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Non feeding black king snake!

  • #21
My hognose stopped eating for about a month. He was eating hopper mice. All of a sudden he had no interest at all in them.He would just puff up and hiss when I put on in the cage. I decided to buy a pinky and see if he would be interested in that. He was. He ate it as soon as I put it in the cage. I feed him pinkies once a week for about a moth and a half and then I bought a pinky and rubbed it all over a hopper. I gave him the hopper and he ate it. Now he's back to eating hoppers. I would just give her more time or maybe get a big rat pinky and see what happens. Rubbing a mouse with a lizard or snake is a good idea too.
 
  • #22
yeah, sometimes it's just the mice. For a while I fed my Tegu on mice I was scavenging from the university's transgenic mouse facility (can't beat free), then he just started turning them down, and only began eating again once I gave him the mice I actually paid for.

Mokele
 
  • #23
Hey all, somebody onanother site brought up the subject of worms, said that maybe shes not eating because she has them, he doesnt really know much about snakes so i thought id run it by you,

what d'ya think?
 
  • #24
Depends on the source of the snake; if it was originally wild-caught, it might have parasites, but few kings are caught from the wild anymore. Also, parasites would induce weight loss, and often the snake is lethargic, which sounds the opposite of your situation.

When in doubt, take it to the vet (since I doubt you have the microscope you need to do a home fecal float), but that doesn't sound like a big possibility to me.

Best possible thing is to just buy some scales and keep track of the weight (actually weigh the snake every week and write it down in a little log book). If it's losing weight fast, then there's a problem, if not, no biggie.

Mokele
 
  • #25
hey last night i went to check on her and all was well, about 10 mins later she started to sort of twich just the top half of her really jumpy movements the when she started moving she was really jerky. ive only seen this once before and that was last week.
When the jerks start she starts moving quite fast she then calms down as they start to pass. Do you think this could be connected to why shes off her food?
what do you think it is?
its really scary to watch!!
dont wanna be a pest and bug you, but someone once said the only way to learn is to ask questions.
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  • #26
You're not bugging us, we love answering questions.

I think that it is connected to why she's not eating. Sounds like she's looking for a mate.
 
  • #27
By 'jerk', do you mean twitching in an uncoordinated manner, or do you mean making very rapid, yet purposeful movements about the cage? The former is worth a trip to the vet, the latter is just something high-metabolism snakes do sometimes. I know the gliding treesnakes in lab move like that all the time.

Mokele
 
  • #28
you know i would like to say its the last one but i just dont think it is...she has never moved like this apart from that one time lst wk, this was really odd movement.

hey thanks ozzy.... you really should'nt have said that though i'll be bombarding you with q's now!!
 
  • #29
At this point, then, a trip to a reputable herp vet would be useful. It might be nothing, but best to check.

Mokele
 
  • #30
hmmmmmmm from the sounds of it to me atleast, you sure its a "she"? sounds like it might be a "he" and well, he's looking for some action
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dont think ive heard of one doing that without a female present though i have to admit i have minimal experiance with breeding snakes.

all in all a trip to a herp vet might not be a bad idea if for no other reason than to settle your mind
 
  • #31
hey guys, been havin some comp trouble and havent been able to reply!!
I got her checked out to find out if she was a female and was told she most definatly is, was going to take her to see someone about all this but shes just gone in to shed again, i dont handle her during this period at all..
do you think that i should let her shed and recover then take her or just get her there asap??
 
  • #32
So long as the snake isn't losing weight, it'd be OK to wait until after the shed. Also, you might want to try feeding agian after the shed. Shed cycles seem to be linked to a lot of hormone cycles in snakes, with animals shedding before they lay eggs and suchlike.

Mokele
 
  • #33
Yeah will def offer her some food after her shed,
I think what i'll do is offer her the same food ive been feeding up until now,
then change it, (after shes been checked obviously) see if that gets her going!
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  • #34
Hi all so she shed and all was fine, and she went toilet which she had'nt done for a while, her behaviour seemed to have returned to normal aswell, i offered her some mice a while after her shed which she refused, so this week i offered her some small rats but she seemed more interested in toying with them...flicking them out of the bowl and laying all over them...didnt eat.

Anyway im watching her last night and she looked like she was chasing her tail!!
Then tonight she done it again but bit her tail!!!!
This cannot be normal can it...Please Help!!!!

Sphinxx
 
  • #35
You know, that's weird, that's the second king I've heard of in the past week which has been intent on eating it's own tail.

A trip to the vet is definitely in order, I think.

Mokele
 
  • #36
Hey all, was finally at my wits end, made an appointment to see a vet, then a friend of a friend of a friend came round and checked her out, said she looked fine is in good health said she only bit her tail once and as she never done it again i shouldnt worry!!
The brainig didnt work,
So i thought one last ditch attempt...offered her a rat pup..and what d'ya know she FINALLY ate!
only gave her the one (didnt wanna push it) but am thinking i will try her with two pups next week then up the sizes,

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help and advice!!
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  • #37
Cool, That's what I had to do with my hognose. I thinkI mentioned that a while back.

I'm glad she's eating again.
 
  • #38
Yeah you did but the shop i was going to gave me small mice instead of pups everytime i went there, found a new shop that is not only closer but also much much better, finally got a pup and hey presto....!

In your message you say you fed yours the pups for a month(??) i was just gonna give her two more pups next week then up the size..do you think i should do what you done and just feed her them for a while?

Gotta say what a relief!!
 
  • #39
Glad she started eating again finally. I'd get her off pups asap; adult rodents are far more nutitious.

Mokele
 
  • #40
Ok will do, again thanks for all your advice mokele, youve been a great help
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