BP resting with his head up

[jamie334]

I received my Piebald a month ago and he has yet to eat. I have tried live and frozen thawed both mice and rats. He acts interested in the mouse and closes in on them but he doesn't strike. Instead he turns around and goes to the opposite end of the enclosure. He rests with his head either elevated or against the side of the cage pointing straight up. I took him to the vet and she checked the inside of his mouth, and listened to his breathing and said that he was fine. He doesn't have any mucus coming from his mouth nor does he wheeze. Could it be possible that he just rests with his head straight up because he is comfortable? And I am attributing the fact that he hasn't eaten to the shipment and new surroundings where he is going from being kept in a rack to an larger enclosure. He is a year and a half and 900 grams by the way. Thanks for the help!

[Slim]

Tell us about this larger enclosure. At 900 grams, your Pied should be an established eater. While the stress from shipping can put them off food for a while, a month seems a little exessive for shipping stress.

My first guess is that there is a husbandry issue afoot here. Please describe your set up. A photo would be even better.

[jamie334]

I am trying to attach a picture but I don't see an attachment option on the reply tab. I have a 37 gallon wooden enclosure. I am using Aspen snake bedding for substrate and heating it with a heat lamp and UTH. The hot side is 88-93 and the cool side is 80-83. Humidity is from 40-50. The picture that I have is perfect because it shows him laying with his head tilted up.

[The Serpent Merchant]

You cannot upload images into posts, they need to be hosted on a site like photobucket first. (then you copy and paste the "IMG" code into a post here on BP.net)

Does the UTH have a thermostat? What are you using to measure temperatures/humidity?

[Slim]

You'll need to upload the picture to an image hosting site like Flicker or Photobucket, the copy and paste the IMG code into the post.

Right off the bat, your temps sound good and your humidity is tolerable, but the one thing that jumps out at me is the size of the enclosure. That's pretty big and exposed, especially if he was in a tub and rack system at the breeders.

Does he spend most of his time in his hides, or does he cruise the cage a lot?

[John1982]

Do you have hides available for him? If not I'd add a few so he can pick and choose where he wants to hunker down then your next feeding attempt dangle the mouse in front of the one in which he's resting. They're ambush predators, a secure hiding place can sometimes get finicky/stressed snakes eating again.

[jamie334]

Yes the UTH does have a thermostat. And as far as him being in his hide; He doesn't go in his hide as often as he sleeps in between the wall of the enclosure and the hide box itself. He does cruise the cage in the mornings. Obviously he cruises at night but recently he has stated roaming during the mornings. He stays on his cool side a lot more than his hot side. I thought of adding another hide but he rarely uses the one he has. I really appreciate the help and advice also!

[John1982]

They like tight spaces, your hide might be too large.

[jamie334]

I got the hide from PETCO. It is a large mouse box. I will try to get him a smaller one tomorrow since he likes to be jammed in between the 2.

[Slim]

He doesn't go in his hide as often as he sleeps in between the wall of the enclosure and the hide box itself.

I've seen this behavior before, and believe it or not, it's actually a sign of stess.

My bet is that if you put him in a smaller enclosure like a 28 qt tub with a couple of hides, give him a week to de-stress, and offer him a rat, he'd hit it like a ton of bricks.

At the very least, take a bunch of crumpled up news paper and fill up all that extra space in your 37 gallon.

I'd be willing to bet a doughnut that he's not eating because he feels exposed...I know you're probably thinking that if he feels exposed he wouldn't be laying between the glass and the hide, but rather inside of it. Truth is, BPs can be funny that way.