New snake hiding, not moving and not feeding

Hello,

I've tried to be patient and not ask you guys because I know my snake is probably stressed but I think I would like a second opinion on how things are going, the general set up etc etc.

So I got my little butter motley 4 month old Daisy on Sunday 1st October. I took her home, after 40 mins drive, set up her viv (it's about 5cm long and opens with a lid at the top which locks with a metal clasp on either side.

Her set up:
She has aspen substrate, three log hides and a toilet paper tube, water bowl and a heat mat that goes under the glass, in a slot specially created for it. There is a thermostat with a probe touching the glass over the heat mat and a thermometer towards the warm side. Our house temperature is regulated with a thermostat as well so the temperature doesn't drop below 18 degrees C.

I was told to set the thermostat of the mat to 84 F/29C which I did. The ambient temp towards the warm side is around 76 F.

Her behavior (which is what worries me):
She had been fed the previous Sunday so she was due the night she came home. Once I placed her in the viv she was quite active She explored and went under the hides and all around, sniffed the lid and seemed quite a strong little lady. I left her be for a few hours but made the mistake to take her out and hold her for a few minutes and my son and husband did too. We should have left her alone :/.

That night we tried feeding her a pinky with tongs but she wasn't interested. In fact at some point she quickly moved away from it. The breeder told me to leave the pinky in the viv overnight and discard it in the morning if she doesn't eat it. I placed it on a log.

Once the lights went out she came out and started exploring again. She sniffed and licked the pinky, and moved around the viv again, seemed quite happy. In order to be able to see her movements, I had my phone torch on. Another mistake maybe.

Since about 5am on Monday she's been hiding under her cold hide and I even thought she had died because I touched her and she didn't move. I have been checking her, lifting the hides to find her an poking her sometimes to see if she moves.

The breeder told me to leave her alone completely so now I have. She re-arranges her self under the hide sometimes but she just sits there, curled up. She is not even on the aspen anymore, she's moved it around in the hide and now she is sitting on the glass.

I am really worried and I don't want her to die :-(. I won't try feeding her again till Sunday and I will try to stay away from the viv. I am only changing her water.

Also, my son plays the guitar and she was coming out everytime he played but now she doesn't even do that. Maybe she's freaking out with the noise!

Any suggestions and tips would be much appreciated. I will post photos of the little cutie in a minute.

Apologies for the long post. I wanted to give you as much info as possible.
This is a great forum, I have read so many posts. Very helpful. Great community. Well done guys!

Here she is k_01: You can also see the set up with the thawed pinky (which had been left out for a few hours and is not looking great haha!!)

Thanks for stopping by k_01:

She is stressed out. Missing a meal or two isn't going to harm her. Leave her alone *completely* except to change her water every few days, for at least a week. After that week, offer her a f/t pinky that you've dunked in near-boiling water for a few seconds so it turns white and a little rubbery. Place it in the tank in the evening, immediately after the dunking, turn off the lights and don't check on her until morning.

Hello, thank you for your message. This is what I'm trying to do now. I'm not feeding her till Sunday night so she'll miss a week of feeding but that's fine. I've read that the pinky shouldn't be rubbery in case she can't swallow it! She's not big... but I guess by doing that it will not go off as quickly.

Do you think the set up is correct?

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Hi what I do is get the mouse out about hour before feed time .
Then I get a cup of boiling water put a lid over the top of the cup put the mouse on a lid just to warm it so the snake thinks it’s alive it works for me
Pat


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aha! Great idea! Quick update, she's getting a bit more confident. She's moved around a bit. I think we're getting there!!

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Good luck it will work out just give her time
Pat


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Patmart said:

Good luck it will work out just give her time
Pat


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Click to expand...

Hi,

She's been much better. She's moved around the hides but not really roaming when we are around. She's got used to me now. I took her out for a 5 minutes yesterday, when i eas alone, very low lighting and she was ok and today I handled her again and she was very very happy to just explore my hands or sit and chill on there. We offered my husband's hands but she'd turn round and want to climb back on mine. So all good. When I saw her wanting to start exploring away from my hands I slowly let her go back in the viv. She explored a bit and then chose to sit in the warm hide.

An hour later, with very low lighting, I slightly lifted the hide a little bit and offered her the pinky (thawed and warmed up a bit under warm water and pat dried with kitchen towel). She didn't really see the tongs because I slowly put the pinky through the hide entrance. She sniffed and licked but left it. Then I placed the toilet paper roll at the entrance of the hide and put the pinky right at the edge of it next to her. All lights off she's been alone since but I sneakily checked and she's having none of this. She just won't eat.

Next time I won't handle her on feeding at all. If that fails, maybe I will put her in the small plastic box in which I brought her home and offer her the pinky in there but then again that would be a new place for her an she will be stressed again :/. I don't know what else to do. She was feeding fine before i got her.

Thanks again for your messages.

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Hi All, a quick update. Daisy shed her skin last night so maybe that's why she's been quiet and not feeding. I hope that was it anyway. I'll keep you updated

Daisy June 17, a butter motley corn snake

Hi that makes her 4 months old am I right
The shed maybe why she is not eating
Is the viv very big ?
Cos it might be to much space
What I did when I had George he was 9 weeks when we had him
I left him in is box inside the viv
I fed him in it I put a hide in there and a water dish
Then after 3 months I put him in the big viv
But I still use a feed box to feed him
Hope that helps
Pat


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Patmart said:

Hi that makes her 4 months old am I right
The shed maybe why she is not eating
Is the viv very big ?
Cos it might be to much space
What I did when I had George he was 9 weeks when we had him
I left him in is box inside the viv
I fed him in it I put a hide in there and a water dish
Then after 3 months I put him in the big viv
But I still use a feed box to feed him
Hope that helps
Pat


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Click to expand...

Hi . Four months, yes that's right. It was the shed. Friday night she shed and tonight Sunday, I offered a pinky and she grabbed it in seconds . She fed in the viv and she's been moving about more too. I think she quite likes her new home .

Daisy June 17, a butter motley corn snake

You state she is 4 months old. I have not seen any post(s) giving her length or weight. It's possible for a 4 month old corn snake to be 13 inches long and weigh 15 grams or it could be 20 inches long and weigh 70 grams.

The reason I say this is because every corn snake is different, just like people, and they grow at different rates and sizes. Most of us base the feeding on the weight of the snake. And obviously 2 snakes, both at 4 months of age, but 1 weighing 15 grams and the other weighing 70 grams (or anything in between) would all require different amounts of food.

The Pinky you fed might be just right, or it could be that you need to feed 2 of them or even move up in size to a slightly larger mouse. For example, my snake was eating "Hoppers" at 6 months of age. (A Hopper is a term for a Young Mouse that weighs about 8 grams.)

In looking at your pictures, it's hard to determine just how big (or small) the snake is.

If you don't have a scale yet, I would suggest you obtain one that weighs in grams. It's handy to weigh both the snake and the food. You certainly don't want to "Over Feed" but you don't want to "Under Feed" either.

Karl_Mcknight said:

You state she is 4 months old. I have not seen any post(s) giving her length or weight. It's possible for a 4 month old corn snake to be 13 inches long and weigh 15 grams or it could be 20 inches long and weigh 70 grams.

The reason I say this is because every corn snake is different, just like people, and they grow at different rates and sizes. Most of us base the feeding on the weight of the snake. And obviously 2 snakes, both at 4 months of age, but 1 weighing 15 grams and the other weighing 70 grams (or anything in between) would all require different amounts of food.

The Pinky you fed might be just right, or it could be that you need to feed 2 of them or even move up in size to a slightly larger mouse. For example, my snake was eating "Hoppers" at 6 months of age. (A Hopper is a term for a Young Mouse that weighs about 8 grams.)

In looking at your pictures, it's hard to determine just how big (or small) the snake is.

If you don't have a scale yet, I would suggest you obtain one that weighs in grams. It's handy to weigh both the snake and the food. You certainly don't want to "Over Feed" but you don't want to "Under Feed" either.

Click to expand...

Good point. I will weigh her when she digests in 2-3 days. I will also start feeding in newspaper or something else clean because she might have swallowed a bit of aspen which worries me now after reading about impaction...

Daisy June 17, a butter motley corn snake

If she feeds well in her house, you can minimize any ingestion by putting a plastic lid or paper plate under where you offer the mouse. It’s totally up to you.

A few pinkies while she’s getting acclimated won’t hurt a thing. Then as Karl says, weigh her and gradually move her up to the size she needs.

DollysMom said:

If she feeds well in her house, you can minimize any ingestion by putting a plastic lid or paper plate under where you offer the mouse. It’s totally up to you.

A few pinkies while she’s getting acclimated won’t hurt a thing. Then as Karl says, weigh her and gradually move her up to the size she needs.

Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I'm planning to do...

Daisy June 17, a butter motley corn snake