mindfreak
New member
Hi all,
A little over a month ago my snake started wheezing and sneezing every once in a while, which has increased a little since first starting. I raised the room temperature and it seems to have slowed down a little but is still there.
Other than the breathing and occasional sneezes, his health and behavior has seemed perfectly normal until a couple weeks ago on feeding day.
He has been eating two mice every week for an extremely long time now and hasn't refused a mouse for years.
However two weeks ago when I was feeding him, he took his first mouse fine but when I put the second mouse in the feeding box near his head he didn't seem to recognize it as a mouse. He smelled it and looked at it but was much more concerned with finding a way out. He rubbed his face all across the box and sometimes pushed extremely hard against the wall while turning his face almost as if he was starting a shed. I've been watching him and he hasn't turned blue at all and isn't ready to shed.
I removed the mouse for a while, warmed it, and then offered again a little later. He did the same thing.
I figured I'd wait and see what happened this week (which was actually yesterday). The exact same thing happened--he ate the first mouse rather ravenously but didn't seem to recognize the second mouse as a mouse at all. He smelled around for a long time like he usually does when he's looking for the second mouse and then started trying to get out again. I put him back in his cage and then tried taking him out again later and offering the mouse again, which he refused again.
His behavior otherwise is normal. He is always extremely alert and active, always smelling and looking at things. I would have written this behavior off as a breeding season food strike but he takes the first mouse like there's no tomorrow, and when I offer him the second he's oblivious to the mouse in front of his nose and just wants desperately to escape. It seems to me that a food strike should be all or nothing.
Any thoughts on this?
A little over a month ago my snake started wheezing and sneezing every once in a while, which has increased a little since first starting. I raised the room temperature and it seems to have slowed down a little but is still there.
Other than the breathing and occasional sneezes, his health and behavior has seemed perfectly normal until a couple weeks ago on feeding day.
He has been eating two mice every week for an extremely long time now and hasn't refused a mouse for years.
However two weeks ago when I was feeding him, he took his first mouse fine but when I put the second mouse in the feeding box near his head he didn't seem to recognize it as a mouse. He smelled it and looked at it but was much more concerned with finding a way out. He rubbed his face all across the box and sometimes pushed extremely hard against the wall while turning his face almost as if he was starting a shed. I've been watching him and he hasn't turned blue at all and isn't ready to shed.
I removed the mouse for a while, warmed it, and then offered again a little later. He did the same thing.
I figured I'd wait and see what happened this week (which was actually yesterday). The exact same thing happened--he ate the first mouse rather ravenously but didn't seem to recognize the second mouse as a mouse at all. He smelled around for a long time like he usually does when he's looking for the second mouse and then started trying to get out again. I put him back in his cage and then tried taking him out again later and offering the mouse again, which he refused again.
His behavior otherwise is normal. He is always extremely alert and active, always smelling and looking at things. I would have written this behavior off as a breeding season food strike but he takes the first mouse like there's no tomorrow, and when I offer him the second he's oblivious to the mouse in front of his nose and just wants desperately to escape. It seems to me that a food strike should be all or nothing.
Any thoughts on this?
