Norman not eating again

You do bring up a good point. And at that size, it is actually very beneficial for helping with growth without power feeding. I would stick to once a week however until he starts eating again

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I was feeding at twice a week/every 4 days but he started refusing so I switched to one week and that seemed to work for him until about a month later and he started refusing.

I haven’t used the calcium powder since the one time, I just brought it up cause if I try not pinks then I’m wondering if I should use that as well.

Norman spends a lot of time above ground as well and the uvb seems to do him good since he’s really active and likes to be out and about lol

I appreciate y’all’s help!! I will update when we feed him on Saturday/Sunday. I’ve had him for about 5 months now and the learning curve is still so strong! Hopefully he starts eating again!

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Sorry I can’t remember but have you tried toad scenting?

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He has never eaten scented and I don’t want to start now unless I have to if that makes sense

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makes sense lol. If it does come to it though, I have heard really good things about this

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I love reptilinks lol!! When Norman’s older(and more of an eater >:( ) I’m thinking of varying his diet a bit with the links and pinks ! Thank you for the suggestion <3

I’ll update again when he eats/I attempt to feed him

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Update:

I tried again today, it’s been about an hour and a half and he is still disinterested in the mouse. I plan to wait for a few more hours but he’s tongue flicking and has gone directly over the mouse, pushed it around, all over it but still hasn’t eaten

I kinda tried to like wiggle it around and put it near his face to see if that would do anything and he didn’t do anything besides slither away from it

I’m gonna keep waiting for another hour or two and see where we’re at. I’ve kept the room pretty quiet and calm so I’m not sure if he’s just still not hungry or what’s going on. I don’t want to waste any more pinkies if he’s just not going to eat them :frowning:

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Update to my update (from yesterday):

So by like the 4 hour mark of being in the container he still hadn’t eaten the mouse. He’d gone around it, over it, pushed it, had sniffed it all around. I even put it up against his face and he just would not take it at all

He normally would’ve eaten it in the first like 2-3 hours of having it in there so I took it out after it looked like he was for sure not gonna eat it.

He is still active and exploring his tank (I added more foliage to see if maybe it was an issue of not feeling hidden?), I’ve checked his temps and those are where they’ve always been (like 86-88 on the hot side and 73-76 on the cold side). He’s been glass surfing a bit but he’s like always (?) done that even with climbing opportunities and burrowing.

I think I will call my vet and see if they can think of anything to help, but I may try like salmon (human kind) or a boiled egg or something to see if he’d eat that instead next time.

here’s some pictures of the set up and Norman


I would ditch the deli cup and try and find a smaller feeding bin. Cover the bin with a blanket in put him in a warm place around 80 degrees.


Something closer to this size with the mouse in the middle (obviously no moss and no hole in the lid) would cause him to force him to be constantly running into the mouse causing a feeding response
12 inch tongs for reference

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Salmon or egg scent the pinky if you haven’t tried that. I know you said you didn’t want to do scenting since he wasn’t on scented, but if you’re going to straight up switch feeders I’d try that first. Another thing you can try is scrambled egg with pinky parts. Don’t ask me why it works, but I’ve got yearling hoggie from Snake Discovery that was one they got feeding on that.

Edit: looked at the feeding setup, put a small cave or other hide in there, bin is too big/he’s too exposed. He’s just a little guy, taking away his cover makes him feel exposed to predators, especially in a clear-topped container like that.

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Also @ssssarah It looks like you have the pink in a little deli cup inside the bin?

Try putting him in a smaller square plastic Rubbermaid storage container with a colored lid and get rid of the deli cup? I think I see?

Also on Snake Discovery I have seen them recommend chicken hearts. Supposedly hogs love them. The only problem is they are hard to find……

Sometimes putting them in a dark closet to eat helps too. Mr Norman is quite a contrary little boy! :blush:

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Okay, thank you guys. I will try the scrambled egg with pinkie bits and covering the bin more. I use the deli cups when feeding in his enclosure cause I don’t wanna get dirt on the pinkies

I didn’t want to cover the bin in case he just hid and didn’t eat period, and I don’t have anything smaller to put him in, so next time I’ll try some toilet paper rolls and maybe put some paper towel over it so it’s dark.

Thank you again! Hopefully he’ll eat one of these times and it’s just him being silly.

Do you think I could try maybe chopping the pinkie up to see if that would help? Like maybe he thinks it’s too big??

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You could try that but I really would get rid of the deli cup. I don’t know where the dirt would come from but I don’t think it would hurt him……

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You can always just stick a t-shirt or somrthing over the bin to give him some solid darkness and block the view through the lid. You can definitely chop up a pinky, too! Heck, you could even mix chopped pinky with bits of salmon to give a different option as well.

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When I normally fed him, it was just in his tank. I ran into an issue with wood mites as I used a rock to put the pinkie on. I, now, just put the deli cup for the pinkie so it doesn’t get substrate on it, since people told me that it could cause like impaction or smth.
My vet made similar remarks so I went to using deli cups/those gecko food dishes

I may try the pinkie/salmon mix just to see if it’s something with it being too big, I don’t know why it would be but maybe it just seems that way??

I appreciate the help again and I’ll update in a few days when we try again

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Ok @ssssarah! Maybe the smaller pieces will do the trick for Norman. And yes please do keep us updated. I know it’s frustrating for you but you may just have a hit or miss hoggie. Only time will tell! :blush:

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If you are worried about impaction then I would use a flat lid to a container as it does the same job but allows for easier access

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Update again:

So I managed to get him in the bin with ease, he’s a super chill guy and it was fine at first. We heated up the pinkie (and cut it in half to see if that was the issue) and when we tried to put it in the bin with him, somehow I scared him and he started hissing and got out of the bin.

So we just let it be and put the pinkie in his regular enclosure, we know he smelled it and that it was up to temp so he could sense it was there but he still hasn’t eaten.

Me and my mom called the vet earlier this week and they answered us back yesterday and said he could be going into brumation but I didn’t think like a year old snake would be doing that?? Since I thought brumation was a thing they do when they’re of breeding age.

I think at this point I might just try feeding him some eggs in a few days just to see if it’s the pinkies because I got a pack of 10 pinkies and have used at least 4 and don’t want to waste any more and only have fuzzies left.

I’m also worried he’s just small… like I don’t think he’s lost more weight but for a year old snake he just seems so small. Especially if the average adult weight is like 250g or so. But he is long (at least 10 inches or so) so maybe he’s just bigger than I think and not wide.

I appreciate y’all’s help and support! If you have any other ideas im happy to take them but I may just go to my vet and see if they can help or see if he’s got a health problem that we just aren’t aware of

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Brrumation is when in the wild this time of year, it becomes colder so they find a warmer place, usually a whole, and do pretty much nothing besides taking a drink every once and a while so it could happen to a 6 month old or a 20 year old snake even if they don’t breed. Breeders cool them to simulate it which helps trigger breeding. Sometimes they go into a brumation state without a cooling. I would start weighing him every couple of weeks and keep track of it to see if assist feeding or a vet visit is needed

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I’m already weighing him about every 2 weeks ish, so I’ve been trying to make sure he’s not looking like he’s losing weight and making sure he hasn’t lost any more. The last weigh in was at 18g which went down from 20g. I’m thinking of maybe weighing him every week just to be safe but idk if that’s tooo much or not you know?

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