Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 3yr old bullsnake has gone off feed for the past two months and has dropped some serious weight. I've tried all I can to get her to eat. She takes large rats once a week but now just searches around for the scent and never finds the rat. I was planning to put her into brumation this week but due to her weight loss I'm afraid to. Any advice would be much appreciated.

High ambient temperatures will cause her metabolism to stay high, hence she will continue to lose weight. Low temperatures (brumation) will slow her metabolism and she will not lose weight. The thing here, is she is likely responding to the shorter days of winter, but is unable to avail herself of the cooler temperatures she would have found in the wild (Being as she is in your house). So she has stopped eating for the winter but needs the cooler temps to maintain her weight.

If she is not so skinny that her backbone is showing, but is instead round, and is still drinking water, I'd go ahead and brumate her now before she loses any more weight. Weigh her before putting her in brumation, then every few weeks weigh her again to check her; she should not be losing any more weight at cooler temperatures.

I am brumating a pair of bulls to prevent weight loss over the winter, since they were determined to not eat. They ate like pigs all summer, so had reserves. They are doing fine, even though one of them had not eaten for almost 6 weeks.

I usually put her in the garage which is around 38-50 degrees throughout the winter. Does that sound about right to you?

That 38F sounds maybe a bit too cold. I am brumating mine at temps between 48F to 58F, aiming for an average of about 55. Also I have prevented any light from entering the brumation chamber. They have water and plenty of substrate to burrow in. I plan to brumate them for 10 weeks.

This is them:

They like to be together! LOL!

This is my first year doing this brumation, so maybe other more experienced folks will chime in on this topic.

Thanks for the advice, its been a great help. I'll monitor the temp closely and have already covered her temporary enclosure with a blanket to prevent light.