• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Food refusal with tank cruising and lid pushing

If you imagine a cross section of your snake, it should look like a slice of bread. If she's very round at the top, or if down several inches before her vent she has fatty bulges out to the sides, then she is overweight.

How often are you feeding her? I feed most of my adult females every ten days. If you decide she's overweight, then every 14 days would be appropriate.

A few good ways to exercise her are stair-climbing, swimming, just general exploring- crawling through grass, or running her through your hand in a figure eight.
 
Any hardwood tree is fine for climbing branches. Pine, cedar, things like that have a lot of volatile chemicals (that give them the great scent) that are bad for snakes. I think how long you bake a piece of wood depends on the size. Soak in tap water first though, because otherwise the wood will ~scorch~ (take it from me, I've done it).
 
If you imagine a cross section of your snake, it should look like a slice of bread. If she's very round at the top, or if down several inches before her vent she has fatty bulges out to the sides, then she is overweight.

How often are you feeding her? I feed most of my adult females every ten days. If you decide she's overweight, then every 14 days would be appropriate.

A few good ways to exercise her are stair-climbing, swimming, just general exploring- crawling through grass, or running her through your hand in a figure eight.

She doesn't really have either. She's not overly rough and when she flexes I can see the muscles. The only bulges she has is down right by her vent. Otherwise, she's slick. When I press on her there's some squish, but I can really feel her muscles when she's slithering around in my hands. She also has a great grip.

I feed her once a week. She gets one adult or young adult mouse. They probably average about 30 grams maybe 40 if they hang around long enough from a large litter.

Exercising her would pose a problem. One story house with no stairs, no bathtub for swimming (have a very large sink but I doubt mom would approve). I'm hesitant on taking her outside for a variety of reasons. Ticks, overly curious goats, and dogs who might decide to have a snake snack.

Any hardwood tree is fine for climbing branches. Pine, cedar, things like that have a lot of volatile chemicals (that give them the great scent) that are bad for snakes. I think how long you bake a piece of wood depends on the size. Soak in tap water first though, because otherwise the wood will ~scorch~ (take it from me, I've done it).

Yep. I knew about the pine/cedar. I'll probably go with the maple. Plenty of limbs laying around from recent storms.
 
As an afterthought, if you can really point out what and where I should be feeling for both an overweight snake and a gravid one, I'll pull Morana out tonight and feel of her after I finsih helping with goats.
 
You can also wrap three sides of the tank for her. Seeing all around her and not being able to get there, can drive her nuts.

She needs a place or two to hide or at least aspen deep enough to bury in. She wants something, that's for sure. Any other kind of snake breedings going on in the room? A kingsnake around?

Giving her a lay box wouldnt hurt for a little while to be safe.

I would say hold your snake at about her neck and let her hang there. You might need to caress her to help her calm down enough to just hang there from your hand. Look at her sidewards. If she is gravid, you should see bumps from about her tummy and maybe all the way close to her vent if she is close to laying. If you let your thumb gently caress down her belly, you should be able to feel the bumps as you pass by them. Like a "string of pearls". You can also let her crawl over you hand on the floor, bed, counter as if you were dragging a string of pearls over your hand and you should be able to feel them that way too.

Good luck and keep us posted.
 
She's the only snake I own. The only breeding that goes on is the mice and that's only when I run low. Will check for the egg using your method of having her crawl over my hand.
 
No egg lumps. She seems fairly squishy near her vent and on her lower end I can't ffeel her spine. So, I'm thinking it's diet time.
 
A few good ways to exercise her are stair-climbing, swimming, just general exploring- crawling through grass, or running her through your hand in a figure eight.

Exercising her would pose a problem. One story house with no stairs, no bathtub for swimming (have a very large sink but I doubt mom would approve). I'm hesitant on taking her outside for a variety of reasons. Ticks, overly curious goats, and dogs who might decide to have a snake snack.

Really? You don't have the time to handle her? Well then, in that case the tank cruising and lid pushing can be considered good exercise for her.
 
Considering I have to help run a ranch with 130 goats (this includes medicating, trimming hooves, removing heads caught in fences, moving goats, milking, bottlefeeding, fixing fencing, taking pictures for the website), taking a summer class (three hours twice a week meaning we'll be covering a week of material per day), and I help my mother take care of my terminally ill grandmother. Oh yeah. Come fall semester I'm taking five classes for a total of 15 credit hours.

So. Yeah. I'm a wee bit short on time.
 
Then just feed her less, as has been said. She'll exercise herself being out and about looking for food.

But get her some more hides. People have given you plenty of suggestions for no-cost ways to do that.
 
As I said several posts earlier, I've already swapped the smaller hide for the ice cream bucket. I have to wait in order to make another since there's nothing around the house for me to use.
 
The mice you're feeding are huge! An average feeder adult is about 22-25 grams. You're feeding jumbos! I'd definitely take her back to every 10-14 days. Maybe ten but try to feed younger mice. Retired breeders are huge.
 
Considering I have to help run a ranch with 130 goats (this includes medicating, trimming hooves, removing heads caught in fences, moving goats, milking, bottlefeeding, fixing fencing, taking pictures for the website), taking a summer class (three hours twice a week meaning we'll be covering a week of material per day), and I help my mother take care of my terminally ill grandmother. Oh yeah. Come fall semester I'm taking five classes for a total of 15 credit hours.

So. Yeah. I'm a wee bit short on time.

Why did you take on an animal that you don't have the time or resources to care for properly?
 
... hardwood branches from the yard (baked in the oven at 200 F for 20 minutes to kill bugs); rocks.

I'm not worried about her going off food at all. I was more concerned with the food refusal couple with the cruising/lid pushing.

"Going off food" IS "food refusal."

I've already mentioned to mom about the suggestions. I read somewhere that you can take limbs from outside, put them in the over for a certain amount of time to kill parasites/nasties and use those for decoration/exercise.

Covered in a post prior to this one from you.
What's the appropriate temperature/duration for heating? I have access to a wide variety of trees as well. Hickory, maple, oak, pear, and a dead apple tree. Which of these would be most appropriate?
Any hardwood tree is fine. Deadwood is more likely to have bugs, though.

Really? You don't have the time to handle her? Well then, in that case the tank cruising and lid pushing can be considered good exercise for her.
Yep. As long as she's not damaging her nose.

Considering I have to help run a ranch with 130 goats (this includes medicating, trimming hooves, removing heads caught in fences, moving goats, milking, bottlefeeding, fixing fencing, taking pictures for the website), taking a summer class (three hours twice a week meaning we'll be covering a week of material per day), and I help my mother take care of my terminally ill grandmother. Oh yeah. Come fall semester I'm taking five classes for a total of 15 credit hours.

So. Yeah. I'm a wee bit short on time.

We all are, Raptor. 10-20 minutes of handling a few times a week should be manageble for everyone with only one snake most of the time. It's free and it's good for all concerned. Snakes don't need human interaction to be healthy and well-adjusted, but they do need exercise. If you have a corn snake you probably chose it in part becaue corns are gentle and easy to handle. Take advantage of that trait. Sitting calmly with a snake for just 10 minutes can have a settling effect on humans. You can read, watch TV or listen to music, or simply relax. Those 10 minutes will be time well spent, believe me.

You're asking husbandry questions, which is good. You're ignoring answers to some of the questions and asking them again, which is puzzling. We're here to help and hope things go well for you and your snake.
 
As I said several posts earlier, I've already swapped the smaller hide for the ice cream bucket. I have to wait in order to make another since there's nothing around the house for me to use.

No newspaper? Cardboard? Construction paper? Paper? Cereal boxes? Cloth? Paper towels? It doesn't have to cost money and it doesn't have to look fancy. Sure, display vivs that include beautiful decor are great and I have some of those. You're just looking for something that the snake can get into or under. EVERYONE has something around the house to use.
 
The mice you're feeding are huge! An average feeder adult is about 22-25 grams. You're feeding jumbos! I'd definitely take her back to every 10-14 days. Maybe ten but try to feed younger mice. Retired breeders are huge.

I'm probably over estimating, I'm not good as estimating size. I don't weigh them prior to feeding. These aren't retired breeders. These are just the offspring that I have no desire to keep. When I feed them, there's no noticeable lump on the snake once it gets past the throat.

Why did you take on an animal that you don't have the time or resources to care for properly?

Because a year ago I had a lot more time and my step-dad wasn't trying to shove all my step-sister's chores off on me. I also didn't have grandma and the resulting family issues to deal with.

You're ignoring answers to some of the questions and asking them again, which is puzzling.[/COLOR]

Because I'm getting so many replies and answers that I'm going every which way trying to gather things up. That, and I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment.

No newspaper? Cardboard? Construction paper? Paper? Cereal boxes? Cloth? Paper towels? It doesn't have to cost money and it doesn't have to look fancy. Sure, display vivs that include beautiful decor are great and I have some of those. You're just looking for something that the snake can get into or under. EVERYONE has something around the house to use.

Pretty much no. Newspapers go straight to my grandmother who throws them away after reading them. She has a bad enough memory that she asks the same question multiple times and has to be told the same thing repeatedly. The only cardboard is some shoe boxes, but those have things in them and I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be appreciated if I used them. Haven't had construction paper for years. Paper I might be able to do. I have several 3 ring binders of old notes/papers from last semester. I also have a paper shredder.

Cereal boxes, no. Parents by cereal in those big plastic zip lock bags. I have some one serving boxes of cereals, but I don't think she'd fit in one lol. Maybe something she could nose around. Cloth, I don't think so. I'd have to ask mom to see if she has any scrap cloth laying around. Most scrap cloth goes to the dogs for bedding. Papertowels, I get grumbles at for using them to dry my hands off, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to use it.

There honestly isn't a lot in the house to use. Things mostly get used or thrown away before I can grab them. Would have to talk to mom, but I think we still have some old sherbert icecream half gallon tubs. I'm not sure though. They may have gotten thrown away. If not the tubs, the lids did.
 
Went and offered her a p/k mouse today (weighed the mouse and he was 32 grams). She looked at it, flicked her tongue, and wasn't interested. To say the least, the outdoor dog enjoyed his mouse snack.

Since I swapped the small hide for the much larger one, she isn't pushing on the lid as much. She lightly bumps it and continues on. Have noticed she likes curling around the ice cream box.

I'm going to keep offering a mouse each week until she takes it. Then I'll switch to the once every 14 days feeding schedule.
 
See, I'd do the opposite. Well, something different. If she refuses (since she's a good-sized adult) I'd skip the next scheduled feed, and then offer again two weeks later. I have two or three snakes here that have eaten two or three times since mid-December. They just don't need to eat very often if they aren't growing. Although many of them are excellent at convincing us they are starving!
 
I probably should do that, since I'm guessing she's an adult. I measured her the other day and I'm guessing she's roughly 36"-38". Hard to get an exact measurement.
 
Back
Top