Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had a bullsnake now for about 10 weeks. I believe it to be at least a year or older.. Its over 5 ft.

Normally after feedings, he'll just chill out and hide. Won't move much. When he was hungry though, he would become very active. Moving around the cage, trying to pop open the lid, and will follow your hand around if you put it up to the cage.

Well, he's been acting like this for almost a week now. Monday is his normal feeding day. I went to feed him a rat. Previous to this though, he has torn apart his cage. So I figured, he must be really hungry, especially since the last rat he had was on the small side for him. So I offered up food, and he didn't touch it. (please don't flame me for this).. I give him live rats. He seemed more scared of the rat, and showed no interest at all in the rat. So after 20 mins, I took the rat out. But the entire time, the snake is very active, searching around the cage, probing the lid. Everytime I open the cage, he'll start to climb up the wall and I have to pull him back into the cage.

I've read about the snakes going into hibernation around this time of the year. I was wondering, am I just worrying early? I thought the hibernation was something that breeders forced their snakes into, and not all snakes have to go through this?

Is there something I should do or provide for the snake if it is indeed wanting to rest for a while. Or should I wait a week or more and attempt feeding again, and if he doesn't eat, just take it to the vet for a checkup.

Thanks for any and all advice..

Hey,
hold off on the vet until you know something is wrong. Sometimes they go off feed for months for no reason. Unless you are going to breed him keep the temps up in the 77-85 degrees F range. Maybe the temp in his cage went down and he's still digesting his old meal. Wait for five days and try giving him a prekilled one for a change.

thanks

It might be the temp.. I'm on the east coast, and it kind of suddenly got colder than it normally has been. I currently only have a lamp on him right now, and my room temp dropped lower than it normally is. So maybe for those few days in the temp drop, did something.. I believe he's digested everything though.

I'm trying to get him to frozen/thawed food, but the petshop I got him from was feeding them alive, and told me to do the same. My parents don't quite like the idea of the live feedings either.. LoL..

I'm going to check the cage temps, and adjust accordingly.. And try feeding again next week. Guess I have two rats as pets for a while..