Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a two year old corn in my class that hasn't eaten during the last 5 weeks. He is active and has had bowel movements. The temps range from 75 to 85 degrees in the tank. I read somewhere that a male might not eat if he wants to mate. Last night I put a female in the tank and they mated within 2 minutes (they put on an interesting show- it was the first time I actually saw the event). Well, today he still wasn't hungry. the only thing I haven't tried is live because he has never had live food and I don't want to start live feedings. Any thoughts?

Are you feeding him the same type of feeders that you always feed him? Some snakes develop a preference when it comes to feeders. My Corn Snake (Snakey) always eats white feeders, but last week I offered him a black feeder and he didn't want it. However, the next week I gave him another black feeder and he ate it right away. Your guy may be stressed, or he may not be hungry. My bet is that he'll eat soon! Good luck!
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1 Corn Snake (Snakey)
1 Ball Python (Sosa)
1 Pine Snake (Potato Salad)

I usually go with white feeders. The last time I bought mice, my mouse guy had only black mice. The picky eater went at least 4 or 5 weeks eating the black mice. I also tried white this week and they didn't work. I am going to try another white tomorrow and that will be almost two days after he wild night. We will see!

Maybe try a frozen rat instead of a mouse. My girl wouldn't eat for a month and then Don Soderberg answered one of my posts on the forum and said to try a gerbil or hampster or rat. She usually took jumbo adult mice before and hadn't eaten in a month when we tried a small rat. It was huge and took her an hour to get it down. Two weeks later she ate a mouse for me no problem. Maybe try switching it up. Rats are fairly easy to come by as well - just make sure it's the right size. I wouldn't try live because if it eats live it might be hard to get it back to f/t.

~Katie

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JK Pets - Online Pet Supplies

2.4 Cornsnakes (Slink, Shadow, Suzie, Snickers, Selena, Sunshine)
0.1 Columbian Red Tail Boa (Baby)
0.3 Leopard Geckos (Cutie, Lily, and Miss Piggy)
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Sam)
0.2 Pac Man Frogs (Gordito and Spud)
0.1 Suriname Toad (Squishy & the Squishettes)
0.0.2 Giant Millipede (Mega & Mila)
0.0.1 Green Iguana (Iggy)
0.0.1 Red Eared Slider (Tiny)
lots of snails and fish...

Well he just got laid last night, he probably wanted to take some time to get a drink and relax! lol.. but seriously it is a considerably stressful situation when they do copulate and i'd give him a week adjustment time then try and feed him again. He's probably just still excited from that hot female he got last night and can't eat thinking of her lol.. in all honesty he's just not ready to eat i wouldn't think. give him a week try again.

you can also try feeding a rat or something, from what i've been told rats are more nutritious than mice are. And ounce for ounce, they eventually get to be cheaper than mice.

Take for example on big cheese a weaned rat is 80 cents (30-40 grams). An adult mouse is 50 cents (>25 grams). Feed two adult mice you spend more than a weaned rat and you get less body mass.

also you may want to try getting a small container and putting the snake in there overnight with the mouse/rat and cover it with a big towel or blanket.. less distraction.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
N. American Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote
Information on substrates

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
0.1 Texas Bairdi (Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Monty)

He's probably just fine.

Males will often times go off their feed for months during breeding season; it's just what they do. You can continue to offer him a mouse each week if you want, but every other week would be fine. As long as he's not losing weight, there is no problem at all. Just let him breed her ever couple of days until he has lost interest in her (or her in him!). He'll be back to normal in no time.

I would strongly recommend you not introduce anything new in the way of food items right now. Anything that you give him, which he likes enough to stop looking for girls (is there such a food?!?!?), will likely be such a strong imprint on him that he may not go back to f/t mice. It may not be a big problem, if its a rat or something easily obtainable, but other food items get really expensive if that is all your romeo will eat from now on!

Really, he'll be fine. And, it will likely happen every year about this time for as long as he lives. No...we never get over it!

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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742