Food refusal with tank cruising and lid pushing

Then just feed her less, as has been said. She'll exercise herself being out and about looking for food.

But get her some more hides. People have given you plenty of suggestions for no-cost ways to do that.

As I said several posts earlier, I've already swapped the smaller hide for the ice cream bucket. I have to wait in order to make another since there's nothing around the house for me to use.

The mice you're feeding are huge! An average feeder adult is about 22-25 grams. You're feeding jumbos! I'd definitely take her back to every 10-14 days. Maybe ten but try to feed younger mice. Retired breeders are huge.

Originally Posted by Raptor

Considering I have to help run a ranch with 130 goats (this includes medicating, trimming hooves, removing heads caught in fences, moving goats, milking, bottlefeeding, fixing fencing, taking pictures for the website), taking a summer class (three hours twice a week meaning we'll be covering a week of material per day), and I help my mother take care of my terminally ill grandmother. Oh yeah. Come fall semester I'm taking five classes for a total of 15 credit hours.

So. Yeah. I'm a wee bit short on time.

Why did you take on an animal that you don't have the time or resources to care for properly?

Originally Posted by Caryl

... hardwood branches from the yard (baked in the oven at 200 F for 20 minutes to kill bugs); rocks.

Originally Posted by Raptor

I'm not worried about her going off food at all. I was more concerned with the food refusal couple with the cruising/lid pushing.

"Going off food" IS "food refusal."

I've already mentioned to mom about the suggestions. I read somewhere that you can take limbs from outside, put them in the over for a certain amount of time to kill parasites/nasties and use those for decoration/exercise.

Covered in a post prior to this one from you.
What's the appropriate temperature/duration for heating? I have access to a wide variety of trees as well. Hickory, maple, oak, pear, and a dead apple tree. Which of these would be most appropriate?

Any hardwood tree is fine. Deadwood is more likely to have bugs, though.

Originally Posted by desertanimal

Really? You don't have the time to handle her? Well then, in that case the tank cruising and lid pushing can be considered good exercise for her.

Yep. As long as she's not damaging her nose.

Originally Posted by Raptor

Considering I have to help run a ranch with 130 goats (this includes medicating, trimming hooves, removing heads caught in fences, moving goats, milking, bottlefeeding, fixing fencing, taking pictures for the website), taking a summer class (three hours twice a week meaning we'll be covering a week of material per day), and I help my mother take care of my terminally ill grandmother. Oh yeah. Come fall semester I'm taking five classes for a total of 15 credit hours.

So. Yeah. I'm a wee bit short on time.

We all are, Raptor. 10-20 minutes of handling a few times a week should be manageble for everyone with only one snake most of the time. It's free and it's good for all concerned. Snakes don't need human interaction to be healthy and well-adjusted, but they do need exercise. If you have a corn snake you probably chose it in part becaue corns are gentle and easy to handle. Take advantage of that trait. Sitting calmly with a snake for just 10 minutes can have a settling effect on humans. You can read, watch TV or listen to music, or simply relax. Those 10 minutes will be time well spent, believe me.

You're asking husbandry questions, which is good. You're ignoring answers to some of the questions and asking them again, which is puzzling. We're here to help and hope things go well for you and your snake.

Originally Posted by Raptor

As I said several posts earlier, I've already swapped the smaller hide for the ice cream bucket. I have to wait in order to make another since there's nothing around the house for me to use.

No newspaper? Cardboard? Construction paper? Paper? Cereal boxes? Cloth? Paper towels? It doesn't have to cost money and it doesn't have to look fancy. Sure, display vivs that include beautiful decor are great and I have some of those. You're just looking for something that the snake can get into or under. EVERYONE has something around the house to use.

Originally Posted by Nanci

The mice you're feeding are huge! An average feeder adult is about 22-25 grams. You're feeding jumbos! I'd definitely take her back to every 10-14 days. Maybe ten but try to feed younger mice. Retired breeders are huge.

I'm probably over estimating, I'm not good as estimating size. I don't weigh them prior to feeding. These aren't retired breeders. These are just the offspring that I have no desire to keep. When I feed them, there's no noticeable lump on the snake once it gets past the throat.

Originally Posted by Porro

Why did you take on an animal that you don't have the time or resources to care for properly?

Because a year ago I had a lot more time and my step-dad wasn't trying to shove all my step-sister's chores off on me. I also didn't have grandma and the resulting family issues to deal with.

Originally Posted by Caryl

You're ignoring answers to some of the questions and asking them again, which is puzzling.[/color]

Because I'm getting so many replies and answers that I'm going every which way trying to gather things up. That, and I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment.

Originally Posted by Caryl

No newspaper? Cardboard? Construction paper? Paper? Cereal boxes? Cloth? Paper towels? It doesn't have to cost money and it doesn't have to look fancy. Sure, display vivs that include beautiful decor are great and I have some of those. You're just looking for something that the snake can get into or under. EVERYONE has something around the house to use.

Pretty much no. Newspapers go straight to my grandmother who throws them away after reading them. She has a bad enough memory that she asks the same question multiple times and has to be told the same thing repeatedly. The only cardboard is some shoe boxes, but those have things in them and I'm fairly sure it wouldn't be appreciated if I used them. Haven't had construction paper for years. Paper I might be able to do. I have several 3 ring binders of old notes/papers from last semester. I also have a paper shredder.

Cereal boxes, no. Parents by cereal in those big plastic zip lock bags. I have some one serving boxes of cereals, but I don't think she'd fit in one lol. Maybe something she could nose around. Cloth, I don't think so. I'd have to ask mom to see if she has any scrap cloth laying around. Most scrap cloth goes to the dogs for bedding. Papertowels, I get grumbles at for using them to dry my hands off, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to use it.

There honestly isn't a lot in the house to use. Things mostly get used or thrown away before I can grab them. Would have to talk to mom, but I think we still have some old sherbert icecream half gallon tubs. I'm not sure though. They may have gotten thrown away. If not the tubs, the lids did.

Went and offered her a p/k mouse today (weighed the mouse and he was 32 grams). She looked at it, flicked her tongue, and wasn't interested. To say the least, the outdoor dog enjoyed his mouse snack.

Since I swapped the small hide for the much larger one, she isn't pushing on the lid as much. She lightly bumps it and continues on. Have noticed she likes curling around the ice cream box.

I'm going to keep offering a mouse each week until she takes it. Then I'll switch to the once every 14 days feeding schedule.

See, I'd do the opposite. Well, something different. If she refuses (since she's a good-sized adult) I'd skip the next scheduled feed, and then offer again two weeks later. I have two or three snakes here that have eaten two or three times since mid-December. They just don't need to eat very often if they aren't growing. Although many of them are excellent at convincing us they are starving!

I probably should do that, since I'm guessing she's an adult. I measured her the other day and I'm guessing she's roughly 36"-38". Hard to get an exact measurement.