinal injury and tear their esophagus, causing death. Chondros are not the snake to get if you want more than a display snake.

If you bought it from a wholesaler you likely got a "farmed"/import chondro. Those are likely to harbor parasites. Next time around, get a captive born and bred baby directly from a reputable breeder, it will save you a great deal of trouble. Also, don't "settle" when buying a chondro; the right one will eventually show up.

Read the book "The More Complete Chondro" by Greg Maxwell before you get another one.

For future reference; I have 2 Madagascar tree boas that do the whole strike and release thing. I keep getting them to strike until they eventually hold it in their mouth long enough to trigger them to swallow. It sometimes takes an hour (per snake) and when they finally grab it I have to freeze and stay motionless until they finish. I do all this at night in very dim light. I imagine Chondros would be similar enough that this technique may work for them too.

Sorry this one did not pull through for you.

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

I wish you the best of luck in the future!



GTPs can be so touchy. I've also been keeping boas and such a long time. Both GTPs I tried to keep died, I never had luck with them.

I've also kept a few GTPs and have had 2 die on me, the last one was my favorite & I sold my remaining ones.