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Adult Female Corn Snake Not Eating

L

lifanonline

New member
I have a female snow corn snake who hasn't eaten almost anything in about 2 months. Before, I would feed her 1-2 f/t adult mice every 10 days and she had a good appetite and almost never missed a meal. I've had her for about a year and she's about two years old. She took two pinkies about a month ago, but since then hasn't taken anything else. The store ran out of pinkies and I've tried fuzzies and live adult mice, feeding her in a separate container, leaving the food for several hours/overnight, but nothing works. She ignores them all. I gave her a bath today and she had a bowel movement and I will try again in a few days but in the meantime, does anyone have any other suggestions?

An interesting aside, about the end of summer last year (late August-ish) she laid a clutch of eggs-most slugs but to my surprise, two "fertile" ones despite never having been with a male. The eggs never hatched, probably due to me not knowing how to incubate properly but when I cut them open, there were baby snakes inside. I was reading up on it and apparently, corn snakes sometimes (rarely) undergo parthenogenesis.
 
She may be looking for a mate, and not interested in anything else at the moment.
 
Wish I could get my females to lay fertile eggs without a male. I could really save on rodent costs. I wouldn't worry too much unless your female starts losing weight. Buy a digital scale and keep track of her weight. It's always a good idea.
 
lifanonline said:
I have a female snow corn snake who hasn't eaten almost anything in about 2 months. Before, I would feed her 1-2 f/t adult mice every 10 days and she had a good appetite and almost never missed a meal. I've had her for about a year and she's about two years old. She took two pinkies about a month ago, but since then hasn't taken anything else. The store ran out of pinkies and I've tried fuzzies and live adult mice, feeding her in a separate container, leaving the food for several hours/overnight, but nothing works. She ignores them all. I gave her a bath today and she had a bowel movement and I will try again in a few days but in the meantime, does anyone have any other suggestions?

An interesting aside, about the end of summer last year (late August-ish) she laid a clutch of eggs-most slugs but to my surprise, two "fertile" ones despite never having been with a male. The eggs never hatched, probably due to me not knowing how to incubate properly but when I cut them open, there were baby snakes inside. I was reading up on it and apparently, corn snakes sometimes (rarely) undergo parthenogenesis.
Click to expand...

have a read of my thread and see if the symptoms are similar...
mine has just this min started to pop out her 3rd egg click here
 
lifanonline said:
An interesting aside, about the end of summer last year (late August-ish) she laid a clutch of eggs-most slugs but to my surprise, two "fertile" ones despite never having been with a male. The eggs never hatched, probably due to me not knowing how to incubate properly but when I cut them open, there were baby snakes inside. I was reading up on it and apparently, corn snakes sometimes (rarely) undergo parthenogenesis.
Click to expand...

Unless you've had her for her entire life, I would suspect she had indeed bred at one point. Females can retain sperm for a few years which degrades in quality over time, and typically the older it is, the greater the chance hatchlings will not survive even if they manage to hatch.
 
Update: She had a shed more than a week ago. I tried feeding her the day after her shed, but she didn't take it. I'm trying again today. She has been really active though. I almost always see her moving around in her tank.
 
Dragonling said:
Unless you've had her for her entire life, I would suspect she had indeed bred at one point. Females can retain sperm for a few years which degrades in quality over time, and typically the older it is, the greater the chance hatchlings will not survive even if they manage to hatch.
Click to expand...

She's had two owners (including me) since she was a baby (she's about two-three old years now). The person I got her from never bred her. Didn't even own any other snakes. I think it's doubtful she ever bred.
 
lifanonline said:
She's had two owners (including me) since she was a baby (she's about two-three old years now). The person I got her from never bred her. Didn't even own any other snakes. I think it's doubtful she ever bred.
Click to expand...

She's been bred at least once if she's laid fertile eggs with babies inside. There's no other way that can happen unless she's the Virgin Mary.
 
Every time I have said publicly that parthenogenesis has not been proven in corn snakes, typically at least one person has disagreed but has been unable to provide evidence other than posts exactly like this one, where someone acquired a supposedly virgin female second-hand that later mysteriously laid fertile eggs.
 
Ok I should amend what I said since I looked it up: that you can't be certain she's never been with a male if she's had multiple owners. Unless she had been with you since she was a baby I'd be more likely to believe she's never been with a male.
 
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