New snake won't eat...help

[mooingtricycle]

I have seen a lot of people talk about this on the site yet I don't really understand what it means. Are you talking about a timer and only let it come on certain times of the day for so long or something that doesn't allow it to fully heat up? Can someone explain this and what I need to do?

A thermostat, turns the heat on or off, or controls the amount of power going to a heating element at any given time, to maintain proper levels of heat output.

A thermostat is a MUST for any Under tank heater ( UTH )/Heating Pad, as they can and will burn your snake if not properly regulated.

I personally use a Herpstat for my large rack enclosures, and i use Zoo Med 500R's for two other racks. I find the 500R's to be decent t-stats for the price and both have worked for me for 2-3 years without issue. ( some people are dead set against them, and i am not at all. ) They are cheap enough for a single enclosure, but capable of controlling larger rack systems under 500 watts.

[CruelHerbie]

Just to add to the Acu-Rite suggestion, get some velcro tape at the same time as the unit has to be mounted inside of the tank on either the cool or warm side, then the probe is to be run to the opposite. I have read that you should mount the probe near the substrate and the unit five or so inches above the substrate.

[angie7]

Thanks so much for all the suggestions. We went to a local pet store (different from where I bought my snake and a much better locally owned store) and bought a thermostat, a Zoo-Med 500R and we are getting ready to get the Acu-Rite digital thermometer/hydrometer tonite. We haven't moved her tank to a quieter place yet but we will first thing in the morning. It is quiet after my kids go to bed, which is now, so she should be fine for the rest of the nite. I also checked out their small feeder rats while I was there and whoever mentioned that she may be able to eat rats was right, I think she can too. So next weekend, we are going to offer her a small rat. This will give her one week in a quieter spot in the house and hopefully we can work out any flaws we have inside her tank with these new readers and thermostats. Do you think we should try live or frozen? I really would prefer frozen but I will feed live if I must. I'm a mouse/rat lover so having a snake is not easy for me to have but I understand the circle of life.

And this might be a stupid question but I'm going to ask it anyway as I can't find my answer anywhere. Like I said in OP, we have a 40 gal reptile tank, screened in lid. We have a towel covering half of the tank to keep the humidity up. I have taken the temp of the substrate on the cool side with my baking thermometer (I will again with the Acu-Rite when it gets here) and it's about 73-75. The air is 76-78 with the baking thermo as well. We have an UTH and a CHE on the same side. Should we switch the CHE to the cool side and leave the UTH for the warm side? Would this cause too much heat for the snake or would this work out best?

[mooingtricycle]

well, it will be difficult to keep the humidity up with the CHE, But it will have to do for now. And, if the heat pad cant cut it alone... youll need the CHE as Heat is a pain to keep up in glass enclosures too... so you'll just have to be diligent at keeping the humidity up Just get a spray bottle and mist once/twice daily and you should be good. The most important time for humidity is when your snake goes into shed. ( They turn a funky opaque/white, and their eyes get cloudy) So long as you keep the humidity in the 65%-70% range ( there about ) during that time, youll be fine, since you want them to shed in one whole piece. ( Soaking during this time helps as well)

I would feed live for now, until you know the snake WILL eat for you, then you can start trying frozen thawed prey. if the snake wont take it, youll have to get it used to taking it, which can take some time with some animals. I would just feed the snake a prey item about the size of the widest part of the snakes body. It should leave a visible lump, and then you just leave the animal alone for three or so days to digest.

Also, as a note when feeding live. WATCH the ENTIRE process, and be ready to remove the rat, or prevent the teeth from injuring your animal. Bites, while they do happen from time to time, from prey, can injure the snake, and its best to just be safe, rather than sorry. Dont leave the prey in there overnight, hungry prey might chew your snake.

I use tongs, once the snake is constricting, to keep the head of the rat away from the snakes body, if the rat were to struggle and manage to get a nip. I just prefer to be safe about it, since i do feed all of my animals entirely live ( for the most part)

[ScottyDsntKnow]

I just went through this. Changed the environment and husbandry for my snake and she is much happier.

What I learned:

1- 40 gallons might be too big, these snakes like smaller spaces, 20 gallons is about as big as you need to go and is big enough for an adult.

2- A towel on top of the tank will not cut it. I tried this for awhile and the humidity would plummet to like 38% in a matter of an hour. Neatly tape and tinfoil the top of the tank leaving a cutout for your lamp if you need it. I also learned that CHEs suck and I get a LOT better results from an infared heat lamp on a dimmer to control it.

3- Clutter is good, put a lot of fake fauna in the tank, it'll make the snake feel more secure.

4- Hides are REALLY important. Closed, smallish and dark. You want the snake to take up almost ALL of the space in its hide and feel safe in it. I was using half logs but they do not fit that bill at all. I ordered two medium sized hides from reptile basics and they are perfect.

5- Moss helps humidity a ton as well as a big water dish. My dish might be TOO big but I'll address that later, for now it isn't hurting anything. With a big dish, the top screen covered with foil and a few patches of terrarium moss you should be able to keep your humidity level holding steady where you need it to be.

Here is a pic of how I just got my setup and everyone on here who saw it said it was a good setup for my ball. This is a 20L tank.

[spiffturk]

I don't mean to thread-jack from Angie, but I figure this is probably a better place than starting another "My snake isn't eating!" thread.

The short version is, my 2.5-3 year old female has decided to go on a hunger strike as of late October or so. Up until then, she'd been eating F/T pretty regularly. Not every time it was offered, which was disconcerting, but most of the time, and often enough that I just accepted it. But now it's been almost four months, and, frankly, I'm a little freaked out. I know they can go a damn long time without feeding, but I can't help getting worried.

I understand BPs will often go off feed seasonally, during the winter months. During about what time frame is this seasonal fasting normal, then? That is, at what point do I get more justifiably worried?

She looks healthy, as far as I can ascertain, and no weird behavior--just hides until evening, pokes her head out until it's all dark, then explores the cage at night.

I don't have pictures at the moment, but she's in an RBI enclosure, with two radiant heat panels, each on its own herpstat-- one set at 84, the other at 92. She's got identical hides on either side (also from RBI, and they seem a good size to me)-- she prefers the cooler hide almost exclusively. Humidity is right at 50%.

I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow, if they'd be helpful.

Thanks,

--
Will

[southb]

I'd wait it out, a male het Pied I bought in Nov of last year finally ate last night. When they are hungry enough and have the right set-up to feel secure they will always eat.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I don't mean to thread-jack from Angie, but I figure this is probably a better place than starting another "My snake isn't eating!" thread.

The short version is, my 2.5-3 year old female has decided to go on a hunger strike as of late October or so. Up until then, she'd been eating F/T pretty regularly. Not every time it was offered, which was disconcerting, but most of the time, and often enough that I just accepted it. But now it's been almost four months, and, frankly, I'm a little freaked out. I know they can go a damn long time without feeding, but I can't help getting worried.

I understand BPs will often go off feed seasonally, during the winter months. During about what time frame is this seasonal fasting normal, then? That is, at what point do I get more justifiably worried?

She looks healthy, as far as I can ascertain, and no weird behavior--just hides until evening, pokes her head out until it's all dark, then explores the cage at night.

I don't have pictures at the moment, but she's in an RBI enclosure, with two radiant heat panels, each on its own herpstat-- one set at 84, the other at 92. She's got identical hides on either side (also from RBI, and they seem a good size to me)-- she prefers the cooler hide almost exclusively. Humidity is right at 50%.

I'll try to get some pics up tomorrow, if they'd be helpful.

Thanks,

--
Will

She is at the appropriate age where her body is telling her that it's time to breed, and this can cause her to go off of food. I'd wait a while on it, so long as she still looks healthy there is no cause for concern. One thing that has worked for me with my F/T eaters is to actually offer a live rat, in order to spur them back onto food. Sometimes with just a single meal in their stomach it snaps them out of non-feeding behavior, then go immediately back to F/T.

You can try that, but otherwise just wait it out.

JonV

[zombie&lemons]

sometimes it take a while my new blond pastel has eatten for me yet and it been 3 weeks???? i think it just takes time

now on the other had i bought a normal from the petstore buy my house and she eat right away. but my pastel is from Virginia and im in houston so there could be lots to do with it in my case climate density of air pressure etc.

[angie7]

No problem Will . We still haven't tried to feed Eve yet but we are going to this Sunday. We finally got her tank settled in thanks to the great advice we have received here. We also added to our collection, we have a spider and a pastel as well now that will also be eating on Sunday. I'll let you know if she eats!