Inactive snakes

[Jicin]

For the last few days my snow and charcoal haven't been active at all. Normally, the snow would even be active in daytime and most of the time he didn't bother to hide. And it the evening the charcoal would come out.

However, since a few days there not doing anything *at all*. Today i thought they escaped but both burried under the woodships and didn't even bother to move untill poked several times. They've eaten last sunday and i barely found any pooh. There temp is about 26 degrees and there's a warmth spot for belly heat. When i get them out there getting a little active and crawl around but very sluggish. But otherwise they do look healthy.
Neither of them are in blue phase or are approaching blue phase.

Now i'm worried because my hamster died misteriously a few days ago and my other hamster had been ill at the same time but he recovered (I didn't even know the other got sick. I was treating the ill one and the next day i found the other dead). I do wash my hand with antibacterial soap before touching the snakes. But not my sleeves ect.

Are they sick, or trying to get into brumnation? There like a month or 3 old. Or am i to worried? It just seems so odd a very active snake won't move around unless poked.

[Jynx]

I hope that when you say 26 degrees, you mean celsius. I don't know how the seasons are there or if they are different from the US, but they could be noticing the barometer (air pressure and humidity) drop as the temperature drops. If they seem like they are trying to go into brumation, then you need to raise the temp and the humidity in the cage. Young corns can go though brumation, but its not recomended. If they have just eaten, then you need to make sure it is warm enough for digestion. If it is too cold, food will rot in their stomachs. I always keep my hatchlings a few degrees warmer try to keep it a little more humid than I keep my adults. I had somewhat of the same thing happen with a few of my hatchlings. I just raised the temp and humidity in their viv. I also noticed that if you add specific drops to the drinking water to nuetralize chlorine and other chemicals, it seems to help hatchlings. Lack of good quality water seems to affect hatchlings much more than adults. Have you changed the substrate lately? Substrates like pine or cedar will also affect hatchling more than adults, and even though these substrates CAN be used for adults (but its not recomended) they can be toxic to hatchlings. I hope this helps you out. Let me know if there are any changes. :)

[Jicin]

Well, i did what you said. I raised the temp a bit. Right now there both in the coldest part of the viv. I also increased humidity a bit. To bad i didn't see my snow just taking a stroll, resulting in him getting a spray right in the face. Ooops.

I found some pooh in the viv. I hope that's the last they had in their stomaches.

There on woodships. Cleaned when nessasary.

Just today i found something else to fret about. I noticed him fretting with his jaws. They weren't aligned. He gave a big yawn but still not aligned. He kept fretting with it and gave another one. Is was dark in the room so i couldn't quite see if there was anything wrong in his mouth. The whole thing took a small minute. I distubed him sleeping. I took him out, he was warm, but nothing i could see wrong. I think he is approching blue fase now. His scales wheren't quite flat on his body. Either that or it's a sign of something is wrong.

Should i make a vet appointment to be sure? I don't mind spending the case but right now it's rather cold outside and going to the vet is very stressfull for the snake to begin with.

[penny]

I am in the UK and my snakeys have got very quiet over the last few days. I have got them a larger heat mat but the temp is still only 70F (21C) in the centre of the viv, The humidity is 60 %. I think it must be the weather.
perhaps I should try and warm my babies up a bit too. Mine have also not pooed following their feed a couple of days ago and I am starting to worry.

How come I never worry about my cat or rabbit or guniea pigs like this?

[Jicin]

Thats to cold. The thermostat says 27 but i think its warmer then that. Not really brumnation temps i think

[penny]

just rechecked my babies, its 24 C in the centre of the viiv, and 65% humidity.
bit better..... but the snakeys do insist on sitting at the cold end. i can't persuade them to go to the warm end. Maybe their viv is too big and they feell insecure? its's 4 foot L x 1 ft w x 15"h. I have one hide at the cold end and a plant and two hides at the warm end.

[Kel]

I'm in the UK and my Corns always slow down this time of year, regardless of the fact that I keep their temps the same as in summer. How they sense the seasons indoors I don't know, but they do seem to know it's getting colder outside. I don't brumate them, but I do slow down the rate at which I feed them. All my adults are on once a fortnight feeds and will go down to once every three weeks for December and January. I usually carry on the reduced feeding regime until late February unless I see them starting to move about more. Amazing animals.

Hi Penny - Mine always live down the cool end as well and only visit the warm end when they've just eaten. I've tried everything I can think of, from covering the entire floorspace with hides, to moving their "favourite" hides from the cool to the warm end. They just seem to be happier cool and as long as I can see from the thermometers that the warm end isn't overheated, then I just leave them be. It doesn't seem to bother them and they still digest everything very well (haven't had an adult regurge in years), so I eventually stopped fretting about it.

[Jicin]

Hmm. Well, then i just keep low. I hope it's just the season. I'd hate Terry beeing ill.