Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,
The continuing saga. He shed on Saturday and I assumed he would be hungry since it has been over a month since his last meal. Over the course of the last few days I have tried feeding him f/t mice (large to hoppers), live mice, fresh killed chipmunk, and live chipmunk all of which he has eaten in the past. I did not constantly offer the food items but waited hours and days between each attempt. I'm starting to get frustrated! Any suggestions or tips?
Thanks,
Bob

I don't know the history of your snake or any details, but FYI, sometimes adults (especially males) can stop feeding for awhile in Aug and Sept, maybe eat again a few times in Oct, then shut down for the Winter. My big old adult male stops in Aug and doesn't eat again until March. No big deal really, just kind of frustrating if you're not used to this kind of pattern. Just a possibility without knowing anything else about your snake.

Here are a few of my previous posts concerning this snake. I found him, and now I have two captive bred ks and eggs in an incubator. Its all his fault!
June 6
Early this spring I was doing some wetland work in Montgomery County when I came upon a very sick eastern kingsnake. Due to the wetter than usual conditions the water-table rose and forced this snake from its hibernacula. It was in desperate need of shed, had bloody fluid coming from the lungs, and it's breathing was extremely wheezy. The whole area was slated for housing, and the hibernacula was under a planned road. I brought the snake home. Dry heat and a clean warm soaking area were provided. Two months and three back-to-back sheds and he(?)is now glossy black with narrow (1-1/2 scale wide)cream colored patterning, extremely active and feeding on live mice. OBTW: length=52"
Aug 18
I thought I had successfully switched him over to f/t mice. I gradually switched him to f/t mice over the early summer. He was slamming them just fine and he built up a nice weight (not fat just "healthy" ). About a month ago he started refusing to eat the f/t mice. At first I thought he was going into shed, which he was, but he is still refusing to eat. Tonight after work I'm going to give him a live mouse and start the whole thing over again.

Aug 22
Being a little slow on the uptake I have finally realized that this guy won't eat because he's in shed AGAIN!! This seems really unusual to me so I figured I'd post about it.

Last time he fed was about a month ago. He went into shed and that took about two weeks. He has refused food for the last two+ weeks prompting my last post. Last night I noticed the telltale bluish belly scales.

This guy seems to be in almost constant shed, how normal is this for eastern's or any of the other getula subspecies?
Just to refresh everyone I found him early March (thin and pneumonic) and his first shed peeled three layers of skin. I've fed him one to two large mice a week (when he'll eat).
Could the poor condition of this snake when I found him have anything to do with his current situation?

There are several possible reasons for a snake to suddenly stop feeding. The two most common ones are stress and improper temperature. But in your case, the frequent shedding thing and the earlier health problems suggest that there could be more to it. And, as posted earlier, sometimes they just slow down in their feeding during late summer.

I'm having a similar problem with my Texas Rat snake, but it's only in the early stages. Normally a voracious eater, she hasn't fed in nearly two weeks. Here's what I'm doing: First, minimize any potential stress. After a thorough cage cleaning (new substrate, fresh, water, etc.), I'm leaving her alone - no handling for a while - and placing a temporary cover (towel) over her enclosure to give her some added privacy. Second, I'm monitoring the temperature of the enclosure closely, and using a heating pad to maintain a temperature of around 85F in the warm end. The cool end is kept at room temperature, 70-75F. By maintaining a temperature gradient, she should be able to find a spot that's just right. Temperature is important, because if it's too warm or (especially) too cool, she won't be able to digest properly, in which case she'd probably regurgitate even if she did eat.

They can go quite a while without eating. One month is not a cause for big concern, but if it gets closer to, say, two months, it's probably time to start getting more concerned.

I hope this helps.
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MichaelB

He actually ate last night. I was feeding the others so I tossed in a live mouse. He was real timid in chasing and striking at it. After several halfa$$ed attempts he finally got serious and did a perfect three coil wrap, it was absolutely gorgeous. I'll chill out in August from now on.
As soon as our new camera comes in I'll get good photos posted.

Bob Bull