Snakes not eating..

I have 2 milksnakes, 2 Cal.Kings, 4 corns, 1 trinket rat & 2 hypo brbs, as of last week all except for the trinket and the brb's have gone off schedule with their feeding regimen...they have refused food for 2 weeks now. All the temps in the enclosures are accurate, the only difference to the enviroment would be the light cycle..because they are near windows...Should I be worried?

Unless they did it last year, then yep, I'd be concerned.

As so many different snakes have gone off their food at once, it's most likely to be something environmental. Temperatures would be my first guess - do you have a backup thermometer in case the one you're using is off?

yes

I have 2 digital thermometers..a zoomed probe and a temp gun...as of today 2 of the older corns ate the other 2 refused after being left with the mice(f/t of course) over night. The kings both havent eaten in 2 weeks and they are 2 years old and never missed a meal before. Neither did my 2 milk snakes. The timer for the light switch was behind due to a power outage and was coming on at 5 am instead of 8..i coreected it, but i doubt that would affect them adversly being that they are right near a window. the room temp is in the low 70's and there is a heat vent right above the enclosures, If the temps get to high do they stop eating? I have never had this problem with multiple species at once..

They can stop eating if it's too warm or too cool - both situations would interfere with digestion.

If it's getting consistently over the safe range at the warm ends that could do it. Low 70s should be OK for the cool ends though. Do you have maximum/minimum thermometers? If they're near windows then that could be causing temporary heat spikes/drops that might be disrupting things.

I agree that a slight glitch in the light period probably wouldn't cause that sort of issue. Corns don't need artificial light so the worst that tends to happen is that lights either encourage them to stay out of sight or increase the temp in the tanks to unsafe levels.

What are the warm end temps in the tanks? Are the heat vents on all the time or could they be going on and off, causing the warm end to rise and fall rather than stay a consistent temperature?

The heat vents are from the central air in my home, my wife keeps it too warm for my taste, but her and the kids like it, anywhere from 72 to 75. I think the temps r getting to high. My temp gun registered 96 on the warm side and 84 on the cool side. So i opted to remove the 70m watt light bulb that is just to light up the enclosure for our viewing pleasure..the display tank is a 45 gallon forest tank with ceramic heat and uth. That doesnt explain why the kings or milks arent eating, they are lower to the ground and all 4 are seprate and have uth. The milks I own are known for being fussy, but not the cal kings...their temps are all fine 72 on the cool side and 89 on the warm side.. they r kept in a home made rack system with plastic tubs.. the rack holds the 2 milks 2 kings and the 2 corns that didnt eat.

It'll be interesting to see if having the lights out will help. 96 is definitely too high for a Corn if it's consistent and any more than just a localised hot spot. I usually look for 85ish on the floor at the warm side, which gives wiggle room up to 88. 84 is a good 10 degrees too high for the cool side, so I think high temps sound the most likely culprit at the moment - at least as far as the Corns are concerned.

Can't comment on the others from experience, although Cal Kings are notorious for being dustbins so having one of those refuse is very odd.

Fingers crossed - let us know how it goes.

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Everything is adjusted now ,and all the temps r fine...so far all the corns ate, the milks refused ,one cal king ate and regurged and the other cal king who is a powerhouse feeder is refusing also...idk what to do...

Sometimes adult snakes will go off food in the winter, or sometimes just decrease the amount of food they take. Their instincts tell them that they shouldn't be eating this time of year, and sometimes that overpowers their desire to eat. It doesn't affect all snakes though. I've never had king snakes, but I thought I read somewhere that they tend to do this more than corns. You didn't say how old they are - could this be their first winter as adults? If everything else is fine, this may be the explanation.

It's good that the Corns have at least started eating again. If it was some sort of health problem amongst them, then I wouldn't have expected correcting the temps to have made a significant difference to any of them. It does seem to point even more strongly to something environmental.

Given that temps in the tanks were slightly on the high side to start with, I wouldn't have expected the Corns to have gone into a winter fast. I've never had any of my Corns go off their food in the winter.

I've seen some corns begin to refuse food in the winter, even when the temperatures in their cages are ideal. Most of my corns don't do this, but mine are all currently under 3 years of age. They will be able to sense other changes in the environment such as changing light cycles, barometric pressure, humidity, air temperature, etc., that will indicate to them that it's time to refuse food. Other people I've talked to have seen this happen, and then others also never see it. I've always wondered if it had something to do with where their genes originate from - corns native to southern Florida may possibly be less likely to go off food than, say, corns native to New Jersey. Don't really know for sure, but it could explain why people have very different experiences with this. But as usual, the first thing to do is to check that all temperatures and health issues are okay before assuming this is the cause.

That's an interesting point. I've had adult Corns since I started keeping them and I've not observed it. They must come from a variety of original bloodlines, but all were captive-bred in the UK. The only fasts I regularly see are the male breeding ones in the Spring, but my old guy has always hated change and can stop eating if things change in his surroundings e.g. a move to a new viv.

Actually, I have to correct my post above. I've realised that I own three Corns directly imported from Rich Z as hatchlings (two GoldDusts and a Butter Mot). So those at least originated directly from Florida-based bloodlines. Still the warmer end of the Corns' range though.

All my snakes seem to spend most of their time sleeping this year. Last year I only had one snake and during the winter she was still a baby so I thought her hiding was due to natural baby shyness. But this year I have three snakes at my house. 2 yearlings and one 8 month old. One yearling and the 8 month old are both corn snakes. The other yearling is a kingsnake. All my snakes have been kept at the same temps year round but this winter all of them have spend most of their time sleeping. They rarely come out. I have to wake them up on feeding days (meaning I have to dig them up out of the aspen). All of them still eat except for the kingsnake. He will sometimes refuse a meal. But sometimes if I offer that night or next morning he will eat but not always.

Though my corns haven't been refusing meals they don't seem as interested in the food. It takes them longer to eat. They will sniff it and then ignore it for a while before deciding to eat (not their normal behavior). So I think it is due to it being winter. My snakes are on the opposite side of a window but the light from the day shines on their tanks. So maybe they can tell by how much sunlight there is.

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Sorry I forgot to mention that all the snakes except the milks are yearlings,the milks are a little over 2. As of today all the snakes hav eaten, the corns are back on schedule now that the temp is adjusted. The milks are eating and so are the kimgs just not as often. They refuse from time to time so i offer every other day, then wait a week until the next attempt. I have been out of the loop with snake keeping for a few years and got back into it last year and I panicked...thanx for all the advice and tips.

Thanks for the update - it's great to know that things are back on track for you. It can be pretty unnerving when something unexpected happens!

It sounds like temperature correction has helped in your case. But I do get asked this same question quite a bit every winter. So I will mention a few things that might help others, and I can point everyone who asks towards this thread.

It is not all that unusual for keepers to find that their corns and kings (and other colubrids) either go off feed, or show less interest in food during the fall and winter months. Usually they are adults, but occasionally juveniles will also go off feed for a while, too.

There are a couple of things to consider before undertaking the temp and light manipulation suggested below. One is that there is a medical problem - always a concern when a snake is off feed, since lack of appetite is usually the first symptom of illness. You should always check for health problems first thing when a snake goes off feed. Check carefully with eyes and fingers for lumps, bumps, injuries, muscle tone and strength, good mouth closure, clear eyes, respiratory discharge, and listen for breathing abnormalities. If anything concerns you or you are not sure, you will have to schedule a trip to a qualified herp vet.


Sometimes it can be due to different temps. Most of the time, people keep their houses a little cooler in the winter than summer. If their heat pads / strips are not on a thermostat, then the hot spot will also be cooler, too. Of course, if the cage is located near a heater, then it can be hotter than usual. Either can be a problem.

I have also found that both the reduced intensity and reduced hours of sunlight coming through windows can also affect appetite. It changes hormones, which change interest in food (I have read that it might have affected humans in similar ways - until wide use of artificial light - too bad!!). But I have found that when keepers use a bright light over the cage (making sure the cage doesn't get TOO hot), and extending "daylight" hours a couple of hours after dark, snakes MAY be fooled into thinking that spring has arrived, and it may really spike interest in food.


If you are quite sure your snake is healthy, but temp and light manipulation won't work, then you can always consider brumation for a couple of months. Make sure the stomach is completely empty, then lower temps to the 50sF, and keep mostly in the dark. They lose very little weight during the down time, and usually wake up hungry.

Thanks again everyone, I believe the temps with the corns affected their eating pattern, due to the high temp range around the entire enclosure. There is still a decent drop in appetite for all the snakes, I believe its because they are all near the windows and the room is facing north. So the natural light cycle must be the influential factor. Also the bulb I originaly used for lighting the corn enclosure, was a 15 watt flourescent on a timer that came on after sunrise and went off before sunset. During a power outage the bulb fried and being out of flouro's I opted for a 75 watt incandescant, subsequentially I forgot to switch back to flouro prompting the fluctuation in temps. In the end is was a matter of human error and nature taking its course.... a simple mistake taking me into avenues of herping that I had not encountered before with 15 years in the hobby. After all these years and multiple different species kept these are my first corns too. It goes to show "you learn something new everyday"..