New Snake Not Feeding.

[FuZZ]

I picked up a female reverse okeetee about 2 1/2 weeks ago. She is in a 20 long tank w/ buncha hide spots on black calcium sand. I also have a heat lamp w/ a 75 watt infrared bulb. She seems pretty active, always exploring, hiding or trying to escape. I can't seem to get her to eat frozen/thawed pinkies or live ones either. I put her in the cup she came in, and put the pinky in it w/ her using tongs. She didnt eat. I tried braining it and she still wouldn't eat (4 days after the 1st attempt). i got her live pinkies and left her and the pinky in a box over night, and she hasnt eating. I recently cut a pinkys head off to expose plenty of blood and she still will not eat. I am getting concerned because its been 2 and a half weeks, and the breeder said i should just leave it alone and keep trying. eventually she will eat he said. i am still concerned tho. What do i do???? Im thinking about getting mouse scent or lizard scent. Does anyone know if that works?

[Quigs]

First off, I would suggest removing the sand from the tank, ASAP. Sand is not a natural substrate at all for corns. I don't care what the pet store or the bag says. Sand is not digestable if accidently ingested! If in that case it was not passed by the snakes, it could cause impaction and possibly death. Not to mention, it could get under the scales and scoots of your animal and be very uncomfortable to them.

Secondly, you did a fair job describing the housing conditions but what about temp and humidity? Do you have a temp gradient? Meaning a warm side and cool side? What are the temps?

Quigs

[Spirit]

There are lots of reasons a snake might not eat (temps and general housing conditions being a major one), but another one is contantly trying to feed. 4 days seems like a good time span to wait, but if you can't find a logical explanation why she's not eating now, I would suggest leaving it alone (and I do mean DO NOT DISTURB) for a full 7 days, then (when she's not looking) attempting to feed again. Maybe put the mouse in a substrate free container, then place that in the tank to reduce stress on the snake (instead of taking her out to feed). If she's hungry (and the room is quiet), she'll smell it and come out to eat.

There are other tricks to get a snake to eat, but the first is to rule out any possible husbandry related problems. Since you brained the pink, it sounds to me like you have a good idea of what you're doing though.

Feeding in the tank is not something you should be doing, but if the reason she's not eating now is stress related, that might be your only option. Having said that, I agree that you should immediately REMOVE THE SAND. I would reccommend using paper towels as substrate for the first few weeks to make sure your snake is pooping properly.

Quigs gave you some good advice, and there are many others here who can give you more. Welcome to the board!

[FuZZ]

Thanks guys, the tempature on the hot side is around 81-86 degrees im not sure what it is on the cold side. I feel bad for making my baby snake go through this torment. Also, she poops just fine. Little white logs that solidify so i can pick it right up. Do you guys think it is ok to stop using a heat lamp and have a undertank heater? the breeder says he keeps the snakes at room temp and they do just fine. Hopefully she'll eat. One thing i noticed about her, she has little black spots on her belly... i hope it isnt bad, but maybe the sand that was ingested. will she be alright if i take the sand out asap? Can i use astroturf? Im trying to find a darker substrate so i can see my snake better. What about humidity, how should i make the tank humid? spray some mist water on the sides?

[FuZZ]

Good news guys, i took all the sand out and put newspaper as substrate, she seems to love it. now im not gonna touch her for sometime and feed her in a couple of days in her other little 5 gallon tank

[Spirit]

I'm glad to hear you removed the sand. If you're looking for a new substrate, may I suggest forest bed? There are others (someone help me out here, I can't recall the names) that are basically the same idea. They come in a brick (packed) that you soak in 3-4 litres of water, and it expands to roughly 9x the size. According to the packsge it's safe if ingested (but it's so light I couldn't see how that would be possible) and mold resistant. Mine absolutely LOVES it. He burrows through it constantly... it looks very natural (medium to dark brown - looks like dirt). You can use astroturf, but the cleaning of it might be more of a pain than it's worth (can't spot clean astroturf).

It's a good idea to stick with the paper towels or newspaper for at least a week or two though to make sure her poop is healthy (and that she is going). The white you mentioned could be the urine (when it dries it crystalizes to white bits) but it shouldn't be a white log. The feces are very much dark and slimy and gross looking.

As for heat, the warm side should be around 85 and the cool side 75 (do not let it drop below 68 for more than a couple hours). Usually just the UTH is good enough, but if the room is very cold (like mine is), a low wattage day lamp would be a good idea. Just make sure you use an accurate temp meter.

Now the little black spots... can you describe them a little better? Or show us a picture, maybe? Hopefully it's nothing, but you don't want to take the chance of it being something more serious. Especially if she's not eating (I don't want to scare you).

[MegF.]

I have a hatchling that I'm feeding in her viv as she's too scared to eat in a seperate box. I fed my aztec like that for a while until she calmed down and matured a bit. She now eats in a seperate enclosure and has her aspen bedding that she loves so much back in her tank. I've had no problems with the snake striking at me or biting because of feeding in the tank, as a matter of fact, she used to come out when I opened the lid to see if I had anything.She never struck until she was certain there was a mouse there, and for a while, she was so shy, she wouldn't come out at all until I had dropped the mouse and closed the lid. You might have to try that for a while until your new kid mellows a bit.

[FuZZ]

right now as you can notice its about 4:20 am (lol, i just got back from a bar). anyways, my snake is hidden. i have clamps locking the tank, but shes not anywhere in sight, so shes probably hiding in the newspaper, about the black spots tho, i think it definetley has to be the sand, but ill try to get pics and email them to you... besides that i cant even see her... about her feces tho, while i was taking the sand out i noticed in her feeding tank, she took a dump and it was slimy green with a hint of white, hopefully thats good though. on saturday the 11th, should i feed her or should i try on sunday since i changed her setup around?