Help! Snake acting a bit strange and not particularily eating...

[Serpentine_since09]

Hey all, recently my corn seems to have developed a bit of an odd problem. She's not eating like she used to at all, but what I find slightly more concerning is her behaviour during feeding time. I've always fed her using tweezers, so I'll present her with a mouse or two, and although she'll show interest in them, she won't go for them like she used to!

She kinda rubs her snout on them and tastes them a bit, but then just tries to climb over over them and onto my hand to come out and see me! And once she's refused them like that I'll leave them in her tank with her so she can have them if she wishes to later on, in case for whatever reason my presence is disturbing her. But from watching her some time after I'd intially tried feeding her to see how she was doing, she was still acting strangely. Sometimes it seemed almost as if she was trying to avoid the mouse, and other times she'd approach it and show interest, then bite it and drag it around slightly multiple times, but then she'd let go and burrow underneath it into her substrate, almost as if she was giving up! She'll generally take one mouse eventually, though I never see her do it, but this week she's refused both and she's gone longer than she typically would between feeds.

It's really odd for her, she used to be brilliant at feeding, typically as soon as I made the mouse 'dance' a bit in the tweezers she'd be on it! She's been like this since her last shed, so I really don't know what could've caused it, of course I've checked for any retained shed etc. She used to feed even while in blue phase, but she stopped doing that a few months ago too, though I wasn't concerned as I know some snakes don't like to eat during the shedding process.

The owner of the reptile shop I go to to get her mice told me it was because she was probably getting to the breeding age and that's why she was going off food, and he said she could be like that anything from about 1 week to 5 months! She's probably about 2 years old now, so I suppose that could be the reason, but I thought I should seek the opinion of people here. Can anybody shed some light on this?

[bitsy]

Nothing's set in stone with Corn behaviour, but here are a few thoughts for you to consider:

It's males that tend to go off their food during the breeding season. Females only tend to do it later, when they're carrying eggs. You may have a male instead of a female, but even then it's slightly early for a male feeding fast. I have a couple of males who do that but they tend to refuse March-June.

Are you feeding adult mice? Offering two of these at a time would be rather over-doing it. Once they get big enough to take adult mice, they don't need more than one at a time. How frequently are you offering food? It could be that she's just not getting hungry enough between feeds (especially on double rations!) and she needs to routinely be left longer and eat less.

Also, double-check the temperature on the warm and cool sides of the tank, directly on the floor. If temps are too hot or cold that can disrupt feeding (they might not eat if conditions aren't right for digestion).

Alternatively, at two years old she's still young enough to be "growing up" and her behaviour could just be changing as she's getting more mature.

Just a few points to ponder there.

[Serpentine_since09]

Well, see, there's a problem I've had with 'her'. There's two reptile based stores near where I live, and I've had the snake sexed at both. One told me she was male, and the other told me she was female, and both came up with excuses as to why the other store deliberately said the snake was the opposite sex as to the one they came up with. So who am I to believe? The one that told me she was female showed me the probing process and explained to me the differences between the male and female. The store that told me she was male, well, I barely even saw them do it, and they didn't bother to explain to me WHY she was male.

I'm feeding kinda small to medium sized adult mice to her, so I didn't think that'd be overdoing it, in any case, I again was advised by the reptile store on how much to feed her so wether it's right or not is questionable. I was told to feed her roughly every 10 days, and she's been longer than that without food this time.

The temperature in the warm side of her tank is regulated by a sensor on her heat mat to about 27 degrees celsius, and that hasn't changed at all, I check regularily to see that it's still working and on the right temperature, so I don't think it would be that. =/ Like I said, she was fine until her last shed.

Of course it could just be that her attitude towards things is changing as she grows, but I wouldn't've though it would be so rapid and radical at that.

[Kronos]

There have been some recent threads about other people who are seeing their snakes refusing food this time of year. Here they are:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107677&highlight=eating

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107918&highlight=eating

One possibility is that their instincts are telling them that they should be going off food for brumination, even if the temps and everything else is okay. But there are some interesting discussions in those threads. As always, you want to eliminate any other causes before assuming this is the reason.

Your high temp of 27 C (=80.6 F) is probably a bit low. You may want to raise it to 29 - 30 C, which would be 85 - 86 F.

[Serpentine_since09]

Ok, I'll try rising the temp by a couple of degrees as you suggested and see if anything happens. :) In the meantime I'll have a look at the threads you've given me, thanks for that.

The brumation theory is one I had too, but since there's so many other possibilities to consider, I didn't think it was likely.

Is this possibly a problem for the vet to try and solve for me?

[bitsy]

Healthy Corns can go for several months without eating, so unless you have other concerns I'd say it's early days yet and that a vet isn't necessary.

See if the slightly bumped-up temps kick-start her - that could be a nice easy fix.

As for the multiple mice, if she can eat two small mice at once then she should be on one medium. When one medium mouse doesn't leave a visible lump in her belly 24-48 hours after eating, then she's probably ready for a large or adult mice (however your shop sells them). Ten day feeds are fine for medium mice, but I tend to go to 14 days with large mice.

It's a nuisance that you're getting conflicting info about the sex. I'm afraid there isn't a foolproof way of doing it without probing and even that can give variable results sometimes.

[talc22]

the same thing happened with my female early last year, she would not eat the mouse in her tub just sniffed about it then climbed out. the only way she would eat was in her viv and it took her a few hours to eat, after a couple of feeds in her viv i made holes in the feeding tub lid and left her alone in it until she had ate. she went back to normal after a few feeds like this.

[Naagas]

I just wanted to say that you aren't alone. I had a snake that never refused a meal, who always struck and coiled- and she skipped a few feedings once.
Then she was fine.
The important thing that I had to keep reminding myself is that snakes aren't like cats or hamsters. They can skip quite a few meals for almost no reason, then go back to normal.

So, good luck and let us know when she starts eating again.
Maybe bumping the temps will be just the thing. :-)

[Serpentine_since09]

Well, I think it's hard for anyone if their beloved pet starts behaving abnormally, and she's the only corn I have so I do have a tendancy to worry about her pretty easily. :P

I'm sure all will be fine in the end, she seems healthy enough apart from her strange behaviour, so I'll just keep an eye on her and hopefully it's a passing thing. It's reassuring to know I'm not alone in snakes suddenly being picky about food.