Yearling not eating...

[Nagah11979]

My male 2002 motley cornsnake has not eaten for a month now. I thought that it was caused by the male and female cornsnakes that i recently adopted from a friend and kept in the same room with him, but I am not sure. I thought that he could smell the female or something so i moved the other two "strange" snakes into my brother's room where, hopefully, my male would stop being preoccupied with those other snakes and start thinking about food as usual.

He isn't active as much, and he stays inside his hide all day only peeking out at me every so often, ive tried to feed him once every week for the past four weeks but every time he has refused. What should i do to entice him into eating again and how long can he go without food? When should i start worrying? (I am already worried now lol)

[EtherRex]

Id seriously consider taking him to a vet soon. Its better safe than sorry. If you now have three snakes then its probably worth getting to know a good reptile vet if for no other reason than possible probs if you ever decide to breed them.....

[Aradia]

Have you tried braining his food? Perhaps checking the temp in his enclosure. You said he was a good eater, I think maybe the others have stressed him out. If you have exhausted all over possibilities, then yeah I think I would take him to the vet too. I hope he is ok. Please keep us updated.

[Rachel]

My male went off his food too but I put it down to 'breeding mode'. He is now kept in a separate room from my female but that didn't seem to change his appetite (I think he knew she was round the corner, lol). This was a while ago though, during breeding season, and he's eating fine now. He didn't eat for about 5 weeks.
If your snake seems fine otherwise (still moving around, drinking, normal shed, scales etc) then he could be going through a (late??) breeding mode. Otherwise, as the others said, a trip to the vet would be a good idea as it *could* be something contagious that *could* be passed on to your other snakes. Hopefully not though...

[Nagah11979]

I am seriously considering taking him to the vet soon. Today i am going to try to feed him a live pinky to see if he will eat, its been a couple days since i separated them so maybe i will have better luck.

[EtherRex]

Good luck!

[CAV]

Males can be strange at times. (no comments from you ladies in the peanut gallery :D )

I had an '02 Hypo male that stopped eating for six weeks back in April-May. I didn't worry for the first 3 weeks, but became more concerned as more time passed. There were numerous females in the same room. The one thing that I did notice was that he was constantly in motion. Back-and-forth, and around the enclosure perimeter.

I currently have a male butter that hasn't taken food in three weeks. However, he hasn't lost much weight. His female partner is about 35 days out from laying her last clutch, so he is probably well aware of here "condition".

Remember that the female pheromones can travel over some distance, especially inside an enclosed house. Just look at any club on a Friday night ........;)

[Nagah11979]

Lol, thanks everyone,

Luckily he just decided to eat today after i put him into a small sterilite shoebox and left that under my bedsheets for a couple hours.

NOW he wants to eat! After i get all worried and start posting lol...he just wants attention. ;)

[Aradia]

That is wonderful news. I'm thrilled he is eating.

[pinatamonkey]

My '01 male okeetee went off feed in December and just started eating regularly again in June! He had probably a handful of meals in between. He didn't seem to change much in the way of muscle tone and weight, so I didn't worry too much. I think it was just a 'male thing', since my other 2 male corns also went off feed for a few months, but none of the other snakes in the room changed their eating habits. The lone corn female in the room must have been putting of a boatload of pheromones!

[EtherRex]

Good News! Does your bed smell of mice? :D