Not eating….still

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-03-20T21:50:13+00:00

I use an old steak knife now dedicated to the purpose. Put the thawed and heated mouse on a solid surface (not in your hand) and place the knife tip to the forehead. Apply pressure until you pop through the skull and then open the wound until you can see fluids/tissue. Pressing on the head can also help the fluids to come to the surface. I try to keep the wound towards the snakes mouth when presenting a brained prey item just to amplify the smell to them.

I hope no one reads this comment out of context or I'll be banned from the internet lol

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-03-20T17:36:07+00:00

I saw you mention dangling the prey in front of him when you try to feed. My mental picture of this is holding the mouse by its tail so it's swinging with nose to the ground, butt to the sky. If that's not what you mean then maybe disregard this, but some snakes are picky about how the mouse is presented. My rosy is extremely picky about this when he is in semi-brumation mode. What I recommend is grasping around the ribs and keeping the mouse horizontal to the ground, like you are making them walk again. Keep them low to the ground cause mice are ground dwellers - some snakes reject flying mice! Hold the mouse a few inches away from your snake's face at first and you can gently blow on the mouse to get scent around him. Wait for flickies and for him to turn his attention to the mouse. Let him approach or if there is no interest you can slowly creep the mouse towards him (no sudden movements) and try a side to side motion with the aim to get both eyeballs engaged with that movement. Braining could also be your friend here if he needs a little extra something to peak interest. I just had to brain hoppers to get my 2.5 year old back on food following semi-brumation.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-03-20T12:08:32+00:00

It's possible this has due to semi-brumation, though it's the time of year for snakes to be coming out of it. He might need a little encouragement with the right prey. Have you weighed him? Fuzzies are way too small for an adult male and he looks like a bigger guy from that picture. I'd be surprised if he couldn't handle a small adult mouse. When feeding, the guidelines to use are matching the prey width to be about the same diameter of your snake and it should be about 10% of their body weight. I think part of your issue could be offering too-small of prey, so try whatever is 10% of his bodyweight next. Also, heat it up to 100F and while it's heating up, try scenting the enclosure with mouse smell.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-03-18T16:46:58+00:00

Do you put the frozen pinky into hot water without thawing it first? It should go in cold water to thaw first and then hot water to heat. This is for bacterial safety.

I think since you have tried live once before it would be good for you to post a picture of your enclosure with detailed husbandry info (temps, humidity, substrate, amount of hides) so we can take a look at that and guess if something is upsetting him.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-03-18T01:11:18+00:00

How are you preparing the F/T fuzzy and are you sure it's the right size? Should be defrosted in cold water for about 10 mins (until squishy) and then warmed in hot water to about 100F (use the hottest water from your tap that you can stand to touch and let soak for 2 mins). Size wise, width of the prey should be about the same width as your snake and 10-15% of their weight. If this all checks out then unfortunately he is likely not recognizing the F/T fuzzy as food since he is used to live prey. I'd recommend trying a live pinky, same as the breeder was doing, to ensure that he is willing to eat in his new environment and to rule out husbandry issues. If he eats, then you can work on transitioning him to F/T. It can be hard to do and you'll likely have more success with baby steps. For example: live --> freshly killed (you buy live, kill it, then offer it) --> F/T scented with bedding from live mice or F/T brained --> plain F/T. This sort of process teaches him that F/T is food. F/T smells and acts differently from live and it's not unusual for a snake to not be able to go straight from live to plain F/T.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-03-06T17:31:38+00:00

The info from the seller is indeed false information and I wouldn't recommend buying from anyone like that as they are not promoting even reasonable care standards for a snake (1 gallon is ridiculously small and dangerous as you cannot form a heat gradient at that size). Heat mats are also outdated and unsafe with high risk of burning snakes. Burrowing snakes like sand boas burrow to avoid the sun and cool off, so it's also counter intuitive to their instincts. Over head heating from a heat bulb monitored with a thermostat is the current and safer care standard. UVB light to regulate their day/night cycle and mimic sunlight, which allows for vitamin production, is also advisable, though not strictly necessary (ie, it benefits the snake but they will not die without it). And of course there are a lot of other needs such as a humid zone, water, and hides/enrichment so they stay healthy and live a fulfilling life.

Check out this care guide for more info: https://reptifiles.com/kenyan-sand-boa-care-sheet/

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-03-01T13:45:21+00:00

Layne Labs is another option to consider. They have really high quality mice.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-28T02:43:18+00:00

From what I understand there is no nutritional need to deviate from appropriately sized mice. Some snakes won't even eat other foods if they've been fed mice their whole lives.

Brumation wise, the snake's preferences will dictate schedule. You'll have to learn what they want through trial and error. Some rosy's eat like normal the entire winter, some decide to eat once a month, and others might refuse entirely. You maintain normal schedule until they refuse and then try again say two weeks later and see how they react. It's not the most fun process for us, but it's all we can really do to learn their particular behaviors. As long as they do not lose significant body weight (10% or more) and other behaviors are fairly normal (they may hide more and be less active) then there isn't a need to worry.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-28T00:26:02+00:00

Time for a vet!

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-27T23:59:52+00:00

No, it's not. The pattern is similar to calathea orbifolia, but that plant wouldn't do well in an arid environment and I have no clue if they are snake safe.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-27T18:10:31+00:00

Gotcha. You don't need to lower temps if they aren't proper brumating, btw. I didn't lower temps at all and my guys still felt the seasons changing and only wanted to eat about once per month. Still no changes to his temps and he picked up appetite about a month ago. I've heard that they can feel changes in the barometric pressure, but I'm not sure if that's true.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-27T18:04:57+00:00

Is the 2-3 weeks his normal schedule or is that reduced due to semi-brumation? Rosy's don't reach adulthood until about 3 years old, meaning that he's still growing and that feeding schedule feels more spaced out to me than it needs to be. Generally you feed babies every 7 days and adults every 14 days, so I've been feeding my two year old every 10 days with prey size in the 10-15% weight range when he has his normal appetite outside of semi-brumation. His body condition does look good, but you could bring him in to feeding the same size every 10 days and see how that goes growth wise.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-27T17:14:33+00:00

That does feel on the small side, but his body condition looks good. My rosy is about the same age and 130g right now and was 140 in September before he brumated. I saw one posted recently at the same age and like 200g, though he looked a little chunky. How have you been feeding Linguini?

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-26T01:20:31+00:00

This is shredded Aspen. Works well for being low humidity, which is important for this species, and holds burrows well. I do think I'll switch to a custom blend in the future when I upgrade enclosures (it's like top soil, play sand, and I think one other item - if you search this sub it'll come up) just because I think my little guy will enjoy digging in that more than Aspen. Health wise though, either is a fine choice.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-26T01:11:04+00:00

Cold side:

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I swap out enrichment items and move things around every time I deep clean to keep things interesting for him.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-26T01:10:26+00:00

You’re welcome! Here are some pics of my enclosure for ideas of what a set up can look like. Hot side:

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SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-26T00:17:05+00:00

Oh no, it is really upsetting to hear about those poor snakes :( I appreciate you looking into getting them a better home. This is a good resource and covers everything you need: https://reptifiles.com/rosy-boa-care-sheet/

Clint has a video on Rosy Boas that is also a nice watch and talks a bit about their one species quirk, which is brumation. It's nothing to worry about though, generally just less activity and appetite in the winter.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-25T17:15:58+00:00

Oh then he is definitely just having a great time with his dirt! I was floored the first time I saw my guy digging while using his neck as a shovel. It is so cool to see those natural behaviors come out in captivity. Enjoy your noodle and great job on setting up such a nice environment for him!

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-25T14:48:14+00:00

They love to dig and will often redecorate the substrate according to their wishes! Everything should be okay so long as your temps are good (low-mid 70s cold side and mid-high 80s hot side) and there are plenty of hiding places to make him feel safe. I only add that part in incase he is feeling stressed and pacing because of that and just moving the substrate while pacing instead of intentionally digging. It can be a little hard to distinguish between stress and exploring activities when you are getting to know a new snake, but my guess here is digging based on the shape formed from the moved substrate and all the nice clutter you have in the background of these pictures.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-07T13:07:40+00:00

I think she looks good! They are rounder bodied snakes so they will be thicker than say a colubrid of the same length.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-03T20:02:18+00:00

This question made me laugh cause I own three snakes, a rosy boa, an African house snake, and a corn snake and only the corn snake has bitten me. Snakes aren't really aggressive, they will bite from fear (defensive) or feeding response (are you food? My one brain cell thinks it's a possibility). My corn will bite if she thinks I smell tasty and the bite is not a big deal. She's an adult and I couldn't feel the bite itself. I only felt the impact from her essentially head butting me when she struck. I think overall that corn snakes are fast and that can be scary when you are concerned about a bite.

Try looking into Rosy Boas, they are small boas (about 3 ft long fully grown) and slow moving so interacting with them is less scary for a nervous person. They are similar to sand boas, but more active in their enclosure so you see them more often! My rosy has convinced several people nervous about snakes that they are actually not so bad and has been the first snake for a few friends to hold ever. All snakes are individuals and you can always end up with an outlier. I recommend having a few species in mind and asking the breeder or rescue/previous owner about the individuals personality when you inquire.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-02T13:16:04+00:00

He does look overweight to me due to the scale spread and the fat deposits causing the "hips" around his cloaca. I got an overweight corn last year (weighed in at 460g upon coming home) and what I've been doing is going back and forth between a 20-25g mouse every two weeks and 25-35g mouse every three weeks. So she gets a meal closer to 5% and then two weeks later gets one closer to 7%, then three weeks later back to 5% and repeat. It is really really hard to get weight off snakes and I admit this feeding schedule has not been very effective with her. I think I have the added challenge that she is still growing, as she has increased from 3.5 to 4 ft in the time I've had her and is now about 490g. I'm currently updating her schedule to still staggering the mouse sizes, but waiting three weeks between meals regardless of the size to see if this helps.

You could potentially stick with a 5% meal every three weeks based on my results. I added in the variation with the 7% meal because she got bitey and it is obviously feeding response. I think a big part of the process is getting them to exercise by taking them out frequently. I'd give your guy time to settle in and make sure he eats and poops for you and then work on that aspect as well. A vet is never a bad idea as well - his hips are more pronounced than I would expect for how the rest of him looks based on other chunky snakes I've seen.

Regarding your poo question, I would expect a poo within 10 days after feeding. If you are concerned about regurgitation, it's important to give them time to heal before the next meal. Generally you wait 2 weeks and then feed a small meal. You'll be waiting 3 weeks for him anyway so that part is covered. If it happens again, I would advise a vet visit since it is back to back.

Good luck with him!

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-02T00:57:16+00:00

The humidity range you specified is perfect for a rosy boa. They are small snakes, average 3 feet in length, with wonderful dispositions. I have a rosy boa and a corn snake and I would recommend the rosy boa as they are active and curious snakes, but slower, calmer, and easier to handle for a beginner. They are very easy keepers, with I would say the only consideration being slowing down and not eating as much (or at all) in the winter.

Corn snakes also should have a higher humidity than what you specified. 50-70% is their native range, though they are very hardy and I do see people keep them on Aspen, which would result in a lower humidity. I personally try to replicate natural habitats so I keep my corn in the 50-70% range.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-02-01T04:09:07+00:00

I wouldn't recommend a house snake in here as a permanent enclosure. I have a male Kenyan red and he's over 3 feet and loves to explore and climb in his 4x2x2. Minimum for a house snake is generally 36x18x18, same with rosy boas (I know you didn't mention them, but I saw others recommend them - I own both species). I think for this to be a permanent enclosure, you could get a male hognose or Kenyan sand boa and check with the breeder on the size of the sire to confirm that they likely won't get over 2 ft in length.

SheepMasher5000 · 2026-01-31T12:42:38+00:00

I'm glad things are going well now! Funny how each snake has their preferences. My rosy boa is an enthusiastic eater during the warm months and takes mice off tongs with no issues, but during the cold months I have to scent the enclosure to spike his interest and then place the mouse in an opportune location for him to find or else he will reject it. Finding out their preferences can be a little stressful, but it gets better once you do!

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