Adult corn won't eat! HELP!!

[ottersrule]

I have a four year adult corn, its been about six weeks since she last ate, never has any problems eating in the past, nothing has changed in her environment all the temperatures and humidity are normal have tried switching to live, in which he killed and tried to start eating but ended up giving up. Since then i've switch back to frozen/thawd but still no luck. I also put him and a mouse in a bag at night to see if the confined space help still nothing. I'm getting really worried, but as of now no signs of harm he still has great muscle tone and is about to go into shed this week. I've ruled out the lack of not eating due from the shed since he has taken many mice in the past pre-shed. Any suggestions tips would be much appreciated, i really dont want to resort to force feeding him.

[marieK]

Is he/she acting differently? It may be that he/she is in mate mode! Both my male and female corns stop eating at that time! This year my female didn't eat for 3 weeks before mating and during her pregnancy, that's a total of 7 weeks! For the male it was about 3-4 weeks, then he got his girl! As long as he's not loosing weight or acting sick I'd try not to worry just yet.

[AliCat37]

A few missed meals is NOTHING to worry about! Do not attempt to force feed!
It is very common for snakes to go several weeks without a meal.
Some even go for months.
The only time that you have to worry is if you notice a decline in weight.
It'll take quite some time for your snake to lose any weight.

[bitsy]

I agree with the above, as long as you're observing no other symptoms which could indicate a health problem.

Corns become mature around the age of three, so this could just be the first time that yours has felt "the urge".

Just keep offering the usual food at the usual intervals in the usual way. If it's a breeding season hunger strike, then yours will eventually start eating again. One of mine has gone for three months before now, although a few weeks is normal. Six weeks is within what I'd consider normal and acceptable.

Unless yours starts losing weight or showing other problems, then I really wouldn't contemplate force feeding. Corns are designed to go without food for periods of many months each year in the wild - not only during the breeding season, but also through the winter when there is little or no food available.

[Dakota314]

Yep, don't worry. One of my girls just started eating again after refusing food for 3 months and 2 days. My other girl hasn't eaten in 2 months. The're stubborn during this time of year. Just wait it out for now, until you notice bad signs, like stated above.

[ottersrule]

Thanks for all your help i finally got him to shed, and was able to feed him finally took a couple of tries but he did. Thanks again for the information and support!
-Erik

[bitsy]

That's great news Erik! Thanks for letting us know - it's lovely to have a happy ending.

[ramanth]

Thanks for this post/thread. I can now breathe a sigh of relief as my 6 year old female refused her meal last night.

This is the first time she's ever been off her feed so it was freaking me out.

I think she looks good, has no signs of illness, no changes in her habitat, always been fed frozen/thawed. The first sign of her not feeling hungry came last month when she only took 2 instead of her usual 3 mice. She then shed a few days later.

Lucy just turned 6 yrs old on June 8th and is my one and only snake. I've had her since she was 4 months old. Love her to bits!

Would you agree that she's of good weight/tone?

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8160/7360297228_3afe57fe97_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7226/7175077421_b1712241cf_z.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7075/7360348630_d4608114c1_z.jpg