not eating, tried everything, suggestions?
 

as an adult i rescued my male corn snake lars from a bad living situation. this is my first mating season with him. and hes all the typical male snake....allover his tank, trying to get out, very active. and as you guessed refusing food. its not been 67 days without food. he seems happy and healthy, and i know i was told not to worry, but i am haha. hes not losing any significant weight, some, but not an alarming amount. ive tried leaving him with the mouse overnight, ive tried braining, ive tried chicken broth, ive tried about anything i can think of or been given the idea of, to no avail. any other suggestions? im also going to look into getting him a live chick and seeing if that doesnt spark his interest. because me wiggling the mouse at him and everything else ive tried surely didnt work. i figure its worth a shot. and if all this doesnt work, i may just have to stick it out and keep trying on schedule. but is there anything that i should be using in his water to give him extra nutrients? ive read in the forums before about using gatorade in the water of fasting snakes...yay/nay? help!

If he's an adult male, stop worrying! He'll eat when he's ready, when the spring mating hormones go away. He can go much longer than a couple months with no harm. If you really want to tempt him, try a FT rat pink.

i cant help it ahhhhh haha. but ill try! ill also try the rat pink when i can get to the store. thanks.

I would also reduce feeding attempts to every three to four weeks. And if you have a scale, it might make you feel better to weigh him every few weeks so you can see he isn't really losing much weight. He'll only be losing grams. I _know_ how stressful it is the first time, I quite clearly remember my first adult male snake that did this. He _will_ start feeding again when he's ready. When his mind is no longer on romance.

i got a scale, but its way off, i need to have my boyfriend calibrate it for me. ill be okay. i just keep stressing, then not worrying, then stressing again. haha. ill cut back on feeding attempts, i dont want to stress him out etc.

You know Angela (ratsncorns)? She bought a spotted python at Daytona, in August. That snake _just_ ate a couple weeks ago. Refused and refused and refused everything for seven months, and then one day, bam- eating regularly now. THAT is stressful- a new snake that never eats one meal for you for more than half a year! And she, the snake, is just fine.

hey! If it makes you feel better...i had my male corn go 6 months without eating! and once he realized it was time to stop breeding he took a mouse. they just get too distracted! and dont care about anything but sex hah.

Also! ive had other snakes like my rat snakes go months without eating while i switched them over to f/t from live mice. It will take time but dont worry! 150 million years of development nature has built one of the greatest and most efficient predators you could imagine :) they will eat when they feel up to it!

I know sometimes it helps to wait two weeks in between feedings as well, for snakes that stress easily (japanese rats raahhg!) two weeks gives them more time to relax :)

I was just in your shoes; for ball pythons the breeding season is fall and winter. Titus went nearly six months with only eating three or so times. He lost a little bit of girth. Now he has taken three f/t rats in a row, but still hasn't pooped since November. I was constantly hovering over him, checking him several times a day. I need more snakes to thin out my attention and not stress out these guys too bad.

eeeek. yeah thats a long time for those snakes to go without eating. gosh i hope lars doesnt make me wait for like 5 more months or something to eat. ill absolutely have an aneurysm! but im playing it cool. ill wait a couple weeks before i try again. and maybe by then ill have found a place to buy him a live baby chick, or i can atleast get him a rat pink =]. if he doesnt eat eventually though hes going to be eating by means of a foot enema up his behind =p. and i dont think hell enjoy that as much as a nice meal after all that lusting!

A baby chick is too much for all but the hugest adult cornsnake. Think in the 1000 gram range.

oh, ok. yeah i was told if i found chicks id have to go pretty small with them. but i thought maybe there was more of variety like there is in mice haha. but that sounds good, ill look into a rat pinkie for him then. im sure i can get one frozen at a store. he was kinda into his broth soaked mouse last night. atleast more than ive seen in a long time. he nuzzled it like it was a lady friend a few times. which is more than i can say for the mice hes hissed at, "ran" from, etc. heh.

i need help,my female amel cornsnake hasnt eaten in 6 weeks,not sure if she has a cold cause it sounds like shes sneezing.shes 3 and half and i bought her last november.any advise please reply.thanx

what all have you tried to get her to eat?

sorry by that i dont mean what have you tried to feed her, but what methods have you used when attempting to feed her?

also she may have an upper respiratory infection, which snakes are prone to. how long has she been sneezing? a vet checkup may be in order...

ive been told its not sneezing,my mistake its her hissing.im gonna try a pinky,waiting for it to defrost.does anyone know if its normal for her to go off food.

well ive read some instances of females going off food when theyre ovulating during mating season. but its more common for males to stop eating during this mating timespan. are you sure you she might not be a he? did you try braining the mouse/leaving her in with the mouse overnight/etc? you can also try drenching your mouse with chicken broth or tuna water next time you try and feed it. it works for a lot of people.

ok thanx ill try it as she didnt eat it and not quite sure if shes a she.how do u tell the difference?i was told it was to do with the tails,could anyone tell me if this is true and if females tails r different to mails please.thanx

go ahead and try cutting the mouse some so that theres evident blood. and you can also try drenching it in the chicken broth for added enticement. its hard to tell an adult snakes gender based on its tail. as a general basis the tail after a male snakes rear-end hole is thicker than the a female snakes tail is after her rear-end. a really experienced snake owner/breeder might be able to tell what a snake more likely is based on its tail. but the best time to tell the gender of a snake when its very young, by a method called "popping". the way youd probably have to get your snakes gender confirmed is by having it probed by a vet. but even probings can be wrong sometimes. is your snake really active right now? like is it allover the tank a lot, trying to get out, etc?

yeah its all over tank,we have a carolina cornsnake aswell and im thinking might be a male as when out its active aswell.its poo:ed yellowy is this normal? thanx

I know there's lots of people against it, but have you tried live? You can wiggle the mouse in front of them all you want, they know whether or not it's alive. I'd definitely try a rat pinky and a live mouse, all mine that don't like to eat sometimes will take either.

i may have to try live. im not against it, its more of a problem with having the ability to stun the mouse. i dont know if i can bring myself to thunk a mouse on the head like that =\. so ill probably try a rat pinkie first. and if that fails next time ill have to get my boyfriend to do the dirtywork on a live one or something. im going to try frozen/thawed again tonight with chicken broth because i cant get to a live/rat pinkie right now, i live in the boonies unfortunately. wish me luck!

to anyone whos interested, lars is eating again! his fast lasted 127 days, but hes pretty much back to eating normally. thanks for everyones suggestions and considerations.