snake .. help

[Frostbyte]

I have what I think is a mexican black snake . It was sold to me as a black irridecent ( sp?) snake. looks like a black milk snake .. anyways .. He hates to eat . I feed him frozen mice thawed ( hes about 2-3 years old. he freaks when I dangle a mouse near him . After a few minutes he gives in and takes it . I can only get him to eat once evey 2 weeks . Most of the time he spends hidding . I have a heat lamp for warmth .. any ideas how I can make things better for him >? I dont wanna loose this snake

 

[Schlyne]

Well, this should be in non inverts

You may be making the mouse look threatining to the snake, which is something you never want to do. He may not need to eat every week as well. Try dragging the mouse along the ground away from the snake, or leave him alone with it for a while, and then come back.

What are you temps like, and how many places to hide does it have? My milksnake is very skittish, and will often hide under her newspaper or in her hide. I very rarely handle her. How exactly are you measuring your temps? The analog stick on thermo's are crap, get a good digital one with a probe.

Belly heat provided by an UTH is much better for a snake than a heat lamp, typically. Belly heat is really needed for digestion. A heat lamp will suck out all of your humidity, which usually isnt' a big deal with milksnakes.

 

[Crotalus]

Belly heat provided by an UTH is much better for a snake than a heat lamp, typically. Belly heat is really needed for digestion. A heat lamp will suck out all of your humidity, which usually isnt' a big deal with milksnakes.

Dont know where you get this idea from, heating lamps dont dehydrate snakes. Lack of water does.
Heat is essential to digestion, but make little difference if its a heating lamp or not really. However some species dont do well with heating pads, some get belly rots (in a humid cage). I prefer heating lamps for all my snakes.

/Lelle

 

[Wade]

It's not clear that there's anything wrong. He may not have a huge appetite, but he is eating. Why do you think you're in danger of loosing him? is he loosing weight?

There can be a lot of variation between individuals. I work with a fair number of snakes (including 2 black mexican kings) and some eat every time food is offered, some refuse food occasionally, and some will refuse 2 out of 3 meals. A few even fast for months at a time (usually due to seasonal changes, even if the cage is kept warm). Unless the snake is loosing weight (or shows other signs of ill helth) I don't worry too much.

Wade

 

[pitbulllady]

If this is a Milk snake, they tend to be shy and nervous anyway. The fact that it IS eating seems to indicate that the snake is simply intimidated by you dangling the mouse. This could be especially true if the snake has been bitten by a live mouse in the past, and is actually afraid of live mice-don't laugh, I have had more than one snake that feared live prey! Plus, many snakes are nocturnal feeeders, so your best route would be to provide the snake with a hide box, and leave a thawed mouse in the hide box at night. Many snakes are also a bit shy about eating in front of someone, and this is especially true of the more high-strung species. Two weeks is really about normal for how often a snake this size would eat in the wild, so as long as the snake has good body weight and isn't regurgitating what it does it, I wouldn't worry too much.

pitbulllady

 

[Frostbyte]

Thank You All for your advice !

 

[Schlyne]

Dont know where you get this idea from, heating lamps dont dehydrate snakes. Lack of water does.
Heat is essential to digestion, but make little difference if its a heating lamp or not really. However some species dont do well with heating pads, some get belly rots (in a humid cage). I prefer heating lamps for all my snakes.

/Lelle

I may have accidently implied that would dehydrate the snake, but that is certainly not what I meant. Heating lamps tend to suck the humidity out of the air. Air humidity is not a concern with this species of snake. If this were a ball python or even a brazillian rainbow boa, then humidity would be of far greater concern.

 

[Crotalus]

I may have accidently implied that would dehydrate the snake, but that is certainly not what I meant. Heating lamps tend to suck the humidity out of the air. Air humidity is not a concern with this species of snake. If this were a ball python or even a brazillian rainbow boa, then humidity would be of far greater concern.

Or I misunderstood. True, but then just shower the terrarium a bit extra to compensate along with a large waterdish.

/Lelle