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Behavior General topics or questions concerning the way your cornsnake may be acting. |
Is my Blizzard sick or possibly neurotic?
01-02-2008, 06:41 AM
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#1
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Is my Blizzard sick or possibly neurotic?
I've had my 18month old female Blizzard for 6 months now, and just can't get her to not be so afraid of everything that moves. I've just about given up on her. So much so that I've tried a few times to sell or trade.
I've tried a few tricks like trying to feed larger prey or more often, rehousing from a 20qt Sterilite to a 28qt size, blocking her view from outside the habitat, placing her habitat in dimmer, quiet areas.
She eats up to hopper-size mice, always f/t, and will skip eating up to a wk or 10 days if you handle her. When changing her water, if on feeding day(usually every Sat. night) she won't eat for 2 days.
When you open the habitat, if she is out in the open, she'll race toward a hide(she now has 3) or burrow under the waterdish at top speed and stay there for a day. Sometimes she slams into the walls back and forth trying to escape like scared fish do. She doesn't bite but sometimes strikes and hits me with her nose. I'm afraid she'll injure herself one of these times, so I haven't handled her now for 4 wks. When not disturbed, she eats regularly, although I have actually only seen her put a fuzzy away twice.
Ccurrent housing is: a 28qt clear sweaterbox w/ 1" aspen bedding, 82deg hotside with coconut hide, 69-72 deg coldside w/ cocunut hide, and a cardboard tube in the middle, and a large waterbowl.
For 13 wks after I got her and 9 other hatchlings and yearlings, all were put on the same schedule of feeding and handling. All my other corns are pretty calm, and tolerate handling well. Most are eager to pop out to look around when opening habitats, especially on feeding day.
Is there anything else I can do? She really won't eat more often or more than one prey. I've always had pretty good luck with young'uns keeping them well-fed to calm 'em down.
She's the only morph I have, and hoped to breed her in a couple years, but as a pet temperament-wise she's not turning out very well. She is quite a beautiful snake when I can catch her lounging in the open. She's shiny and and healthy as far as I can tell. I've named her "Peek" since I usually only see her head poking out of her hide.
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01-02-2008, 07:37 AM
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#2
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You do occasionally come across the odd Corn that's afraid of its own shadow and never seems to calm down. Sometimes confidence grows as they do, so you probably won't know for sure about her final character until she's around three years old. Doesn't sound hopeful though.
I'd be inclined to try her in a smaller, rather than larger enclosure. Sometimes insecurity is caused by "wide open spaces". Try and get as many hides and other ground cover in the tank as you can, to give her the confidence to move around.
Also, have you tried leaving an item of clothing in her tank that you've been wearing for a day? (No chemicals e.g. deodorants, after shave etc, though). Sometimes it helps acclimitise them to your smell.
I'm sure other folks have some tips as well. Good luck. I've had one like this and not only is it not much fun as the owner, but it also makes you feel desperately sorry for the Corn, which seems to be in a permanent state of stress.
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01-02-2008, 07:42 AM
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#3
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I'd agree with bitsy, because I've got my own oddball, my normal Calamity just won't move into an adult tub, because she totally stopped feeding both times I've tried her. I tried more substrate and hides but had to give in and put her back into a smaller tub. In a larger tub she just wouldn't settle at all, nose-rubbing and frantically moving around.
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01-11-2008, 09:40 AM
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#4
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She may be gaining some confidence to hang out in the open now...
2 feedings in a row, she didn't run away and hide. I was really happy to see her raise up and tongue-flick when I opened her tub and dropped a fuzzy into the feeding dish. I closed her up real quietly, checked back in 10 mins and the fuzzy was gone. Usually it would stay there for a couple hours.
Peek's impossible to photograph if I can't handle her w/o her tantrums. It's been 2 mos now I haven't picked her up. Maybe that's helped. Has me wondering if Blizzards are more likely to be light sensitive, or if it's just an individual snake's quirks...
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01-11-2008, 04:31 PM
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#5
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I've found that leaving skittish animals alone except for feeding, cleaning and water changes works best. As they get older, they seem to hit a certain time and just mellow out. Tepin was a crazy snake, wouldn't eat in a feeding box, struck, tail rattled, musked etc. I basically left her stricly alone, fed in the viv for a while and handled my other snakes. At around 2 years old, she just mellowed out and was totally laid back one day. She's still one of my mellowest girls now.
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