Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi my helpful friends...
My 3 year old sonoran stopped eating a few months ago (her 2 sisters have continued to eat without a problem). I didn't hibernate them (I was not intending to breed her), but I'm wondering now if I should have. She has been staying in her cool hide all the time and I'm realizing that she perhaps was trying to "hibernate" herself. Yesterday I decided to go along with her wishes and put her in a cool dark place to rest for a few weeks. I'm pretty sure I can keep her cool and dark for at least a few weeks. I know this is late in the season to do this now, but is this a good idea? If it is, how long should I leave her alone to rest (considering the tardiness of my effort)? I'm very concerned about her and want to be able to get her to eat again. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Janel

You can cool her for a few weeks. Sometimes that is enough to make them happy. Even if you don't cool her, she will likely feed later on = in a few weeks. Are you sure it is a female? Males will go off feed during Spring especially if adult females are nearby. This may be early, but I've had adult Cal king males refuse food this early.

I wouldn't sweat it. Gophersnakes can and will go off feed at times no matter what. My opinion is that snakes that age or older should be cooled in Winter. Expecting a snake to eat all the time, especially a snake that is "programmed" to have some downtime during Winter, is not realistic IMO.
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Mark G

I have a wild caught Great Basin Gopher snake. This is her first winter and I did not hibernate or cool her. She lives in a 50 gallon aquarium in my living room with a lot of natural light coming throught the picture window.

Until yesterday (Feb. 14th) her last meal was an adult mouse mid August of last year. She has remained active all winter and started being very restless by mid September. Clearly she wanted to hibernate and would constantly try to root under the paper towels that I use as bedding for her cage. This activity continued until about a month ago when she settled back down into her usual "summer" routine of waking up in the morning and sitting on top of her house and looking out the window, crawling around the tank a bit and then sleeping in her house at dusk.

During this "restless/hibernation" period (the past 5 months or so) she refused all food, but always would drink water well. She has lost some weight, but is not horribly thin and still has very good color and bright eyes. Finally, yesterday I offered her a pinky mouse and after about 1/2 an hour she ate it. Then this morning I offered her another pinky and she took that from my hand and ate it right away. Then I had a young mouse that had recently haired up and opened its eyes (but had a bite wound from another mouse) and offered that to her and she also ate that.

I guess what I have learned from this experience is that even if the snake goes of the food for a very long time, they very well may be fine. Of course they need to keep drinking water so they don't dehydrate. It is also interesting to note that she last deficated about 3 weeks ago, so I would theorize from that she must be able to keep food in her intestinal tract for a very long time, and despite the constand 68 degree temp in the house (and at time up to 75) she must be able to slow down her metabolism. All in all this has been fascinating to watch. They are really incredible animals!

Here is a picture of the snake from my previous post.....