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Corn spitting out food

StickBug
03-01-2005, 11:13 PM
My 2 1/2 year old corn snake has not eaten lately. The last time he ate was Feb 10th. I know that is not totally abnormal. Snakes go a while w/o eating sometimes. But I gave him a mouse today that is MUCH smaller than ones he usually eats and he tried to eat it but spit it out about half way thru. Now that I know he wants to eat but can't I am getting worried. This mouse was certainly not too large for him so what gives? Please Yahoo message me at no15minutes , email me at no15minutes@yahoo.com , or respond here. Thanks.

gardenmum
03-01-2005, 11:29 PM
My first thought as I was reading your post was "typical male during breeding season." That is very normal for a male to go off feed till the breeding season is over, regardless if a female corn is around. One of those pre-programed things in snakes. But, if he tried to eat and spit it out, then maybe you should visit a vet and make sure that nothing is amiss. I have had a snake do that a couple times but it was because I was watching them and moved and it startled them and they spit it out.

NOW, it still could be he is lacking interest enough to eat/finish a meal with his hormones going nuts at this time of year, but this may be one time that a trip to the vet would be a good idea.

Is the snake acting any different otherwise? Have you looked in the snake's mouth to make sure there is no mouth rot going on or any foreign debree lodged in the mouth? Also, hold the snake close to your ear and listen for any wheezing sounds, signs of a URI. These are a few things you could do yourself to rule out possible problems.

Otherwise, if things still don't look "right" to you, then, as I said, the vet is the best thing to do.

Best of luck and I hope it is only the male hormones gone amuck.

Drizzt80
03-02-2005, 12:01 AM
From personal experience I have a female snake that has always been a problem feeder for me . . . on occasions. She will eat heartily for weeks/months at a time, and then go off food for weeks/months at a time. No rhyme or reason. She just shed, and I thought was going back onto a feeding 'cycle' as she accepted her first meal after the shed. No problems . . . fed her last Friday, she constricted her f/t mouse, then proceeded to leave it laying and didn't eat. Great I thought, here we go again, one meal in 2 months time and back on not eating . . .

On a whim I reheated the mouse, nice and toasty (something I did with some non-feeding het lav hatchlings I held back that weren't all that excited with eating), and sure enough she gobbled that same mouse right up.

Long story short, maybe the mouse is too cold for your snake. Of course if your feeding live or prekilled live, my story was moot!

Hope this helps.
D80