Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Im getting alittle worried...my desert king snake(around 10 months old)has stopped eating..she has not eating in around 3 weeks or so now...she has always been a very finiky eater(I have to feed her fuzzys still, as if i try anything that is close to being too big, she refuses)But either way, she has never gone this long without eating. she is out and about every night for alittle while, but she is flat out refusing food...she is alittle small for being roughly a yearling, but as I posted pics of her a few weeks ago on this board, it has been mentioned that although smallish for her age, she is plump where she needs to be...she was eating a fuzzy or two once per week....I do live in upstate NY, and it has been cold here for a couple months now, but my room is always at room temp still, and she still has the UTH that is roughly 85 degrees on the warm end and room temp on the cold end.
Any pointers or tips? is this normal? how long should I let her go before I should start to worry? I have a corn snake that was purchased around the same time as her, and they were the same size, and he still eats like a pig, he would eat everyday if i let him(LOL) and he is now twice the size of my king..I know, different breed and differnt snake, but It just concerns me alittle now..Im sorry that this was so long, any tips would be great..thanks

>>Im getting alittle worried...my desert king snake(around 10 months old)has stopped eating..she has not eating in around 3 weeks or so now...she has always been a very finiky eater(I have to feed her fuzzys still, as if i try anything that is close to being too big, she refuses)But either way, she has never gone this long without eating. she is out and about every night for alittle while, but she is flat out refusing food...she is alittle small for being roughly a yearling, but as I posted pics of her a few weeks ago on this board, it has been mentioned that although smallish for her age, she is plump where she needs to be...she was eating a fuzzy or two once per week....I do live in upstate NY, and it has been cold here for a couple months now, but my room is always at room temp still, and she still has the UTH that is roughly 85 degrees on the warm end and room temp on the cold end.
>>Any pointers or tips? is this normal? how long should I let her go before I should start to worry? I have a corn snake that was purchased around the same time as her, and they were the same size, and he still eats like a pig, he would eat everyday if i let him(LOL) and he is now twice the size of my king..I know, different breed and differnt snake, but It just concerns me alittle now..Im sorry that this was so long, any tips would be great..thanks

10 months old?.....He was hatched in January or February?
How is the humidity in the cage? Have you tried smaller meals?
Have you tried covering the snake & live fuzzy with a bowl?
Have you tried live?
And....The snake may just feel the that winter is here and is shutting down....If it flat out refused then cool it until February if it hasn't lost any body weight.....The longer it stays on heat with no food the more it will use up its reserves......Hope this helped...Good luck....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Im sorry, im very new to this...what does cool it mean? I do feed her in a seperate container like always...and im feeding her fuzzys...she always refuses a hopper..so I feed two fuzzys at a time, until she gets alittle bigger, then i will up her to hoppers..hummidity is not too bad, I will have to check again...and she eats FT food..always has...Im not quite sure her full age, as I purchased her young from petco in April..she was around 10-12 inches in petco..I know, I shouldnt buy from places like that, but too late now...and like i said, she ate all summer long..thanks again

>>Im sorry, im very new to this...what does cool it mean? I do feed her in a seperate container like always...and im feeding her fuzzys...she always refuses a hopper..so I feed two fuzzys at a time, until she gets alittle bigger, then i will up her to hoppers..hummidity is not too bad, I will have to check again...and she eats FT food..always has...Im not quite sure her full age, as I purchased her young from petco in April..she was around 10-12 inches in petco..I know, I shouldnt buy from places like that, but too late now...and like i said, she ate all summer long..thanks again

Cooling means to let the temps drop to around 55 degrees and keep the snake undisturbed....this is called brumation......Snakes do it somewhat in the wild....After this cooling period...Warm them back up gradually and attempt feeding......I have done it with hatchling Mexicana that refused to eat a first meal......

Also....Trying a live mouse will sometimes trigger a feeding response as well as a totally secure spot like under a bowl in the dark with a live, moving prey.....
And I don't see a big problem buying snakes from Pet co.....sounds like you are way more concerned for the snake's health than most Pet Co employees......

Oh yeah....try putting a bowl with moist Spaghnum moss in the snake's enclosure....Sometimes humidity along with the right temps will trigger a feeding response......It's all about the options and choices you give the snake in captivity......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

All good info, here is a little more. Even April is a little early for Petco to have a started cbb king. My guess is that it was a slow fed leftover from the previous year(08). I'm in Mass, and looking out the window I see ALOT of snow. Winter means lower dew points(lower humidity), snakes sense this alot more than we do. My guess is that a 1.5 year old snake felt the colder background temps AND something else at the same time so decided to shut it down for the season. The "something else" could be a RI infection, a shed cycle, or possibly even the natural pheremones that begin the sexual reproduction cycle. Brumating it for a couple months is a natural thing and will start to test your ability as a keeper. Read as many books on the subject as you can and if you have specific questions this forum is a great tool. You are lucky, many of us never had these luxuries.