Will snakes go on "hunger strike" even if underweight?

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Originally Posted by telfordthomas83

I tried last night, no dice! Showed no interest in it at all, I dimmed the lights, waited for him to poke his head out his hide (but not come out), dangled in front of the hide with not a lot of movement other than a slight tremor ... Nothing

Taken out, warmed again with the hair dryer, he had disappeared back into his hide, kept warming and retrying for about 10 minutes and he just was not interested at all.

I left the rat on some decoration that I have in the hide and covered the viv with a black fitted sheet to try and give him some privacy. Checked after an hour and all he had done was knocked the rat off and was sitting on it himself. Left in the Viv overnight, nothing.

I have an idea for my next attempt, which I'm going to try over the next few days, which is to feed him when it's completely dark and we've all gone to bed (he is currently situated in the living room - I wonder if the noise is putting him off).

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I totally understand your frustration...especially when snakes seem to think their rat is a "bean-bag chair" to sit on...:rolleyes:

I recommend re-locating him to a quiet part of the house for sure: while snakes have no ears & don't hear like we do, they feel acutely the vibrations of bass notes, so your TV & stereo, footsteps (depending on what type of floor you have) & general activity near his cage could ALL be making him too nervous to eat. Snakes can feel doors being closed hard...even just cupboard doors in the kitchen.

When I used to keep rattlesnakes, I had a kitchen cupboard door that slipped from my hand one time & banged, & immediately from one & two rooms away, 2 of my rattle-snakes started buzzing in self-defense, LOL! This is how I know they can feel this stuff...& you'd be surprised how much even WE can feel too, in terms of vibrations: try putting your hand on their cage (glass or plastic) & you'll see for yourself. It's just that we don't think about it because we can hear & we don't "have to" rely on such signals. But our snakes are always on the defensive if they want to survive...it's instinctive. I hope you figure this guy out soon.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I totally understand your frustration...especially when snakes seem to think their rat is a "bean-bag chair" to sit on...:rolleyes:

I recommend re-locating him to a quiet part of the house for sure: while snakes have no ears & don't hear like we do, they feel acutely the vibrations of bass notes, so your TV & stereo, footsteps (depending on what type of floor you have) & general activity near his cage could ALL be making him too nervous to eat. Snakes can feel doors being closed hard...even just cupboard doors in the kitchen.

When I used to keep rattlesnakes, I had a kitchen cupboard door that slipped from my hand one time & banged, & immediately from one & two rooms away, 2 of my rattle-snakes started buzzing in self-defense, LOL! This is how I know they can feel this stuff...& you'd be surprised how much even WE can feel too, in terms of vibrations: try putting your hand on their cage (glass or plastic) & you'll see for yourself. It's just that we don't think about it because we can hear & we don't "have to" rely on such signals. But our snakes are always on the defensive if they want to survive...it's instinctive. I hope you figure this guy out soon.

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The plan was to have him in the spare room but the mother-in-law has taken residence of that up until December so space is premium. As soon as she's gone back home he will be moved straight into there! It's not an ideal situation at the moment, hopefully it won't be much longer and feeding when everybody has gone to bed may procure results


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Originally Posted by telfordthomas83

I tried last night, no dice! Showed no interest in it at all, I dimmed the lights, waited for him to poke his head out his hide (but not come out), dangled in front of the hide with not a lot of movement other than a slight tremor ... Nothing

Taken out, warmed again with the hair dryer, he had disappeared back into his hide, kept warming and retrying for about 10 minutes and he just was not interested at all.

I left the rat on some decoration that I have in the hide and covered the viv with a black fitted sheet to try and give him some privacy. Checked after an hour and all he had done was knocked the rat off and was sitting on it himself. Left in the Viv overnight, nothing.

I have an idea for my next attempt, which I'm going to try over the next few days, which is to feed him when it's completely dark and we've all gone to bed (he is currently situated in the living room - I wonder if the noise is putting him off).

Sent from my VKY-L09 using Tapatalk

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Did you bring your temps up yet? Because if they are too cold they don't like to eat. You said your going to try over the next few days. You might be trying to often to feed. I would wait at least 7 to 10 days if not 2 weeks. They just sometimes fast and yours might be doing one. But I would try to get that cool side temp up if possible. They like it (27 to 30 C) range and your is a lot lower than that (22C). I am using a celcius to fahrenheit tool so hope I am right anyway it is best to keep them between the (80 and 86 F) and (if you have a uth) have a hot spot of 31 C. or (88-89 F.)

And yes high traffic area's can affect them especially if the snake is easily seen like in the log type hides.

I was wondering if it would be possible for you to post a pic in this thread of your snake using Tapatalk or in your gallery so we've a better idea of how serious or not serious this situation is.