My Male Normal is Driving me NUTS!

[Reptile King]

My male normal has been off feed for the last 3 weeks. He was hatched out last April and weighs around 300 grams. For the last several weeks he refuses to use any of his hides........instead he prefers to hide underneath the carpet.

His setup is pristine.......I think. He is in a 2X3 Reptile Basics enclosure with two identical hiding spots, fresh water, and spot on temperatures. The basking spot is 90 degrees while the ambient temperature is in the low 80's. The humidity ranges from 50 to 60%. He just finished a bad shed.

Driectly above him is my female. Although she ate last night my male refused. Would the female being above him have anything to do with anything? Suppose my male is wanting to breed?

At first I thought that my hides were two small for him so I replaced them with the next size bigger. He goes into them last night and I thought "Ah...that was the issue...his hides were two small. I check on him today and the rascal is back under the carpet!

Any ideas?????????????

[PurplePython]

My male normal has been off feed for the last 3 weeks. He was hatched out last April and weighs around 300 grams. For the last several weeks he refuses to use any of his hides........instead he prefers to hide underneath the carpet.

His setup is pristine.......I think. He is in a 2X3 Reptile Basics enclosure with two identical hiding spots, fresh water, and spot on temperatures. The basking spot is 90 degrees while the ambient temperature is in the low 80's. The humidity ranges from 50 to 60%. He just finished a bad shed.

Driectly above him is my female. Although she ate last night my male refused. Would the female being above him have anything to do with anything? Suppose my male is wanting to breed?

At first I thought that my hides were two small for him so I replaced them with the next size bigger. He goes into them last night and I thought "Ah...that was the issue...his hides were two small. I check on him today and the rascal is back under the carpet!

Any ideas?????????????

Maybe you could try to raise your hot spot to about 94-95 degrees. That way he might stop going under the carpet and he satisfied just in his hide? I am not sure, just trying to throw out some ideas.

[dr del]

Hi,

Some of mine go under the newspaper to hide - I eventually gave up trying to stop them.

How are you measuring those temps and humidity?

Your enclosure is also quite large for a little guy like that - but if he was eating in it before that may not be an issue for him.

How do you feed and how/ how long do you pre-scent?

**edit**

Also you say he has just finished a bad shed - how bad and did you get it all off ok?

**end edit**


dr del

[Reptile King]

Hi,

Some of mine go under the newspaper to hide - I eventually gave up trying to stop them.

How are you measuring those temps and humidity?

Your enclosure is also quite large for a little guy like that - but if he was eating in it before that may not be an issue for him.

How do you feed and how/ how long do you pre-scent?

**edit**

Also you say he has just finished a bad shed - how bad and did you get it all off ok?

**end edit**


dr del

I am measuring my temps with a tempgun and am measuring the humidity with a accurite that is on the back of the enclosure. My only issue with raising the temperatures is that my female is directly above him. Since I am using radiant heat panels if I raise the temp of the males cage my females temp will also raise a few degrees higher than my males.

Usually both my female and male will eat without having to prescent their enclosure. Because my male is picky I tried prescenting his enclosure while I was feeding my female last night. I then grabbed the small rat by the tail and began moving it throughout his enclosure. Although he tracked it very well he just refused to eat it.

As far as the shed goes I placed him in a tub with water and "Shedease" from Zilla. After 45 minutes I gently pulled off the remaining shed without any difficulties. He had about 12 inches or so of stuck shed along the side of his body. He is shed free.

He will usually hide underneath the carpet when he is shedding but this is the first he has hidden underneath the carpet without going into shed.

[dr del]

Hi,

So you're feeding F/T?

Have you tried hairdriering the head of the rat to get it nice and hot just before offering it?

I defrost mine in the same room so they know dinner is coming then give the head a good blast to make sure they can key in on it. I also open their tubs before the hairdrier as it blasts around a good food scent that way and they normally come out of hiding looking for it before I even present it.

As to the cage temps could you put some insulation between the two enclosures to reduce the effect a bit?


dr del

[Vypyrz]

My male normal has been off feed for the last 3 weeks. He was hatched out last April and weighs around 300 grams. For the last several weeks he refuses to use any of his hides........instead he prefers to hide underneath the carpet.

His setup is pristine.......I think. He is in a 2X3 Reptile Basics enclosure with two identical hiding spots, fresh water, and spot on temperatures.

Please clarify something, are you saying your snake was hatched in April 2009, or April 2010. When I first read that my thought was that this person has a 5 or 6 week old snake at 300g , living in a 3 X 2, and having feeding issues...

How long have you had the snake?, how long has he been in that enclosure? and what type of heating are you using?...

[SlitherinSisters]

Please clarify something, are you saying your snake was hatched in April 2009, or April 2010. When I first read that my thought was that this person has a 5 or 6 week old snake at 300g , living in a 3 X 2, and having feeding issues....

There's no way an April baby would be 300 grams. They normally don't eat until after their first shed and the OP said it hasn't ate for 3 weeks, so that would pretty much mean the snake has never eaten.....

Anyway, 90 degrees is a fine hot spot. They are weird snakes sometimes. My babies and subadults have always done weird things. One of mine insisted on laying on top of his hide and all I have is belly heat I wouldn't worry too much about where he's laying as long as your enclosure is set up properly, 2 identical snug hides is a must. That enclosure is a bit large for a yearling but if he was eating before no problems you don't need to change it. It's one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it" things (assuming he's been in that enclosure for awhile).

Give him some time, I'm sure he'll start eating soon. Once in a while they like to take breaks. 300 grams is a tad small for a yearling though, has he been eating regularly for you, before this?

Also, hides can rarely be too small, they like to be really snug inside of them.

[Reptile King]

I need to weigh him again as I haven't weighed him I'm in a while. He was hatched in April of 2009. He has been inside his enclosure since the end of January and never had a feeding issue. I'm feeding frozen thawed and will try again next week.

[Vypyrz]

There's no way an April baby would be 300 grams. They normally don't eat until after their first shed and the OP said it hasn't ate for 3 weeks, so that would pretty much mean the snake has never eaten.....

That's why I asked. A 6 week old at 300g would be huge, but a 1 year old at 300g seem really small...

[Reptile King]

I have an update. Although he has not eaten yet I do have an accurate weight for him. He weighs 440 grams and was hatched in April of 2009.