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Year-Old King Picky Eater?

Aozora

Aozora

Blue Sky Reptiles
Hi all,

My approximately year-old California kingsnake Louis (I got him in March when he was at 14g, so exact age unknown) has suddenly turned picky. He's been known to refuse a meal when he's in shed, but the last few feedings he's been ignoring his mice completely.

Louis currently weighs about 80g, in a 20L tank by himself. He has plenty of hides and a warm spot at 87F. I feed him every 5 days by hiding the mouse in his tank, in his toilet paper roll hides. I know he finds them, because we see him going in and out of the hide with the fuzzy mouse. But the little monster won't eat.

The only thing that has changed recently is that the ambient temperature in the room has dropped to about 72F. His hot spot is still the same temperature. Louis is obviously hungry, as he's out and about and prowling for food on a daily basis. He shed about 3 weeks ago, and he's been picky about food since.

Can anyone help me figure out why Louis won't eat?
 
I don't know the answer, but my Cali king went through a picky phase for many months at about the hopper/weanlings phase. She's a crazy feeder now, as a seven year old.
 
An update on the little monster... It's been 6 weeks and he won't eat. He's not as active and hunting as much as he used to, but he's still healthy with a bad temper. I'm down to trying food with him every 10 days because I'm trying to give him a chance to get properly hungry and quite frankly I dislike wasting mice (none of my other snakes will touch a mouse that has been near a kingsnake, even after the mouse has been washed). I don't dare try to put him in a feeding bin or anything, because he flails and musks and hisses and rattles and gets so stressed out I'm afraid it's counterproductive.

Any ideas why Louis won't eat, or how to get him to start eating again? I'm awfully worried about our little psychopath. :awcrap:
 
My go-to is usually to bump the temps. You mentioned the room temps were cooler, that's probably why...
 
My yearling corns are all eating well but my yearling king snakes are intermittent at best. Some going 3 weeks between meals when normally they will everything offered. It just the time of year.
Like Chip said, bump up the temps :)
 
It's been a while, and I've tried bumping temps. I've even committed a cardinal sin and put a heat lamp on the little guy's cage with regulated timer so that he would think it was summertime. But Louis won't eat. I barely ever see him out--he just hides under the substrate. I don't dare hold him, because I don't want him burning calories he doesn't have. So far, his weight hasn't dropped much--he's still hovering near 80g.

The ambient temperature is 73, and his hotspot is 90 in an attempt to keep the heat up. I'm only offering him food once every 3 weeks now since I'm getting so tired of throwing away uneaten mice. There is natural light in the room, so maybe he's cuing off of the winter day length and brumating. Can they brumate if the temps are still normal?

My male sand boa (who has the same temperature conditions) is also refusing to eat and has done so for the past month. I know this is normal for adult male sand boas, though. Kingsnakes, not so much. I think my kingsnake is defective...

How long will my little [censored] persist in brumating if this is what it is? He hasn't eaten since the first post, November.
 
I would probably try putting him in a separate container and then just leaving him in it, alone and in a quiet dark place for a good while so he can calm down. Then drop some very hot food in and leave him alone again for a while and see if that works.
 
I'm going through the same thing with my Yellow Rat. I've tried feeding every few weeks but no luck. He hasn't lost weight so I'm going to wait until ambient temps rise before I get my hopes up. hope it's just the season and that he starts to feed for you soon.
 
UPDATE:

Louis just ate for the second time in a row. Pinkies, not his usual fuzzies, but it looks like he may have decided he's done brumating. Thank God. Amazing how worked up you can get over the little scale babies not eating, even if they're not suffering any ill effects.
 
Great news! I was going tu suggest a couple things. Sometimes my Cali, in her picky phase, would take a fuzzy off tongs, if I let her chase it, in her viv. (She was in a 20L at the time). Sometimes she would take it if I left it on top of her favorite hide, one of those rectangular Gladware boxes that I use for feeding bigger babies, that she had for a humid hide. She's 8 now, and is CRAZY about food- something that when she was a young snake I never thought I'd see.
 
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