Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all...I was hoping somebody could shed some light on a problem, or maybe not a problem. I recently bought a northern pine, she's a female, about four feet long. I have her in a fifty gallon tank with a decent hidebox, warm spot on one side of the cage, cool on the other, the works. Anyway, the second day I had her she ate a small rat for me, and I was thrilled. About two and a half weeks later I tried to feed her a rat the same size, maybe a bit smaller. She killed it, but then just left it there, wasn't interested in eating it. I figured maybe she wasn't hungry, so I gave her a couple of days, then tried again with a smaller rat. She seemed genuinely terrified of it, did everything in her power to get out of this rat's way, even hissed a little at it, which I've never heard her do since I've had her. So I took the rat out, waited a couple of days, and tried again with a mouse. She showed no interest whatsoever. Still hasn't eaten, it's been about three weeks. Any thoughts/suggestions? Thanks!
Kevin

Hi Kevin
I read your post and might have a couple of things that you could try.

The first thing that I would try would be, feeding your new snake a pre killed rat. My experience in the past has taught me that some Pituophis prefer to have a frozen thawed rat over a live. I have seen some Pituophis just kill the rat and not eat it to make it stop walking around and annoying them.

Find out were your snake spends the most time in it's enclosure and place either a fresh killed or F/T rodent in that spot.
Usually inside the hide or just outside the opening of the hide is a good spot.

Sometimes it can be the most simple but perplexing thing that can get a picky Pituophis to eat. In fact this year I had a couple of large females come out of brumation and didn't want to eat. After trying several strange tricks, nothing seemed to work. I even had one female that would strike and coil around the rodent, but not eat it. I then took the F/T rat to the laundry sink and ran warm water over it's head and just slightly dried it off with paper towel. I introduced the warm damp rat back into the females cage and BAM, she grabbed and ate it like no tomorrow. Both females did in fact.

Moral of the story, try different things (F/T, fresh killed, warm damp F/T, placing it in different locations in the cage and even removing the snake into a small dark Rubbermaid just to feed).

Good Luck
Andy

Do you have a max-min thermometer on the warm AND cool side of the cage? If not, get one and put it there. What you are describing sounds typical for a snake in a cage at improper temps. I would NOT be surprised if temps are the root of your problem.

Of course, the second one might have bite the snake hard enough to hurt it (during constriction) resulting in the fear (unlikely) and killing but not eating. Unlikely, but a good reason to never feed live to a snake that'll eat pre-killed or thawed.
KJ
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KJUN Snakehaven

I think you're right, the cage was too hot. In these past couple of weeks, the temperature in Missouri where I live has shot up, and the temp in my room during the day has been getting much hotter than normal. I'm beginning to think no light, or a very low wattage bulb, might be best, because the temp in my room gets to around 80 during the day, and dips down to between 68 and 70 at night. I was kind of suspicious that that might be the problem, because when I got her, she was fairly calm, but as of late, she's almost what I'd call "hyper", not aggressive or anything, but much, much, much more active than normal, with some nose rubbing in there that had me worried as well.
Kevin

If she is sexually mature, many snakes including my pits go off feed during this time of year, especially with the increase in temps from cooler to warmer. Although all other responses are probable causes as well, just thinking outside the box
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Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

I think you're right, the cage was too hot. In these past couple of weeks, the temperature in Missouri where I live has shot up, and the temp in my room during the day has been getting much hotter than normal. I'm beginning to think no light, or a very low wattage bulb, might be best, because the temp in my room gets to around 80 during the day, and dips down to between 68 and 70 at night. I was kind of suspicious that that might be the problem, because when I got her, she was fairly calm, but as of late, she's almost what I'd call "hyper", not aggressive or anything, but much, much, much more active than normal, with some nose rubbing in there that had me worried as well.
Kevin

If nothing else works, try live chicks. My northerns go nuts for them.

You could also try large mice. All my pits goes nuts over mice. Rats they like, or put up with, but mice they LOVE. Or a rat scented with a mouse. Pits can be picky eaters and at times for no apparent reason. One thing I've noticed is they won't actually starve themselves to death for sure!