Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been almost 3 months since my son's 05 GBK ate. I put her in the basement for brumation because she was refusing food for weeks, but it's been unseasonably warm, and the temps never got below 57 (my thermometer measures high/low temps/humidity) during the two months she was down there. I was worried about her, so I thought maybe enough of this cooling/fasting would make her hungry, so I brought her up a few days ago. First day, no heat lamp. Second day lamp. Second or third day, I offered a small fuzzie (almost a large pink) and she wasn't interested, so I had to pitch it the next morning.

She used to eat on newspaper in her cage, but I used Cypress mulch for the brumation and left it in, this time trying to feed using a Dixie cup, like I do my Jalisco Milk Snake. She went right to the cup, but when she saw the mouse (F/T), she acted scared and avoided it.

Should I remove the mulch and go back to newspaper to get her comfortable? She's been pretty active. When I handled her for the first time after the cooling, she pooped right away. It was mostly like a watery green bird poop. Is that all normal?

I really want this snake to go back to eating regularly, because she's quite the runt for a yearling. Looks more like a hatchling. My son loves this snake...

I'll try to post a current pic tomorrow.

Thanks,

Walt

Hiya Walt, I think we've chatted before on the forums....
The 3 month fast is not an unreasonable hardship for a healthy snake and the 2 months at 57 is fine. In most cases below 60 is adequate for cooling.
I'd skip the heat lamp and allow the snake a few days (3-5) at 70-75 degrees then another 3-5 days at 80 before offering food but scale down the meal size if possible and if the snake always was a hesitant feeder on rodents, scent or offer tiny live.
Be sure he sees and uses the water bowl. I'm suprised how many snakes come out of the cooler and drink furiously if I dunk their heads in the water.
Hope that helps, keep us posted...Jeff