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Different behavior for breeding season?

A

Allx

New member
I've owned my first snake since the beginning of January, and for most of the time since then I thought I'd bought a pet log. He (I don't actually know the gender) stayed under his cork bark hide all the time, even at night. But for the last few days, he's got at least a foot or two of himself in the open almost all the time, and yesterday he was searching around his cage with fast movements. He's a full-sized adult, about 4.5'.

Do you suppose he's roaming around now because it's breeding season?

Oh yeah, his temps have been about the same for the last month or so, 73-77 on the cool side and 85-88 under the lamp
 
Yes, you almost certainly have a male who is out looking for a mate. You'll more than likely find he shows interest in food but refuses to eat as well. This is nothing to worry about. Just offer food every 2-3 weeks until he goes back to normal.

:)
 
Tracee said:
Yes, you almost certainly have a male who is out looking for a mate. You'll more than likely find he shows interest in food but refuses to eat as well. This is nothing to worry about. Just offer food every 2-3 weeks until he goes back to normal.

:)
Click to expand...

I totally agree with everything she just said. :)
 
Tracee said:
Yes, you almost certainly have a male who is out looking for a mate. You'll more than likely find he shows interest in food but refuses to eat as well. This is nothing to worry about. Just offer food every 2-3 weeks until he goes back to normal.
:)
Click to expand...

Ah, great. He did hesitate a bit before taking his last meal -- circling around it for a while before taking it. Sounds just like what you describe :)
 
Allx said:
Ah, great. He did hesitate a bit before taking his last meal -- circling around it for a while before taking it. Sounds just like what you describe :)
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He sounds absolutely normal :)
It's very unlikely indeed, but if he does show any symptoms of illness, let us know.
 
Tracee said:
He sounds absolutely normal :)
It's very unlikely indeed, but if he does show any symptoms of illness, let us know.
Click to expand...


So when a snake refuses food and starts acting like Richard Petty around the tank it means it is a he and he is looking for a female. :rolleyes:

That is exactly what my 8 yr old snow, smokey, is doing. I haven't had a chance to ask his prior owner if he did the same thing or not but I will tomorrow. He has refused his last two feeding but I thought it was because he was not hungry and he has been on the prowl both day and night.

How long does this behavior last? :shrugs:
 
suecornish said:
So when a snake refuses food and starts acting like Richard Petty around the tank it means it is a he and he is looking for a female. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
If it's late winter to spring, and the corn is exposed to natural light cycles, that's usually what it means.

suecornish said:
How long does this behavior last? :shrugs:
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I had an unbrumated male go almost exactly three months last year without accepting food. The same snake is refusing this year (unbrumated). He's eaten one adult mouse since January 28th. He's a big boy, so that's just a snack. I have many other brumated and/or currently breeding males that are fasting, and a couple of unbrumated males as well. No worries!
 
[cue R&B music]"Love is in the air...."[/R&B music]

It's that time of year, when a young man's fancy turns away from fast food and faster cars, and all his thoughts turn to feelings of love and lust. Perfectly normal for males of MOST species of animal, this time of year :D...
 
Roy Munson said:
If it's late winter to spring, and the corn is exposed to natural light cycles, that's usually what it means.

I had an unbrumated male go almost exactly three months last year without accepting food. The same snake is refusing this year (unbrumated). He's eaten one adult mouse since January 28th. He's a big boy, so that's just a snack. I have many other brumated and/or currently breeding males that are fasting, and a couple of unbrumated males as well. No worries!
Click to expand...

I have learned that brumate means hibernation and that requires reducing temps and stuff like that. It stays between 72 and 80 in the house (What can I tell you, I'm old - the older I get the colder I get :crazy02: ) so I guess Smokey is also "an unbrumated male". His prior owner said he did not notice any behavior like this when he had him. He said maybe Smokey is smelling a female and trying to get at her. We think the Banded King is a female and we are not sure about Gaia. But can a snake smell females of other types and young females across the room - 15 ft.
 
suecornish said:
I have learned that brumate means hibernation and that requires reducing temps and stuff like that. It stays between 72 and 80 in the house (What can I tell you, I'm old - the older I get the colder I get :crazy02: ) so I guess Smokey is also "an unbrumated male". His prior owner said he did not notice any behavior like this when he had him. He said maybe Smokey is smelling a female and trying to get at her. We think the Banded King is a female and we are not sure about Gaia. But can a snake smell females of other types and young females across the room - 15 ft.
Click to expand...
Smelling a female is a possibility. Fifteen feet is nothing to a snake's sense of smell. Another possiblity is that the snake was never exposed to a natural light cycle before you got him, and now he is. :shrugs:
 
It's definately spring. My 2 males haven't eaten in the last couple of weeks and have been roaming their cages a lot. One is 4 years old and the other is a summer of 05. This is the 1st time the younger one has displayed this behavior. Last year the older male went off his feed for about 6 weeks. He's a big boy, so I didn't worry about him too much.
 
We keep the heat lamp on all the time so it's like, well, early morning in the living room all the time. Smokey and Konig's tanks are on one wall of the living room and Gaia's tank fits on the fireplace mantel on the opposite wall. During the afternoon the sunlight pours into the room.

Smokey's behaviour tires me out just watching him roam his tank, climb branches and shimming up walls. I've place blankets on the side of the tank near Konig and turned off Smokey's heat lamp. I am hoping the darkness will settle him down. :shrugs:

I guess I am just a worry-wart. I got one snake going 100 miles an hour, the other laying about ready to shed and the baby sleeping all the time.

I guess it's just a normal day at this zoo. :crazy02:
 
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