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R.W. 11 years, 4 months ago.
So I have a 2 y.o. Beardie who is currently brumating, and he will not eat. I know it’s pretty par for the course for an adult in the winter months, but he’s not quite hibernating… He’s just lounging about and kind of refusing food. I know he’ll be alright as his body was made to handle it, but it still worries me when he turns his nose up at crickets, and will only take maybe a bite of his salads. Anyone else get overly worried or ‘motherly’ about their reptiles during brumation?
I do this with our snakes, especially my rescued male 2008 ball python. He was rescued by an old friend of mine as a captive hatched neonate who had never had a meal in his life. He was sitting in a pet store with a 90 dollar price tag on him, looking like he was about to die of dehydration and starvation. You could see his ribs, spine, and his skin was dried and sagging. She had to force feed him with a pinky pump for about 5 months until he finally ate on his own. I adopted him right after he started eating on his own. He is so touchy that if I change anything in his enclosure he’ll go off feed for a few weeks. But in winter he’ll stop all together from October to March. When he starts refusing food, I take him off heat completely so that his metabolism won’t make him use up energy. If he does, he could lose weight and that becomes dangerous. I try not to check on him as often, but I can’t help it. Every day I”m looking for signs of weight loss and dehydration, but he’s still good! lol
I completely feel where you’re coming from, Aussie. I have two baby corn snakes, and when we brought the little girl home (a Blizzard morph!) she wouldn’t eat for a little over 3 weeks. The breeder had said they might not eat the first, or even the second time after bringing them home as they’d need to acclimate; but she was so small already, and she was starting to get worryingly thin (as you said, we could see her ribs and spine). Thankfully she finally accepted food, but she is still very particular about meal time. Sometimes she will strike when we feed her with tongs, and sometimes she prefers to have her food left in the cage for her to find at her leisure. Occasionally, she’ll still skip a meal and I’ll find the mouse sitting in her cage the next morning. It’s getting less and less frequent though, and she’s been doing well through these winter months, so I’m pleased. 😉
Our other corn, a little Black Motley morph, is a voracious eater! The tongs come out and he’s out of his hide quicker than a–well, a snake, lol–and following you eagerly as you remove the lid and slip the prey down inside. He even comes out sometimes and stares through the glass as we’re trying to feed our girl, haha. He’s a bit healthier looking, but I think he may be slightly older as well.
Your motley sounds like my little African House Snake. If I even walk past her enclosure she’s striking at the side trying to eat me (she’s only 3 foot long as an adult lol) She would eat every day if I let her.
My husband’s carpet pythons are the same as well, but much larger. I don’t mess with them so much, because they’re not afraid to lay their teeth into human skin if they mistake us for a rat.
Haha. We’ve only had him strike the glass once, and it was when one of our cats accidentally got into the room and was, unbeknownst to us, pawing at the cage. We scooped her up when we realized and escorted her back to the living room, lol. Otherwise he’s very gentle, just curious. He seems to know when the tongs come out though that it means food is not far behind. 😉
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