Food refusal with tank cruising and lid pushing
 

Wasn't sure where to put this since it's not just a feeding issue or a behavior issue. Also cross posting this from a python forum I'm on.
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My corn refused her food for about three weeks starting during the end of March. I had been feeding her ft, but offered her pk and she ate. Last friday saw another food refusal coupled with her really cruising her cage. She ate the previous week, no problem. Here lately she's been really active. She's been cruising her cage heavily and has started pushing on her tank cover (no sign of rubbing on her nose, yet). I've owned her since August of last year. At the show they had her in with two males.

I'm fairly inexperienced with cornsnake breeding, but is there anyway that she could have been bred and kept the sperm for later (I swore I read somewhere that it's possible)? From my understanding, females get really restless before laying. However, I have no idea what a gravid female looks like. She seems the same to me. I'm not running any heat for her right now since It gets up into the 80s during the day and the lower 70s at night.

I don't know her age. The breeders didn't tell me much off anything. I do know that she's female, has been bred before, clutched, and was fed live all her life.

Hopefully, I'm just worrying for nothing and she's getting plenty of exercise.

Obligatory pictures:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/IMG_1428.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/IMG_1429.jpg

Tank is 30" x 12" x 12"
The set up is nothing special. Hide on the left side, waterbowl in the middle. Right side had the UTD. She moved from side to side accordingly. She's had this set up since late december. The only difference from then is now is that I moved her hide off the UTD (had the hide on there since my room gets cooler in the winter). However, the hide has been moved since march, at least.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/IMG_1430.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/IMG_1431.jpg

What she does most of the day.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/IMG_1434.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/IMG_1435.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...e/IMG_1436.jpg

Someone on the other forum requested pictures of her back half. Figured I'd post them here as well. Best I could do at the moment. She's actually not cruising and sitting still.

If she's getting close to laying eggs it should be pretty obvious (to the trained eye I'm sure you're saying.) You might pick her up and let her body hang down and see if she's just really thick toward the end. You can also look for scales that are fairly separated cause she's big. I'm sure you can find pictures on these forums of obviously gravid vs not.

They do say they can retain sperm for some period of time, I think there might be debate on how long.

You can put an egg box in just to be safe (she'll probably love it anyway).

She seems to be about the same. I checked her over on Friday. I've browsed around online and she doesn't match up with any of the pictures. As for the egg box, I don't know if I can find anything big enough for her. Might see if the ice cream box is still around. Anything I can use as a makeshift material for the eggbox? I don't have the money to go buy anything.

1st thing when look at the photo's is that i don't think missing a few meals would hurt your corn. That 1st photo were you can see her tail. It look like she may be a bit over weight to me.

Cage cruising

1st thing here is the cage setup. She may not feel safe in her cage with no place to hide. The hide in the cage is to small for your corn. You could also add some fake plants in their too.

The other thing i would fix is that you have the cage in front of a window. That is a big No No for any pet. Movement or even smells from outside could also be why she is cage cruising. Also the sun light coming in from out side could also be the problem.

The window isn't a window. It has a piece of wood that's been glued onto it from the outside. Its been like this since early winter with no plans of removing it. I've been wanting to get her a larger hide but again, no money (poor college student, heh). What I'm going to do with the ice cream bucket I mentioned (it's the square one gallon type) is figure out something to cover it with to make it dark, cut a hole in the side and use that as a egg box. Then watch her behavior for awhile.

I do have two windows open with fans on either end of my room (15 x 7) and she's in the middle. Unfortunately, those can't be closed since I'll fry. Mom has this nasty habit of leaving the AC off until she can't stand the heat (usually upper 90s).

As far as cheap/free hides, the ice cream bucket is a good one :p Just put the lid on it, cut a hole in it.

One of mine right now has a gift box that I got from the dollar store for $2... they had all sorts of sizes. I just cut a hole in the side and plopped it upside down with the lid on top :D

THere is another thread on here about cheap/creative hides

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/sho...ght=cheap+hide

Just have to get creative and know it doesn't take alot of money.

Good luck with her though, hope it sorts itself out soon!

T

Well, I cut a hole in the bottom of the ice cream box and put it upside down with the lid on the bottom. I also put in some bedding so she wouldn't be on straight plastic. She immediately went to investigate it. Slithered around it before making her way in. Right now, she's partially in it, partially draped over it, and examining her new higher up surroundings.

She *could* well be gravid. Female corns have been known to store viable sperm for at least one year. You say that she was with two males in August, and had been previously bred. It wouldn't be at all strange for her to lay eggs, some of which may prove viable.

Here's a trick to try if the snake will cooperate. Put a light cloth like a silk scarf or a thin sheet over your hand. Let her slither slowly over your hand, and you may feel a series of lumps in her posterior third. Some have likened the sensation to a string of large beads or oversized pearls. If she is gravid, you need to put a nest box in her viv. At this point I would personally assume she is until she either lays resumes her normal behavior.

When did she last shed? I ask because the usual sequence of events is a pre-lay shed followed by eggs in around 10 days. This isn't hard-and-fast, but it's a good guideline.

I have lightly felt of her and felt nothing. I'll have to retry with the cloth though. She last shed back in April. Around April 20th or so. She's not showing any signs of wanting to shed again.

Just a note: I made my hide boxes out of spare cardboard, and my guys love them. (They have 2 each, one cool-side and one warm-side.) Not so much cheap as free!