CornSnakes.com Forums

CornSnakes.com Forums (https://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/index.php)
-   Behavior (https://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=9)
-   -   Snake Unusually Active (https://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124476)

bsmt31 08-18-2012 08:19 PM

Snake Unusually Active
 
I have a 3 year old corn snake.

For the last two or three weeks she (confirmed) has been extremely active in her cage. She is restless. She is approximately 3.5 foot long adult.

For the past six months her feeding has been irregular, not by any fault of my own. She sometimes refuses food, and I have to "starve" her for sometimes 4 weeks before she will eat any food.

Her behavior recently has me concerned. For the past 3 years she was normally an inactive snake and would eat on a regular schedule.

I frequently examine her body and do not see anything out of the ordinary.

She is in a 75 gallon tank and the temps on the warm side are 82* and cold side 68*



Anyone have any ideas???

Shramana 08-18-2012 10:52 PM

I'm not an experienced owner but there are a ton of them here that can probably provide a specific answer. But from my research and looking back through this site there seem to be three things that cause snakes to be unusually active.

1. They're hungry, which yours isn't eating when offered food so that's probably not it.

2. Temperatures are off, maybe double check your readings with another thermometer? Also I think 82 might be on the lower side of the "hot side" range. So if it's actually 82 maybe try getting it up to 85ish?

3. Reproductive urges: This one I really don't know much about, but I read an old thread earlier today about male snakes getting restless in their viv's during their mating season. Perhaps females do something similar? One of the breeder's will have to answer that one.

dave partington 08-18-2012 11:46 PM

If she has not been bred, she still may have ovulated and is full of infertile eggs. She will still be restless as if she was carrying a clutch of fertile eggs, hence not feeding, and looking for a place with some moist (Not wet) moss she can burrow into, to lay her eggs in. Gravid corns, regardless of fertile or not eggs, will often become restless and go off their feed.
When she gets a box of moist moss around 4-5 inches deep, she will burrow down into the bottom of the box and remain there, out of sight. Leave her alone, when she emerges from the moss then you can dig around in the moss and find the infertile eggs and toss them. She will then shed again, and resume feeding.

Lyion 08-19-2012 12:53 AM

I'm in no room to tell you anything as to advice or what it is, all that I am going to say is that the same thing happened to me.My 2 year old (1 at the time) corn, Xia refused meals for three weeks or so which is very bizarre for that aggressive eater. She started roaming about. I was very concerned because she usually would only poke her head out of her hide to get a drink. I had put in some sphagnum in her moist hide and put it in because I thought her feeding strike might be associated with a possible upcoming shed. I walked in the next day to see her laying eggs. Needless to say, I freaked out but in the end she's alright, which is all that matters to me.

Just my 2 cents, I am a beginner, and I would follow listen to Dave and the others.

Lyion 08-19-2012 12:55 AM

Also, wanted to add that I did not breed Xia, and she ovulated at her young age.

bitsy 08-19-2012 04:17 AM

What form of heating do you use, whereabouts in the tank are you measuring the 82 and what are you using to measure it?

Refusal to feed and over-activity are classic signs of overheating and many folks have been having trouble keeping temps down in this summer's strange weather. I even have that problem here in the UK at the moment - a rare occurrence! Some types of thermometer can be seriously inaccurate.

It's a little late in the season for her to be gravid with infertile eggs and females don't typically show the behaviour of roaming for a mate in the same way that males do (again, very late in the season for that). However giving her a humid hide on the cool side to see what happens wouldn't hurt, as long as long as it doesn't stay in for weeks at a time (they can get scale rot if they decide to stay in it, as I found out).

bsmt31 08-19-2012 03:14 PM

Thank you for your input everyone. I will try the moist spot with moss. I have a container ill put moss in and see what happens. I doubt it is an overheating issue, because honestly i have a hard time keeping the temp in her cage super warm because the cage is in the basement where it is generally 65*...but she has lived down here all her life.

clickbug2 09-16-2012 03:12 PM

your snake could be stressed. what how many hides do you have for it? has it been handled much? these are some questions that might help

Alli_Draggy 09-16-2012 03:37 PM

Wadjet has also been really active the last couple of days. She ate a mouse on Thursday, and hasn't been handled since, in part BECAUSE she's cruising her tank, climbing up and down, digging, and is just constantly "ancy", where usually she spends most of her time (especially during the day) in her hides or buried down in the aspen. Her temps are measured at 84 on the glass in her hot spot, and about 75 on the glass at the other end, 73 air temperature. 55% humidity. Her back does seem to be a little cloudy, although her eyes aren't, so I thought maybe she was starting to shed?

She's a 5 yr old female, and as far as I know, has never been bred, but since we adopted her, we don't know much about her past history.


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:30 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

Page generated in 0.01965404 seconds with 9 queries

Copyright Rich Zuchowski/SerpenCo