Two years ago I caught a juvenile southern copperhead (about 60g, still had a green tail). She was exceptionally beautiful and despite her unusually bad attitude (I see alot of copperheads here in East Texas each year) I decided to see how she'd feed. She settled right into a cage and ate so consistantly that I decided to keep her. She fed well for a whole year, cooled over the winter, ate again all the next spring and then in May (of last year) I moved her to a bigger cage and she quit eating. I had expected it would upset her for a week or two but she totally quit. All factors where checked. Humidity, heat, photoperiod, hide boxes, her old bedding, animals in adjacent cages, etc. She was active, lost no weight, deficated once or twice and uriated several times. So I simply watched her for signs of emaciation. She shed once after a couple months but did not eat. I B-12'd her and she did not eat. I did everything but force feed her.
All she had eaten with me was F/T but I now offered her live mice and baby rats, frogs, toads, minnows, goldfish, even freshly molted cicadas (something I have found copperheads to eat with great frequency) No luck.
And no change. She went all last summer and then I cooled her all last winter. I warmed he rup a week ago and weighed and checked her (she's put on 20g)
Now she is out and eating normally.
10-1/2 months later.
Anyone have any experience with this or any idea why she decided to stop eating for a year?
She is in a room with several other similar snakes all of whom did just fine all year and are fine this year.
