Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have a 6 yr old milksnake that is now just over 3 ft long. He as always
readily accepted frozen mice once a week but now refuses to eat. This has
been going on about 2 mo., He is still very healthy looking , not pinched at
all and shedding like he should. We have owned him since he was a
hatchling... any insights would be appreciated.

There's 2 reasons an otherwise healthy male milk will abruptly stop feeding: lust and "winter".
It's a bit late in the season for the snake to notice that it should be cooling/brumating but the tropical milks seem to not notice seasonal change as well as N.A. milks. I'm assuming it's not a North American milk.

Then the lust part: it's a male and if the snake is wearing down a track in the cage, he's actively searching for a female and will forego feeding for 'some time' (it varies from snake to snake, 1 month up to 6 months)and this will pass eventually but offer a small meal every couple weeks. (How else would you know he's back to feeding?) And no, a quick hook up with a friends female will not magically end his driven lust.

So what to do??
Is the snake very active and prowling the cage more than usual?
>this would suggest he's in breeding mode.
Is he simply sitting in the hide and was not cooled this winter?
>find a cool, dark, place to store him for a couple months. Just below 70 will do fine (assuming you're not breeding)provide water, a place to hide, and keep the temps above 45 or so.
Why bother cooling at all?
If he's refusing to feed for several months and remains at approx 80 degrees, he continues to use energy and will lose weight, sometimes to a crisis point (see the Campbelli in the post below). The cooling drops the snakes metabolism and preserves his stored energy/fat until 'spring'.
Odd that you haven't had this experience in the past couple years....Jeff

Thanks Jeff, I think I referred to him as he...see I did it again, because my DD named him SugarDaddy. But I really have no idea of the correct sex. He is a Pueblen (sp?) Milk Snake. Anyway thank you and we have and will continue to moniter his wieght and offer food every couple of weeks.

Try offering a live mouse. Sometimes the movement and "fresh" scent will get them feeding and ofcourse keep him warm enough and it will eat. Sometimes people put cages near windows thinking they will get some "good" light but actually it is a bad location, to drafty.

I went through same thing . A couple of large pinkies got him to eat (he was eating mice at that point).
If pinkies to small for your snake a rat pinkie might be better. Someone told me to try it and it worked.