Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there...

I have a approx 18 month old CB ball, who has always been very docile, affectionate, super easy feeder, excellent sheds, no issues, no problems, perfect health. Our assumption has always been that "Bob" was a she, as a reptile store owner took one look at her at age 2 months and pronounced her female. Figured we'd find out for sure later on.

Her living area is a glass 30 gallon aquarium. She is exactly 3 feet long, and a good solid weight. Her temps and climates are exacting, almost anal retentively so. She has a hot side, cool side, and a basking area. There are 5 thermometers watching all areas. We use a 60 watt lamp, and a under tank heating pad. Her humidity is where it should be, and she loves her moist aspen moss, tho' she's NOT a water lover, never soaks, go figure.

In the last 4 weeks she has suddenly stopped eating, and become oddly active. Almost frantically active. She turns her nose up at food (we generally feed homegrown live mice), and yes, we've tried a couple of the fallbacks, small rat, hamster, etc. Nothin', nada, zippo interest.

Quite often during the day now, but mostly at night she is frantic to get out of her cage. Crushing her nose against the plexi roof, climbing everything, tapping her nose at me against the glass as I walk by... I open the cage and she practically leaps into my hand.

Once out, she rubs against my face, constantly (no, she's clear of mites and internal parasites per vet check) and very affectionately. My husband started teasing me that she was "horny" but I thought if she's a female, and only 18 months, that wouldn't be likely. Keep in mind however, we have no real idea of her sex. Not sure how to judge that. She wants to stay out, wants to rub gently on my face, tongue very active, is happy to just sit with me when she's out, but when I take her outside at night, she books everywhere now, like she's looking for something. She used to move only a small bit, head and neck way up with delusions of cobra grandeur.

Her tank is clean, no odd or new chemicals to clean with, no change of substrate, no moving of hides etc. Everything is the same as it's always been.

Do I just have a suddenly sexually mature (i.e. horny) snake who's really an early maturing male? Or could there be some other odd cause?

The only thing different in her life was that we moved to Tucson in May from Fort Worth. However, her enclosure temps and humidity has remained constant.

Help?

Am I worrying excessively, or just being a wise and forward thinking concerned parent?

And, if she (he?) is sexually active, should I find her (him?) a mate? We had planned to do this anyway when she was ready.

Sorry for the long post, wanted to cover everything...

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Kim

I have a female that over the last week to two weeks has be doing the exact same thing. all she wants is out of the cage real bad like yours, no food either. I would love to hear an answer to this also. I was going to check her for mites today and see if that was the problem but if yours doesn't have them maybe it is something else. She has never done anything like this and I have had her for a year (I think she is 2-3 years old) normally she is content and does your average moving around the cage. She finally hit the 1500 gram area so she is ready to breed weight wise...ummm wonder if it is a breeding issue?

This is kind of a shot in the dark but I am up in Maine and the weather here has begun to turn in the last 2 weeks getting colder and the sun sets a little earlier. I have noticed my snakes moving a bit more in this time frame, maybe the barometric pressure is changing or some other atmospheric issue we as humans are not sensitive enough to notice. My dogs notice changes in the weather long before I do, so I assume snakes would also feel these changes. As evidence of this, I have a friend who was breeding last spring and he noticed that his snakes would more readily "lock-up" on rainy days which of course is usually accompanied by major barometric changes. Just a thought, see what you can find out about your local weather and atmospheric conditions that have changed recently. I admit it is a shot in the dark but worth a little research if the additional activity concerns you. Please post if you find any further proof of this theory. Thanks, and Good Luck with him/her, Matt

humm.. interesting thought. I am in Los Angeles and our temps have still been hot outside like in the 100 degree area over that last few weeks. Her cage is heated by radiant heat and I have not changed the temps, my house stays around 81 degrees all the time(which would be the cool side). It is getting darker earlier than it use to and her tank is run by natural light not bulbs so maybe this is what is making her "nuts", strange that is doesn't seem to affect my 7 other snakes(3 of which have the same cage set-up as she does).

I'm with you Misty...The temps here are high granted, being Tucsdon and all, but we're in a climate controlled apartment, and her cage temps are the same as they've ever been. We also moved right during monsoon season, so the ambient humidity is still the same as it was in Fort Worth. Plus, she didn;t start this behavior until 3 weeks ago, and we've been here since May. Not sure if temp is a factor.

The ambient light "may" be contributing, it IS getting darker earlier, but she has a reptilight, not natural light, which is on a 12 hour timer, as it's always been, so not sure if that plays into it.

Stumped.

Sent you an e-mail btw.