Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My desert king Penelope still wont eat. Tomorrow it will be 4 weeks since she last ate. This went on for a 2-3 weeks before then she miraculously ate but now refuses again. I offer her the mouse like usual holding it above her with tongs, she gets right up to it and starts to bend her neck to prepare to strike and then just sets her head down and starts to look around her tank. Whenever she hears me start to open the tank or think i'm going to she gets excited and looks up at the top for a bit then starts going around her tank almost like shes looking for something. I tried a live mouse 2 weeks ago and she would do almost the same thing. She'd sneak up on it til she was about 2-3 inches away and the just back up a bit and sit there. It's almost like shes afraid to eat. This didn't start after she was bit by mouse. The only time that happened was a little more than a year ago. This has been going for about 2 months and i'm at a loss. I've tried live, Mouse Maker scent, fresh killing the mice, cutting them open at the throat(which got her to eat a few times before) but nothing works this time. Can anyone give me any help?

just in case it helps anyone shes about 15 or 16 years old

i wrote this on the message below this one.
...Usually around this time of year kingsnakes and almost all snakes go off feeding for a couple of months. This is called burmateing (hibernateing in simple terms) so dont use any of that fancy stuff just turn off the heat and let him hide till late febuary early march. It is perfectly normal for them to go off feed. When burmating them make sure they have pleny of water.

my cal king gose off feed about this time she has been burmateing for about 3 or 4 weeks now i fed her 3 fuzzys a week for 4 weeks just so she can be ready to burmate and like i said ill pull her out around febuary or march.

....yeah it may be old age...my old calking at 15 did much the same....& croaked peacefully (RiP bucketmouth)...but Id just brumate it n hope for the best next year.

Good luck w/ it / RxR

My mother is really attached to this snake because it was my uncle's and he died about 10 years ago. She was fine with having Penelope hibernate, but refuses to let me turn off her heat bulb. She keeps saying that she's always had heat in there and if i take it away it won't be good for her and she wouldn't like it. We're in Sacramento. The very coldest it would get in that room at night would be 63. Can someone please make a post explaining to my mother that my snake will be fine without her heat bulb in these conditions?

It will not hurt the snake in any way. 63 is AWSOME that is about just the right burmateing temp. All snakes even if they have had heat all thier life can go cold just fine it is perfectly natural. If you dont the snake will not burmate in any way.