Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My carmel corn is an August baby of 2003. I had him in a sweater box for a while and just recently moved him to a 10 gallon aquarium for now. He has never refused a meal. He did not eat last Sunday and he is still not eating this Sunday. I have no clue of what is going on. Your advice in this matter is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

First of all, don't panic. If your little one has been consistantly eating since August, a few missed feedings won't hurt him. Often a move will stress out a snake and it takes some time for them to become comfortable with thier surroundings. I would make sure your corn has a hide on both the warm and the cool side of the tank and make sure he had papertowels as a substrate. I would also not handle him at all for the next week and only disturb the cage once or twice to change the water bowl. Next weekend right before you go to bed, place a pinky/fuzzie/or whatever apropriate sized food item in the cage as far away from where your corn is hiding. Turn out the lights and no peeking until morning. That shoud do the trick. The reasoning behind the papertowels is, it is the safest thing to use when you plan on feeding in thier cage. Good Luck!

I've heard of this problem before, and the fact that you moved the snake into a 10 gallon aquarium is most likely your problem. Moving a snake, especially a young one like yours, from a humid and dark enclosure into an open and dry one (I'm assuming you do not have a glass canopy or plastic-wrap over the top of your cage in order to keep the humididty in) can cause large amounts of stress to the snake. I'd keep the snake in a sweater box/rubbermaid box its entire life, but if you would prefer to keep it in its new enclosure, try to minimize handling, and get a glass canopy (these can be purchased online, or in local hobbyists shops, and make sure to poke or burn a few small holes into the plastic part for air passage)or plastic wrap 75% of the top of the screen lid in order to maintain the humidity.

I wanted to mention also that I have a smaller normal corn that is 15 inches long and I kept him in a plastic shoebox. i just recently moved him to a 10 gallon and he eats fine since the move. My carmel corn is 23 inches long and want eat. I will take your advice about the top of his aquarium and if he still don't eat next Sunday, I will move him back to his old house. Maybe he just is not comfortable in the aquarium. Thanks for your help.