Reptile & Amphibian Forums

help please! i caught a female baby gopher snake (southern california) about a week ago.. and i finally got a pinky to feed her, and she wont eat neither will the red racer thats about the same size (15 inches or so)
and the pinkies are small enough for them to eat... i need to get them to eat please help!

well if they are bith from california and not eating right now it is probably because they would be in hibernation or coming out of hibernation now and warming up their belly so they can digest food. i suggest you get them a nice big enclosur and make it natural looking with lots of hideboxes. us an uth or something to heat on end of the tank. i have heard it is bad for native snakes to eat during hibernation because its too cold to digest. wait a few weeks and see what happens. if it doesnt happen within a month it maybe stress since it os not a captive snake and wants to be free. DO NOT LET IT GO here in arizona it is illigal to re release snakes that you caught because they may have caught a disease that is in your home and they may spread it around in the wild population. if it is stressed put a towel or something over the entire cage so he cant see out and is mot distracted. leave him like that for a few days and he should be aquainted with his new cage. give hima little heat and lots of burrows and use aspen for bedding (so he can burrow into it if he likes.)

I concur with devilgofer about not releasing it. It could be still "hibernating" psychologically. Adult colubrids often go off feed in anticipation of hibernation and a baby snake that has been exposed to cooler temperatures may avoid food as well. If a snake eats and is then cooled the stomach contents rot instead of digesting and the result is sickness or death for the snake. If you keep your pet at proper temperatures and it feels secure, it should start eating for you fairly quickly. Be patient, Gopher Snakes are hardy, easy to keep captives. I assume the Red racer is a Coachwhip. I would not keep these together. It is generally not advised to keep snakes in a community cage anyway, especially mixed species. A bit of theorizing here…Coachwhips eat other snakes. The constant presence and odor of a potential predator may be intimidating and stressful for your Gopher Snake. Even if the Coachwhip is too small to make a meal of the Gopher Snake, he may try (and even succeed) anyway.