my female didnt eat

ive had my snakes about 4 weeks now. been feeding them usually every friday or saturday. I work at petco, and adopted them as someone brought in 3 of them for surrender. i took 2 and my co worker took the other. They are housed together, and i dont want this thread to turn into a discussion of why they shouldnt be housed together. i know the risks, and they have been living together in the same tank for 4 years. actually all 3 were in the same 20L tank when the guy brought them in. well i have 2 adults, one male and one female, both creamsicles. i feed them today, was going to give them each 1 F/T mouse. stanley (the male, about 4'4" long, not sure about the grams, i dont have a scale) took his no problem. but Sarah (female, about 3'10" ish, never really measured her) wouldnt eat. when i took her out of the tank she felt a little weak, and kinda limp. she was mving fine and everything, and alert but wouldnt eat. she didnt eat last week either. she ate 1 mouse fine the first 2 weeks i had her, and the last 2 she didnt. i dont know if this is something i should be cautious of, or if she just dosnt feel like eating. i gave the male her un touched mouse and he gladly took it. How many should he be eating a week? i almost think that he would have taken a third, but i tried that one week and he didnt eat it.

thanks for the help in advance
-Dave

OK Dave, first here is a link to "The Munson Plan". It is a general guide on how much to feed a corn snake. It is based on weight, so since you don't have a scale, it may not help you. But, corn snakes are opportunistic feeders and will often eat more than is healthy for them. So be cautious to not over feed your guy even if he still seems hungry and will eat extra mice.

Next, about your girl. When the weather turns cold, it will sometimes trigger some corn snakes to stop eating. A few missed meals is not a big deal. It may be necessary to put her in a feeding container and leave her overnight with a f/t mouse. You should be using a separate feeding container since you are co-habbing your snakes. If you leave her over night, just make sure she is secure in the container.

They should eat one appropriately sized (1.5 x the widest part of the snake) food item every feeding.

And as much as you want to avoid the cohabitation topic it could be the cause for your female not eating.

I do feed in a seperate container. and it wasnt as much the not eating that was bothering me, but the fact that she seems to have less stregth and was somewhat limp when i picked her up.

Since you really seemed to stress the fact that your girl hadn't eaten, I thought that was your major area of concern. Her feeling "a little weak, and kinda limp" is kinda hard to determine if there is a problem. I take it she is normally not like that when you pick her up? It is definitely something to keep an eye on. It could still be the fact that it is cold out and the days are getting short that has her going into a brumation.

i may have figured it out. while i was feeding them i changed out the aspen and put in douglas fir bark. and i just looke in the tank and theres a full shed, and it came off in one big piece! not sure if its the females, or the males yet, gana check later.

Its probably hers and that might explain why she hasn't eaten recently. You also pointed out one of the main reasons people prefer not to cohabitate corns. If one has an issue it is difficult to figure out which snake it was.

yeah, I would expect that is her shed. Some snakes don't eat when they are in blue, though most do. And about your male: Snakes will take all they are given. It is an instinct. In the wild, they may not eat again for 2, 3 or even 4 weeks so they get all they can. Though they get fed once a week, they still feel the need to stock up on food just in case.

problem solved

Hey, figured out why she wouldnt eat, and why she didnt seem as strong as usual. SHE WAS GRAVID!!!! just looked in the tank this morning and i have 12 eggs!!!! what a surprise! so i gata go to petco and get a few things to make an incubator.