Age-related behavior changes?

[proileri]

I was thinking about age-related changes, and was wondering if there are some common changes in corn snake behavior at certain ages?

I know that all animals tend to have age-related changes to their physiology and behavior at the same time, as for example the changes in hormone balance affects both. Most common example would probably be the change in humans from a child to a teen.

 

[bitsy]

Males can go on a breeding season hunger strike once they mature, which is usually accompanied by increased activity as they search for a mate.

Females which are about to lay a clutch of eggs (fertile or infertile) or who occasionally experience very extreme ovulation, can also go off their food as eggs/follicles take up internal space. They may also become more active as they look for a place to lay.

Generally they become more confident as they grow. They can get more relaxed about being picked up or handled and might be happier to move around in the open or during daylight hours.

They also develop individual foibles for no apparent reason. My oldest male once went through a six month period of insisting that he was hand fed. Wouldn't touch a d/f mouse unless it was waggled in front of him using tongs. No idea why - he'd never been hand fed before this, had always eaten d/f unassisted and was in his usual feeding tank.

In a lifetime of keeping Corns, you could either see all of the above, some of them or none. It's quite dangerous to make generalisations about Corn Snake behaviour as there will always be a handful out there who don't want to follow the herd!