four year old corn not eating for four weeks

[laurelea]

Hi everyone, I have a four year old cornsnake who is in good health, sheds every six weeks and is active in her (I think she is a her!) tank. She stopped eating about four weeks ago, I had given her a small rat the last time she ate which she took with no problem. I feed her every 7 to 10 days when she starts looking around for food. I tried a small rat again( she has been eating them or two adult mice) but she is not interested. Further inticing with adult mice( I unthaw frozen mice) had not interested her. It has been four weeks and still nothing. She did this a year ago for about four weeks, she shed and then resumed feeding as per usual that time. I am just concerned about this and wonder if anyone has any suggestions.

[Flagg]

Are you sure it's not a male? Males tend to go off food around this time of year. My adult male hasn't eaten in about 8 weeks now. No weight loss yet so he should be fine.

[laurelea]

well, it could be a male, we just figured out that it was a female from the scales under the tail. Since this has happened before, roughly the same time, then maybe this is just normal. This snake was my son's which I have just taken over caring for. Guess there is lots for me to learn but I sure do enjoy my snake.

[laurelea]

No wiegh loss, or any indications that he/she is unhealthy, still enjoys being handled and is very alert

[laurelea]

Is there a better way to figure out the sex of the snake?

[Sunny-Delight]

the only sure-fire way is to take it to a qualified herp vet (or maybe you know someone EXTREMELY experienced) and get the snake probed. do a search on probing if you don't know what this is :)
please do not attempt to do this on your own if you haven't done it before.

[laurelea]

Thanks for the replies, my son has told me that the snake is a male, this from determining the tail markings. We have not probed the snake as it is not important to us if it is a male or female. We got it from a person who had not taken care of it about five years ago, Firestorm was very underweight and not used to being handled properly. So we are assuming that he is around six years old, he is now about 5 feet long and has been feeding well up until four weeks ago when he just stopped being interested in eating. I pre thaw frozen adult mice or rats to offer him and he has always taken them quite readily. He did stop eating a year ago for about four weeks, had a good shed and then resumed as if nothing ever happened. Of course, I am now concerned again, as it is happening again. My question was , is this something to be concerned about. He is very active, still likes to be handled, and does not seem to be losing weight.

[snakemom1961]

If he went off his food this time last year. I'd say it's just him being a male and looking for love in the air..lol. So long as he isn't losing weight and is still active I wouldn't be too worried just yet. Just keep an eye on his weight and if that starts to drop then maybe a vet visit would be in order. But right now I wouldn't worry to much about it. Hope this helps. Good luck with him.

[Tracee]

You can be pretty certain this is normal male behaviour.

As another sidenote, 4 weeks really is nothing to a healthy adult snake. My 7 year old will fast for anywhere from 9-12 weeks when he's (for want of a better word) horny, but upwards of this is still quite normal.

Don't offer food too often when he's behaving this way; every 2-3 weeks or so is more than enough. He will eat again when he's ready :)

[snakemom1961]

You can be pretty certain this is normal male behaviour.

As another sidenote, 4 weeks really is nothing to a healthy adult snake. My 7 year old will fast for anywhere from 9-12 weeks when he's (for want of a better word) horny, but upwards of this is still quite normal.

Don't offer food too often when he's behaving this way; every 2-3 weeks or so is more than enough. He will eat again when he's ready :)

Tracee knows her stuff! She has a BEAMOTH boy who doesn't look like he's suffered at all from his spring time "looking for love" moments.LOL

[Tracee]

Tracee knows her stuff! She has a BEAMOTH boy who doesn't look like he's suffered at all from his spring time "looking for love" moments.LOL
I had him on a diet for 3 of his 7 years, convinced he was just fat! Did nothing to his weight. Thanks for the backup hehe, yes we can confirm that those horny boys don't suffer for their love!

[laurelea]

LOL, Thanks gals, guess "spring fever" is getting to him! He looks content and happy, so I shall not worry so much.