Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son bought a small milksnake in July. He ate regularly - every 4-7 days when not shedding. However, he hasn't eaten in about 5 weeks now! Now, it is getting cooler up here in Cleveland, but we have a heating pad under the terrarium, and the ambient air temp. is 66-68 in the house. When we take him out to feed him, he is quite active, and actually pretty entertaining, as he is always trying to "escape" his feeding box. Is this non-eating anything we should be concerned about?

Hiya, these sub-forums won't get much traffic and I'd always recommend using the main forum....
It would help to know the subspecie of milksnake but if the snake had been feeding well then stopped 5 weeks ago, I could assume the snake has become aware of seasonal change and could be 2+ years old (maybe).
5 weeks w/o feeding is not a hardship for a healthy milksnake and I'd offer a small meal (very small) every week for another 3-5 weeks then if the snake still refuses to feed, assume the snake is 'off feed' for the season and move him/her to a cooler area (60-65) for 2 months. (I'd also feed in the cage w/o disturbing the snake. Place the food item just inside the hide and if there's a concern about eating bits of bedding, lay down a sheet of newspaper.)
This happens normally in their life cycle and a wild snake may decrease or stop regular feeding in Sept and seek a den site then resume the feeding in spring.
Captive snakes can stress if the temp is too high and it never hurts to measure the temp on the floor of the cage and try to keep the warmest area at 80 or so (for milksnakes).
If it's any consolation, several of my milks have been in the cold room since Sept 1st and I won't be warming them up until Feb/March and almost all the adult/young adult milks will be in the coldroom this month. They've absolutely stopped feeding for the season now.
Good luck....Jeff

>>My son bought a small milksnake in July. He ate regularly - every 4-7 days when not shedding. However, he hasn't eaten in about 5 weeks now! Now, it is getting cooler up here in Cleveland, but we have a heating pad under the terrarium, and the ambient air temp. is 66-68 in the house. When we take him out to feed him, he is quite active, and actually pretty entertaining, as he is always trying to "escape" his feeding box. Is this non-eating anything we should be concerned about?

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I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way. - Robert Frost, 1935

You're not the only one scratching your head:
http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1619348,1619348
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I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way. - Robert Frost, 1935