Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We purchased our snake approx. 4weeks ago. He has not eaten and when he shed his skin it flaked off. What is the humidity level required? Aquarium temp. is usually approx. 85 degrees. The snake is approx. 6 months old,but we're not sure. We bought the snake from a pet store. We tried to feed him a white mouse, two weeks after we had purchased it, first and it was not interested in it.So a week later we bought some frozen pinkies,and it showed no interest. What do we do, how long do we wait?

First off humidity should be about 60% and bumped up the 75% during the shed cycle. The bump is not necessary if you provide a humid hide. Temps should be around the low to mid 80s for ambient temps and a basking spot at around 90.

Now for the feeding: Find out what the pet store fed him and when the last time he ate was. Feed him whatever the petstore did until he's settled into a routine. There is a good chance that the snake you bought is WC and does not recognise mice and rats as a food source which means you may need to try gerbils or hampsters or something else. Or it might just be that the snake is going through the natural fasting process and should start eating again in March or April. Most snakes can handle a fast pretty well, if you see him looking very thin and acting sluggish you might need to take him to a vet, make sure he's got plenty of fresh water so he doesn't dehydrate during his fast. I know it's not much, but I hope this helps a bit.
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

We apologize,but we are new owners. Could you specify what WC stands for? We also do not know how to raise the humidity level and what is a humidity hide? If you want, you can email me at
tgilk@iowatelecom.net only because it was a pain to get here.
Thank you very much.

Hey i hope some of the tips i e-mailed you have worked so keep us updated! Thomas