House snake "self regulating"? Another not eating thread.

Hi everyone! First of all, sorry about the long post. I'm just trying to include all the details.

From all my research, house snakes eat. Always. The only mention I could find was of males occasionally taking a break during mating season, though I have not been able to find any mention anywhere of when their mating season is. (Does anybody know?) My snake is currently at the size where she could be a good size male, or a small female, so short of taking her to a vet to be probed, I can't be sure she's a female, though that was what I was told at time of purchase.

So here are the details. Eve is a Cape African House Snake, hatched december 24, 2014, and is currently 250g and 3'3". I purchased her in July of 2015. She had always eaten everything I'd ever given her, until this January. The first time she refused food I just assumed it was because I had stressed her out a little bit right before trying to feed her, so I didn't think anything of it, but she's refused almost every meal ever since. I offer food once every 7 to 10 days, same thing as she's always eaten, but she only actually eats about once every 4 to 6 weeks. I'm not panicking since she hasn't actually lost any weight yet, but she should still be growing I think, and definitely is not. And I don't know about the whole "maybe it's a breeding season thing" since it's been 5 months now and she's still not eating. In every other way, her behavior and health appear to be the unchanged.

The weird thing is, she acts hungry. She definitely looks interested every single time I try to feed her. She comes right over to the mouse, and follows it around if I move it around, but she won't actually take it. And if I stop moving it around, she just loses all interest and completely ignores it. I feel like offering her live prey might do the trick, but I am really not in love with the idea of driving across town to get a live mouse every week.

I haven't tried other types of prey or scenting since she hasn't lost weight and does still *occasionally* take a meal, but I have tried leaving her in a small tub with the mouse overnight and tried leaving the mouse in her cage overnight.

I asked the breeder I got her from (who didn't actually produce her, but bought her from another breeder and then resold her) and they figured she's just done growing and is "regulating herself", but from what I've read, that's not something house snakes really do. Like I said, I'm not freaking out, but I think it's really weird and if this sounds totally wrong to you guys too, I do want to try to correct the situation if I can before she does start to lose weight.

Her temps were at 86F, which she's always liked better than warmer temps, but I've tried raising them a little bit to see if that helps. She's currently at 88F, and spends all of her time on her hot side the past few weeks. Her last two successful meals were March 1, and April 15.

I have read all the tricks to get new babies to eat, but not sure if I should bother with a snake who was consistently eating for so long and definitely knows what food is and what to do with it.

Any thoughts or advice is great. Or even if anyone has heard of house snakes fasting and thinks this is normal behavior, that would be good to hear too.
Thanks!

I'm on a phone call but just wanted to say that I saw this and will answer what I can once I've got a minute.

Originally Posted by albertagirl

Hi everyone! First of all, sorry about the long post. I'm just trying to include all the details.

From all my research, house snakes eat. Always. The only mention I could find was of males occasionally taking a break during mating season, though I have not been able to find any mention anywhere of when their mating season is. (Does anybody know?) My snake is currently at the size where she could be a good size male, or a small female, so short of taking her to a vet to be probed, I can't be sure she's a female, though that was what I was told at time of purchase.

So here are the details. Eve is a Cape African House Snake, hatched december 24, 2014, and is currently 250g and 3'3". I purchased her in July of 2015. She had always eaten everything I'd ever given her, until this January. The first time she refused food I just assumed it was because I had stressed her out a little bit right before trying to feed her, so I didn't think anything of it, but she's refused almost every meal ever since. I offer food once every 7 to 10 days, same thing as she's always eaten, but she only actually eats about once every 4 to 6 weeks. I'm not panicking since she hasn't actually lost any weight yet, but she should still be growing I think, and definitely is not. And I don't know about the whole "maybe it's a breeding season thing" since it's been 5 months now and she's still not eating. In every other way, her behavior and health appear to be the unchanged.

The weird thing is, she acts hungry. She definitely looks interested every single time I try to feed her. She comes right over to the mouse, and follows it around if I move it around, but she won't actually take it. And if I stop moving it around, she just loses all interest and completely ignores it. I feel like offering her live prey might do the trick, but I am really not in love with the idea of driving across town to get a live mouse every week.

I haven't tried other types of prey or scenting since she hasn't lost weight and does still *occasionally* take a meal, but I have tried leaving her in a small tub with the mouse overnight and tried leaving the mouse in her cage overnight.

I asked the breeder I got her from (who didn't actually produce her, but bought her from another breeder and then resold her) and they figured she's just done growing and is "regulating herself", but from what I've read, that's not something house snakes really do. Like I said, I'm not freaking out, but I think it's really weird and if this sounds totally wrong to you guys too, I do want to try to correct the situation if I can before she does start to lose weight.

Her temps were at 86F, which she's always liked better than warmer temps, but I've tried raising them a little bit to see if that helps. She's currently at 88F, and spends all of her time on her hot side the past few weeks. Her last two successful meals were March 1, and April 15.

I have read all the tricks to get new babies to eat, but not sure if I should bother with a snake who was consistently eating for so long and definitely knows what food is and what to do with it.

Any thoughts or advice is great. Or even if anyone has heard of house snakes fasting and thinks this is normal behavior, that would be good to hear too.
Thanks!

In my experience, house snakes have two speeds, eating machine and fasting. My adult pair, both of them, went on a very long semi fast very similar to what you are describing at around two years old, only eating once in awhile. After about 8 months, they started eating consistently again. Neither lost weight, though they didn't gain much during that time either, somewhat frustrating my plans on when to breed them. Although they were small still, I think they were possibly both feeling breeding urges.

The other notable thing about house snakes are their willingness to breed. Constantly. To the exclusion of all else.
So yeah, male especially or even if she's a female, she could be feeling some mating "season" urges. The bad thing with them is that they don't really have set seasons and will breed at any time. My male has settled into a breeding fast 2-3 times a year, usually for 1-3 months and generally once in the spring and once in the fall, but he can go on strike at any time, is in fact just starting a food strike right now.
Thankfully the female has settled into a vicious feeding machine that would eat every 3 days if I let her and only refuses sometimes while blue or later stages of being gravid, ever since the first time she was bred. She went on mini strikes fairly often before that. In short, as long as she's maintaining weight or losing very little and not showing any other signs of something amiss, I wouldn't worry just yet.

Originally Posted by Tavia

In my experience, house snakes have two speeds, eating machine and fasting. My adult pair, both of them, went on a very long semi fast very similar to what you are describing at around two years old, only eating once in awhile. After about 8 months, they started eating consistently again. Neither lost weight, though they didn't gain much during that time either, somewhat frustrating my plans on when to breed them. Although they were small still, I think they were possibly both feeling breeding urges.

The other notable thing about house snakes are their willingness to breed. Constantly. To the exclusion of all else.
So yeah, male especially or even if she's a female, she could be feeling some mating "season" urges. The bad thing with them is that they don't really have set seasons and will breed at any time. My male has settled into a breeding fast 2-3 times a year, usually for 1-3 months and generally once in the spring and once in the fall, but he can go on strike at any time, is in fact just starting a food strike right now.
Thankfully the female has settled into a vicious feeding machine that would eat every 3 days if I let her and only refuses sometimes while blue or later stages of being gravid, ever since the first time she was bred. She went on mini strikes fairly often before that. In short, as long as she's maintaining weight or losing very little and not showing any other signs of something amiss, I wouldn't worry just yet.

Well this is good to hear! I wonder why I couldn't find mention of this anywhere else? I do still feel like she's quite small though, I hope once she starts eating again that she will also grow a little more... again, assuming she is in fact a female. Thank you Tavia!!

As far as advice, should I just continue what I'm doing? Offer once a week or so, same prey and same size as always? Also, because I think it never hurts to see what is working for others, can I ask what temps you keep yours at?

Again, thank you for replying. I really appreciate it.

It's kind of funny. I'm so glad I weigh my snakes fairly consistently (about once a month or so). As everyone else is still growing, it makes her LOOK like she's really shrunk. If I had not known her weight, I would have definitely thought she'd lost weight. She doesn't look skinny, just tiny compared to everyone else now. It has definitely helped me stay more relaxed about the whole situation to be able to know for sure that she has, in fact, stayed at exactly the same weight.

My adult house snake went on an almost 2 year hunger strike. He lost around half of his body weight. NOW he eats everything I give him with the exception of during shed cycles. He's starting to look like a healthy snake again.
Glad to hear that yours isn't losing weight!!

So far my Clyde has only refused once and that was last month at 21 months old, but he will only eat in the dark now. He will no longer take the prey from the tongs and flees if I try to offer it that way. Funny little ducks they are!

I freaked at one refusal, though I put a brave face on it. I can only imagine how stressful the longer fasts are, but I may get my own turn at that. Best wishes with Eve and keep us posted.

Originally Posted by daddio207

My adult house snake went on an almost 2 year hunger strike. He lost around half of his body weight. NOW he eats everything I give him with the exception of during shed cycles. He's starting to look like a healthy snake again.
Glad to hear that yours isn't losing weight!!

2 years and half his weight?!! I think by that point I would be way more stressed out! I would think she was dying. Was he around 2 when he started that too? I'm so relieved to hear he's doing well again, and to know they can still turn around at that point. Fingers crossed I don't have to experience it first hand.

Originally Posted by DollysMom

So far my Clyde has only refused once and that was last month at 21 months old, but he will only eat in the dark now. He will no longer take the prey from the tongs and flees if I try to offer it that way. Funny little ducks they are!

I freaked at one refusal, though I put a brave face on it. I can only imagine how stressful the longer fasts are, but I may get my own turn at that. Best wishes with Eve and keep us posted.

Eve did that first. She used to strike feed off the tongs, for like the first year or so. Then I had to just put it down and let her find it for a few months. She seemed to act more and more stressed by the mouse, and started taking kind of a long time to decide if she wanted to eat. Then stopped altogether.

Funny how in hindsight it was kind of a trend. But at the time it was just an interesting little side note. Hopefully Clyde doesn't decide to fast, but if he does, at least we have these stories to help us not feel like our snakes are dying! LOL

Well said, albertagirl! There is comfort in numbers. I'm so glad you made this post. Thanks!

Originally Posted by DollysMom

Well said, albertagirl! There is comfort in numbers. I'm so glad you made this post. Thanks!

Actually, me too. Thank you for encouraging me to do so DollysMom.
I figure if I couldn't find anything about fasting house snakes online, maybe others are looking too, and this thread might help more than just me in the end. I hope so!