Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I took my gbk hatchling out of his brumation yesterday which he had started only a week before. My question is how long will it take him to be back to normal and feeding again. also i have now put a heat light on the cage to get him up and out of brumation and the cage is now at 88 degrees. Is this ok to have him at 86-88 degrees day and night? Do i need a thermostat or will he be fine with the heat at night. I do not want to just turn the light off at night because i am afraid the cold temps will make him brumate again. the reason i dont want to brumate him is because i dont think i can give him the correct low temp. for brumating. If these temps are ok i would like to know when you think he will be ready to feed again. I would appreciate any ideas.

i have never heard of anyone hibernating an animal for one week.. did someone tell you to do that?

I did not try to hibernate him for a week he just didnt have proper temperatures and began to hibernate because of how

ok, Are you using a under tank heatpad or only the lightbulb as a source of heat?

If your only using a lightbulb i would pick up an under tank heat pad that covers a portion of the floor of the tank then place a hide box placed directly over it... You do not need a light bulb on this snake at anytime..(day or night)

once you have the under tank heat your snake can decide how hot or cool he wants to be and your worries are over.

~ Mike

I already have a heat pad but the thermometer says its only 70 so i got a light.

Air temp is not that important as long as you have a warm hide..

He has a hide over the heat pad but refuses to go into that hide. Even when it was very cold he still refused to go under the other one. The reason i put the light on was because it has been 3 weeks and still refuses to eat so i thought it might be from imroper temp. I tried all of the ways to get them to eat so i figured this must be the problem. do you think this was the right thing to do to get him to eat? I read another forum about a snake not eating and they said they were able to get their's to eat by raising the temperature up. I appreciate all your replies Mike and would like to know what you think about this. I purchased a Kingsnake/milksnake care book but it doesn't have very specific answers to my problems.

it could be that it is too hot in that hide... try lowering the temp of the heat pad...

also, how long have oyu had this snake? how old/big is this snake? has it ever eaten for you? what do you consider very cold?

He has a hide over the heat pad but refuses to go into that hide. Even when it was very cold he still refused to go under the other one. The reason i put the light on was because it has been 3 weeks and still refuses to eat so i thought it might be from imroper temp. I tried all of the ways to get them to eat so i figured this must be the problem. do you think this was the right thing to do to get him to eat? I read another forum about a snake not eating and they said they were able to get their's to eat by raising the temperature up. I appreciate all your replies Mike and would like to know what you think about this. I purchased a Kingsnake/milksnake care book but it doesn't have very specific answers to my problems.

I have a thermostat for the heat pad but in order to get it in it makes a small hole whih my snake almost got out of. The thermostat was also made to measure air temperature not the bottom of the tank. It was made for tanks but i had trouble using it. I don't think the heat pad has an temperature settings. I could put more substrate under the hide. I got him about 2 weeks ago and they said he had not eaten in about a week or even longer. I know now that i should have bought a snake from a breeder that kept feeding records. They said it was possible that he had only eaten once before or even never. When i got him they said he was born a month to a month and a half before that. It has been two weeks and he still won't feed. He acts healthy and comes out at night and is very active in his tank. I have tried live pink mice, dead ones, scented(dead and lve with fence, anoles,house gechoes and tuna juice), Brained, and leaving him in a bag or delicup overnight with food. I also have tried giving him each of these lizards which he refuses to eat these to and they are small enough for him to eat. Recently the owner of a pet store told me that i should try to give him goldfish and crickets just to get something down him. None of these worked and i am thinking of trying frogs because the owner told me that that might work to. He doesn't even want to smell the food. When i leave it with him he ignores it and when i try holding or wiggling it he either gets scared or ignores it. He acts healthy just has no interest in eating. I am worried because for all i know he hasn't eaten in over a month or ever. He has already shed since i have owned him. I leave him alone for a while after trying to feed so i dont stress him out. Sorry for writting such a long message but i was hoping since you know what you are talking about you might be able to help me out, thanks.

you could buy a dimmer switch in home depot for the heat pad..

But to tell you the truth I really don't think it's the temp issue that is keeping him from eating.. it sounds to me like you tried all the right feeding tricks.. except for the goldfish and cricket thing???

In my opinion you should bring this non feeding animal back to the store where you got it, ask for your money back and start over with a started/known feeder hatchling from a breeder...

~ Mike

I got it from LLL reptile but they have a one week policy. I guess i will have to keep trying to feed him thanks for the help mike.

Try talking to them. I haven't bought anything from them, but from the people I met at the Sac show, they would rather a non feeding snake end up in the hands of a guru where it has a better chance to survive than to see it die. That's the impression I got from the people I talked to from LLL.

They may not give you your money back, but they may do a trade for a known feeder.
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
1.0 CB L. getula nigrita
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata

i would call them and explain that the snake has never taken a meal...

What state are you in?

I live in Los Angeles,California. I bought my snake from LLL at a reptile expo in Aneheim, not from the store directly. I called them earlier today and told them my situation and they told me to leave the snake alone for a week and don't handle it and then try feeding it. I have already tried this but i guess I will try it again.

I do not know what kind of caging you have - but with the top sliding lid type, I use a "junior" hack saw with a blade appropriate for metat and just make a very small square hole in the back side of the screen lid. Do not use tin snips, they will bend the alumimum screen frame.

I then use electrical tape to cover the edges created by the hack saw so that there are not any sharp edges to damage the thermostat wire (or the snake). I use packing tape on the glass to keep the wire where it is suppose to be.

The lid closes, the whole for the wire is too small for young kingsnakes - and is plugged with ther thermostat wire. It works well.

There's also a tank made by a company called "All-Glass" that has a provision for a thermostat wire so you don't have to cut anything. I think Exo-Terra also makes some.
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3.0 WC; 0.3 CB L. getula californiae
1.0 CB L. getula nigrita
0.1.1 WC; 0.0.3 CH Elgaria multicarinata multicarinata