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Not eating

A

acetone

New member
Hey guys,

My corn snake that my girlfriend and I got at then beginning of September hasn't been eating the last little while. When we first got him he was eating fine, then suddenly he stopped, having pretty much no interest in his food at all.

When he stopped (Oct 18) we just put him back into his cage and waited until the next feeding period (Oct 23) and he ended up eating. His next feeding (Oct 28) he refused and yesterday we went to feed him again and he did not eat again, we also tried leaving the pinky in the cage beside where he hides mostly for ~30 minutes with the lights off, but no go.

When we got him he weighed ~10g, his weight fluctuated between 10-12g and he has shed fine while we've had him (he's grown in length quite a bit). He has now gone down to 9g. His temperatures seem fine (80-85F warm end, ~75 on the cool end, we have a heater in the room to try and maintain that temperature given that it is winter) but I've noticed he seems to prefer the cool side, especially in the trees we have in the cage. He has plenty of areas to hide and is normally burrowing around. Also, when we first got him he seemed much more active during the night than he is now. We rarely see him out (he does move around though).

I'm not particularly worried but I suppose I'm just looking for confirmation. As well, should we just continue with the regular feeding schedule (every 5 days right now) or should we shorten it when he doesn't eat?

Thanks!
 
Several things to try. Put him in a smaller container with airholes (the deli cup you got him in will be fine) and put the pinky in with him.

"Brain" the pinky, meaning slit the head open so the blood smell is stronger.

Make sure the pinky is hot, some people boil them, I have had luck with just warming them up in a plastic baggie immersed in hot water for 10 minutes.

Let us know if any of these work.
 
Hmmm... how are you heating/regulating his hot spot? (ie. bulb, UTH with thermostat, etc.)
 
NH93 said:
Hmmm... how are you heating/regulating his hot spot? (ie. bulb, UTH with thermostat, etc.)
Click to expand...

UTH With thermostat and I use a probe thermometer to monitor the temps around the cage. All the temps are fine and stable.
 
We tried feeding him again, using what smigon suggested.

I first tried to see if he was interested in the pinky, but he wasn't. So I then brained it and put him into his delicup with the pinky, and covered it to make it dark, waited ~30 minutes but he had not eaten it.

So I started thinking perhaps the humidity is too low, since it is winter. We went and bought a hygrometer, to check it out, but it seems to be just under 30%, which is normal for 'room humidity' in the winter, but perhaps too low for a corn?
 
This is going to sound stupid, but did you dry off the pinky after you thawed it? Mine won't touch it if it's wet. Otherwise, I really don't know. Your set up is fine, so the snake probably just doesn't want to eat.

Good luck!
 
He could very well be preparing to go blue already. I would wait 3-4 days, and then try him on a boiled pink. Thaw the pink, pour boiling water over it, give it to him in a covered up deli, set a timer and don't peek for two hours.
 
Nanci said:
He could very well be preparing to go blue already. I would wait 3-4 days, and then try him on a boiled pink. Thaw the pink, pour boiling water over it, give it to him in a covered up deli, set a timer and don't peek for two hours.
Click to expand...

Ok will do, thanks a lot Nanci. :D
 
So since my last post:

He has not shed, and still hasn't eaten. We tried feeding him one time in a deli cup, which we put in his cage and covered, left for ~4 hours and he still had not eaten it. I also tried slicing a pinky in half but he was not interested.

I brought him to a local reptile store and the man (i think he was the owner) said everything we've tried is normal. He said he might be constipated so suggested giving him a cool bath every other day for a bit. So that's what we're doing now, hopefully something happens because I can't lie, it's getting a bit stressful. The man at the pet store said not to worry unless he noticeably starts 'wasting' away, at which point I can take him in and we can try assist feeding. He also said I can call him up and he'll grab a live pinky for me when he goes next week.

We just started to give him a bath, the water is sitting around 82-83F but he HATES it. Seriously, I felt so bad for having put him in there, he was launching himself up out the water. He can get up and out of the water though there's an area in the rubbermaid that he can go up onto, which he seems to just want to sit on.
 
Just thought I would update everyone, he just finally ate. We maintained temperatures and attempted regular feedings (every 5 days). We tried a lot of different things during the last 2 1/2 months but he just never seemed interested in eating. He also started to lose a lot of weight recently but at the same time was becoming more active just before night time to just after dark.

Just now I let the pinky warm up to room temperature without water, and then put it in a very hot mug of water for a few seconds and attempted to feed him as he was wandering about and at first he seemed not interested, but then started to get mad at it (his tail was shaking rapidly and he hit it with his head once). So I kept trying to offer and eventually he took it and just finished eating it.

Hopefully he continues to eat now and we can get him back up to weight. :D
 
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