MHO...

My guess would be that he hatched in summer or fall of 2008 based on his size in May of 2009. This is likely the little guy's second winter.

It is not uncommon for a snake's endocrine system to que on day length (photo period) and experience some seasonal changes in feeding behavior. If and when this happens all the heat and adjusted light cycles seem to be of little use getting them to feed w/o cycling.

Where do you live? The farther north you live the shorter the days...... and if your snake has access to natural light such as a window within view of the enclosure the more likely this is to occur.

You can try to force him by keeping the temps warm and supplying a longer day light or let him cool. Cooling is not a bad idea, (and you may ultimately not have much choice). If he has some good body weight you can fiddle around with both options. Just don't wait too long to finally cool him because all the time that you are keeping him up he will be loosing wt. that he needs to overwinter, and the warmer he is the more kcals he will be burning.

Remember that if and when you cool him darkness is as important as temp. so throw a big blanket over his enclosure and stick him in a dark cool closet......

good luck

[ Hide Replies ]

• Winter eating habits - hudafe999, Sun Nov 1 16:56:41 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - antelope, Sun Nov 1 17:54:31 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - hudafe999, Mon Nov 2 03:56:11 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - ginter, Mon Nov 2 08:10:45 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - antelope, Mon Nov 2 08:45:19 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - antelope, Mon Nov 2 08:47:01 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - reako45, Thu Nov 12 22:58:20 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - antelope, Mon Nov 16 15:36:49 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - DanielsDen, Mon Nov 2 19:41:10 2009
• RE: Winter eating habits - pyromaniac, Thu Nov 12 20:06:56 2009