Help! My snake isn't eating!

[tricksterpup]

Another positive update- tonight, Scooter ate a full adult mouse with no problem and no prompting on my part. I just put the thawed out mouse on his feeding tray and we went right for it. Whew. I'm very happy.

you got to remember, in the wild, one of these guys would be lucky to eat once every 3 month. In captivity the Snakes do very well on a weekly to bi-weekly feeding. Glad your guy is doing fantastic and eating again. The only time when I worry about one of my snakes not eating is when they are under 6 months of age.
You want non feeders, own a Ball python. Heck, I even had a hognose that went on a hunger strike from November to April, talk about nerve racking. Now he is my biggest pig. lol

 

[FunkyRes]

I'm glad to hear he's eating well again - from your original description, I suspect he may have switched into breeding mode and some males just don't eat at all until mating season is over.

 

[Dolemite]

you got to remember, in the wild, one of these guys would be lucky to eat once every 3 month. In captivity the Snakes do very well on a weekly to bi-weekly feeding.

Thanks for the advice. When he was eating normally I was feeding him an adult mouse once a week. I'm glad that I can be a little looser with that schedule and not cause him any problems. This is my first corn and all this is obviously new to me. Thanks again.

I'm glad to hear he's eating well again - from your original description, I suspect he may have switched into breeding mode and some males just don't eat at all until mating season is over.

Scooter's a year and 3 months old. Is that old enough to go into breeding mode?

 

[ghosthousecorns]

GOOD NEWS! Scooter finally ate tonight!
... offered one to Scooter, but as usual, he sniffed and and slithered away to go exploring under my bedsheets instead... I gently held Scooter by his neck and wiggled his nose right by the fuzzy, and shockingly, he suddenly attacked and ate it! He even coiled around it! .

Can you describe your feeding technique a bit more? From these two statements it sounds like you are standing over the snake the whole time and don't have him in a container with the mouse. I could be wrong... I'm not awake yet. But if you have him out in the open to feed I think you might have better results by feeding inside a tub and leaving the snake alone while it decides if it wants to eat. They can be shy and get distracted by stuff as well.

 

[diamondlil]

I'm with Jen on this, feeding a snake in the open (on your bed?) wouldn't really be the ideal method. Have you tried a ventilated feeding tub that you can leave the snake undisturbed in, with the thawed mouse?

 

[FunkyRes]

Scooter's a year and 3 months old. Is that old enough to go into breeding mode?

Yes. It may be a bit on the early side, but certainly possible.

 

[Dolemite]

No, I don't feed him on my bed! That'd be gross.

I have a HUGE tin serving tray with raised edges that I feed him on. I usually put the mouse on one end, Scooter on the other, and just kinda hang back and make sure that he grabs the mouse and starts eating. Once he starts gobbling, I usually go off and clean his cage or do other things, as I know he's going to be busy for a while and the tray is big enough that us almost never leaves it while eating. I've feeding him this way the entire time I've owned him (since last August) and he's never even hesitated to eat a mouse before this odd little break. He seems very comfortable around me- he's never ever tried to bite me or scurry away when I pick him up to play or anything.

Yes. It may be a bit on the early side, but certainly possible.

That's my boy!