# Help my corn snake won't eat



## Hayley1983 (Jun 30, 2015)

[/
Hi guys 
I was hoping someone could help me?
I am so close to going to see a vet but our nearest reptile has moved back to Australia which leaves the closest an hour and a half, don't get me wrong I don't mind at all and would travel the country if I had too!
But the pet store and many reptile keepers have informed me that it's a waste of time at the moment.
I purchased nagini 2 years ago and we were told that she was a 6 month old female !!!!
At the time and up until yesterday we had her in an Exo terra 45x45 viv.
Anyway in March I purchased a habistat pulsijng thermostat and she went off her food.
The temps appeared to be fine, we have a digital thermometer in each end of the tank and keep the hot side on top of the mat.
We were told not to worry as its breeding season, she then escaped after my son had cleaned her out and didn't clip the lid down properly.
She may have been out 12 to 16 hours but we did find her within the hour after realising.
She went a further 2 weeks with nothing and then ate what we were told was a small mouse.
Then totally off her foot again.
Last week,
I noticed the thermostat was turned all the way up onto the highest setting and was only reading 82 on top of the heat mat.
Fiddled around and then it went off altogether, we changed the fuse and it worked!!!!
On the Sunday, we got nagini out to try a feed and she had the biggest poop that we have ever seen !!!!
At this stage it had been 5 weeks since her last mouse !!!!!!
We felt that the pulsing thermostat wasn't good enough and our poor corn had taken all of this time to digest her last meal.
I kept a very close eye on the tank checking every half an hour.
However,
It just didn't seem to get warm.
Before we purchased the pulsing ones,
Under naginis hot cave, was always slightly warm . But these pulsing ones just weren't doing this,
if I turned it up, the red light would come on heat. Fab it would get warm,
Howeveronce it started to pulse, the heat totally went !!!
Left it hours, just to see if it needed to cool, but it didn't make a difference, it would just pulse and feel the same as the rest of the tank and read 82 to 83 once it started pulsing and then dropping slowly.
We purchased a new pulsing One but we had the same issue and knew within a day that we had to change back.
So we switched the Mat back onto the old habitat thermostat which is a none pulsing one, it's very basic.
Fabulous,
It has been heating up lovely and has been like this 6 days now.
Whilst I was reading posts on corn snakes not eating.
I noticed that a corn snake of naginis age should be in a bigger viv and atleast 3 foot.
When we first got nagini, We bought a small plastic tank for £40 with tiny heat mat, cave etc inside, and the store said that this would do her for life !!!! What a joke the was!!!
We were mortified as we saw they had adult ones in a 45cm glass tank.
And within 4 weeks we changed her into a 45 cm tank also.
We went to a different pet store this time,
and again we were told that this was defiantly big enough for life.
However, we knew that we wouldn't be happy with this. We would go bigger gradually.
we didn't mind If it only lasted a few months,
as we had read in the corn snake book,
that going to big 
can stress the snake out, so we knew that we would have to upgrade again.
We decided that the time had come and felt awful as we noticed that nagini is 75cm.
So the new tank arrived yesterday, it is an exo terra 90cm by 45 by 45.
At this moment, 
The cool end reads 
73.5 using an Eco terra thermometer.
The hot side underneath her rock underneath the substrate (aspen) and directly on top of the Mat,
it reads 86.
It was on 83 yesterday but we felt that this wasn't warm enough.
so I increased this to 86.

I am so worried about her not eating and don't know what to do ?
We went back to the original pet store to try some fuzzies,
When they handed us the fuzzies we were so shocked at how small they were.
The small mice that we had been buying looked huge compared to these,
So I asked for 8 small mice.
Again they looked a lot smaller than the ones we had purchased !!!
We have decided to go there for the mice from now on, and we chucked the rest of what we call the larger ones.
Sadly her last feed was one of the bigger small mice but we did check it against her thickest part !!!
I know i have gone on but need you to know every little detail, as I do believe several factors may have contributed.
The pet store advise me not to worry as its breeding season, but she is supposed to be female !!!!
All the people that I know that have kept snakes for years, advise me not to worry,
It has only been 6.5 to 7 weeks, however I am very worried as she has never done the !!!!


----------



## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

I'm so sorry that you seem to have had a bad experience with several pet shops that have clearly given you incorrect advice, making you spend this unnecessary money.

In my opinion you should be getting a wooden vivarium. You are struggling to raise the temperatures in your exo terra - getting a larger exo terra unfortunately is not going to fix this problem.

The minimum size for a small adult should be 36x18x18, although a large adult can need a 48x18x18.

Heat rises, you're already using a low heating device (heat mat), and you have a mesh topped exo terra. All the heat is going to rise, and be gone. If you cover the mesh, you have almost no ventilation in the tank which could come with its own problems in the future. If there is any way for you to return the larger exo terra you have just bought and replace it with a wooden vivarium I would highly recommend it.

But there are other issues here - the heating is not hitting temperatures needed for digestion, the enclosure is not holding heat, the enclosure is not the wrong size, the mouse may not be the right size (any pictures of her, how is her weight?), it is breeding season which could contribute, but it could be other health issues.


----------



## Hayley1983 (Jun 30, 2015)

Hi
Thanks so much for taking the time and trouble to reply.
I know it was long winded !!!
I will get some pics and post them for you tonight, yeah I understand what you are saying and really appreciate the advice, I think a wooden viv would be the way forward,
If I can't return it, I may be able to sell it on gumtree,
I would much rather get her what she needs.
She is my sons pet and need to make sure she has everything to make her comfy.
I never thought about joining a forum until we had these issues, but I sure wish I had !!!
For the first 2 year she has never refused a meal, and we were even saying how lucky we were to have such a good little eater :-( 
Spoke to soon.
Do you know if females also go off their food in breeding season ?
I am unsure now if she is even a female and will have to take her to a vet at some point and get that one checked out, as I am sure you can guess, I don't think I trust the pet store to have given me the correct sex.
But we still have to call her nagini from Harry Potter.
Thanks so much


----------



## mackem hiss (Nov 27, 2008)

Hi Hayley, it does sound as if you've been given some rubbish advice from your local shops, however Athravan has started you on the right track! I personally would never use pulse stats on mats as the two arent really compatable, pulse stats are designed for use with ceramics and a mat is supposed to be on or off, they're not really designed to work on a pulse system.(hence there being dedicated mat stats and thats what your shop should have sold you, not the more expensive pulse stat) It does sound as if you have a male (all your other info from your local stores hasn't been upto scratch so i wouldnt take their word for your snakes sex) and this would be his first breeding season so it makes sense you haven't noticed this behaviour before. A tip to put your mind at ease is to keep an eye on where your snakes tail joins the body, this is where they keep some of their fat stores. If there is no change in its shape or appearance then there is nothing to worry about (a starving snake soon ends up with a very boney tail, especially in rat snakes and their cousins). I once had a male that would eat twice after coming out of brumation (feb/march) then wouldn't eat again until end of July/August, another would eat no matter what time of the year it was or if he was shedding or not. 
Hope some of the above helps
Barry


----------



## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

Hayley1983 said:


> Do you know if females also go off their food in breeding season ?
> I am unsure now if she is even a female and will have to take her to a vet at some point and get that one checked out, as I am sure you can guess, I don't think I trust the pet store to have given me the correct sex.
> But we still have to call her nagini from Harry Potter.
> Thanks so much


Sexing corn snakes is very easy for someone experienced with probing snakes (or popping hatchlings) and every reptile shop should know how to do it, but then they also shouldn't tell you that an adult will fit in a faunarium or help you purchase a bigger exo terra when the smaller one is already not holding adequate heat for digestion.... sooo, you could very well have a boy!

It's rare for females to go off feeding in breeding season, but fairly common for males.


----------



## Hayley1983 (Jun 30, 2015)

She had a small mouse last night and literally dived out of her feeding tank to grab it whoop
Temps are 87 and 73 
If they start to differ we are going for a wooden viv
Thanks so much for your help xx


----------



## Hayley1983 (Jun 30, 2015)

Thanks so much Barry and athravan
Wish I had joined a forum so much sooner 
The issues started when I bought that pulsing thermostat 
And since swapping back 
Everything is fine !!!
And she has now fed 
Sod's law after I get all your fab advice 
But I do wonder if she is male.
As the coming alive is so not like her


----------



## Hayley1983 (Jun 30, 2015)

Thanks so much mack hiss


----------

