Female snake hasn't eaten in 5 weeks.

[Laine]

My 10 year old, normal corn snake, Rosie, has stopped eating again. Sometimes this happens in the spring, but I can usually fix this by dipping the mice in raw egg, which is among her favorite things. Some years, she has laid empty eggs, but this year, that doesn't appear to be the case. I cannot feel any eggs along her abdomen, and she isn't constantly hiding in her hollow rock.

She's been constantly agitated, pressing her snout against the terrarium and looking as though she's searching for a way out. Usually, she goes through this whole process around february-march, but it's usually over by now. She hasn't shed since march 4th, and her scales seem flakey feeling like paper, as though she's about to shed, but there are no other signs, her scales aren't dulled and her eyecaps haven't blued at all.

She's currently on a bedding of paper towel (I found out that her respiratory infection last year was actually an allergic reaction to her substrate, it was too dry and her nostrils and mouth were gunked up with dust.). Her temps are 83-85 on the hot side and 75-6 on the cool side.

Is there any way for me to get her to eat? She's looking really thin and seems like she's constantly trying to escape from her cage, to the point where she hooks her scales into the bars on the top of her terrarium and clings to it, only to fall down several seconds later. It's starting to worry me a little bit.

Help?

[bitsy]

Have you tried putting a humid hide in with her? With the possibility of laying - even infertile eggs - she might feel that she has to find a "proper" place to lay. That also might help with the dry skin.

You could use damp kitchen towel in the hide to avoid the substrate problems, or she might react well to damp sphagnum moss if you can find it locally.

Beware of leaving her in the hide too long though. I have one who has uncomfortable "false pregnancies" each year and given a humid hide, will camp in it for a couple of months if allowed. The first year I tried it, she ended up with scale rot, so now she has one week with her hide then one week without.

Also, as she's looking out of condition, you might try a supplement in her drinking water. I use Critical Care Formula.

Hope that helps. Sure others will have ideas as well, so keep watching. Keep us posted.