Cornsnake won't eat

lilbug

New Member
My son bought a corn snake a little over 2 weeks ago. The pet store gave me small pinkys to feed it. Try told me she eats on Monday's. I tried feeding her last Monday and again today. She seems to have no interest in the mice. She barely sniffs them and when she does she turns away. Does anyone have any advice on gettin her to eat. Could the mice I got be no good? She has pooped 3 times and drinks lots. She sleeps when she's in her cage but is very active when she is out.
 
Im not a expert by anymeans with snake but i have had quite a few. What are your temps? age of the snake?
 
Currently it is 35 degrees Celsius in my house, we've been having some hot weather, her cage is the same. She has a light but doesn't go under it probably cause its so hot as it is. She does bathe in her water. The pet store was unsure of her age. She's about a foot long, widest part of her body is about 1 cm. I was tol maybe about 4 months.
 
35 celcius(95F) is warm for a corn snake. Possibly that is why she is in the water. Corn snakes should be kept around 75 to 85 Fahrenheit.
You said she has pooped, which means she was eating well before you got her.
A new snake may take several weeks to adjust to a new home and may not eat during this time.
Also
Find out what the corn snake was eating before. Generally corn snakes are not picky eaters once they develop an eating pattern. But try to offer what she was eating.
 
Theres not much I can do about the heat, we have an air conditioner but it's still hot. The pet store sold me the mice when I bought her and said thats what she was eating.
 
If she refuses a meal, wait about 4 or 5 days before trying to offer food again. Do this until she starts to eat. She is probabaly still adjusting.
 
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She may be shedding, if her eyes are looking glazed over then they usually don't want to eat until after the shed.

A few other tricks.

-Try slitting the head of the frozen pinkie before thawing it out using warm water. This sometimes allows them to smell the spinal fluid of mouse which says "this is the head, start swallowing here!"

- Try placing the snake in a small critter keeper in a quiet room and covering it with a towel to make it dark. This sometimes gets a shy eater going, and the smaller enclosure forces them to be closer to their food.

- Hold the pinky (tongs work if you are squemish of getting bit) and gently shake it in front of the snake, even bumping it on the nose a little. This can take a little while but usually they'll take it.

Good luck!
 
A good tip I got from the ball python forum is using a hairdryer on the face of the mouse, but that might be a bit much for pinkies. I use fuzzies and once defrosted, I put them under a light for a few minutes to warm up, head-first. Then I use tongs to wiggle it a bit (they called that the zombie dance on the forum) and if she's not struck yet, I make the mouse annoying and climb on her... can take a few minutes of repeating the heat/dance/annoy cycle, but it usually does the trick. However she didn't eat for about 3 weeks before her recent shed, but took a fuzzy that night.
 
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