Saturday, May 22, 2010

How long can a snake go without food?

My snake Charlie, a 2yr old childrens python escaped from his cage 2 weeks ago. I have torn my house apart(looks like a tornado went through here!) looking for him. for 3 weeks in a row perior to his escape he refused to eat. I usually breed his mice, but ran out and bought the frozen ones from the petstore and I don't think he likes them? He eats pre-killed food(I guess fresh pre-killed taste better???). Now that it has been 5 weeks since he last ate and my house is a disaster is it time to give up on him?
Answers:
Im not really good with snakes. No experience, but I dont think he will still be around unless he found food elsewhere and he probably left. Goodbye charlie! If you dont want to give up yet then I would suggest some bait. a little mouse in a little screen cage or something to get him to come looking for food. Sorry for your loss or whatever. Hope you find him and he is ok.
I agree with yexaleen try a trap if he has been out that long. he should be hungry. COME HOME CHARLIE!! but DONT use glue EVER!
snakes can go for a long time with out food.I think he will be fine with out food for that long.check in small dark places like a draw,vcr or eny other small place.
our ball python went about 1 month and 2 weeks without eating this winter because he thought it was time to hibernate...
but they can usually go months w/o eating...
we have other people loose 5 of our snakes in our house and out of those 5 we have only retrieved 1... so slim pickings upon if you will find it...
snakes can survive up to 6 months w/o food and a little water. i have worked w/ a reptile rescue group for 4 years and last week we rescued a ball python that had been in a dryer for 6 months and is making great recovery. you might want to look around your dryer, water heater, and fire places before you give up. also ask your neighbors if they've seen him (you never know who has seen it around).

if you do find him give him LIVE food (he'll eat that better) and make sure to keep him nice and warm.

best of luck!!
Depends. do you have mice or rats ? if so, he probally caught some of them and ate those. but snakes can go for up to a year without food. sometimes longer if they are older and in the wild. captivity snakes are different for watever reason.
Hello..many snakes can go 6 months..some even a year..lets see where o where can charlie be, they like along walls %26 dark places, like attics especially %26 wherever there might be a food source..barns, out houses ( not the neccessarily the potty kind more like sheds, garages, etc ) old cars is another favorite spot, cuz they like %26 need warmth.. you might be surprised as to what cracks or holes they can fit into...depending on his size %26 age so check for any cracks or holes in walls or ceilings, etc as well..nother thing can't hurt to try is leave his vivarium open with heat on or even a plugged in heating pad with some ( dead ) food in a box ..he might just seek it out, most snakes like eating evenings %26 mornings too or like to bask in the sun...sure hope you find him..they'll crawl into furniture, some prefer to climb high up as well ..also if you have a dog or cat, they often scent them out, if they don't become his kill first - Yikes, hope not so if you've other pets he might find tempting watch out for them too !!Take Care %26 would love to know if you find him :)PS, if you do happen to have them glue traps out many use for rats %26 mice, he might just be stuck on one !!
Depending on the size and health of the snake, they can go a year without eating.

I wouldn't worry about him going hungry, but I'd be worried about him not coming back. Just keep your eyes open for him. They can get into some pretty tight spots. You could have easily missed him. There is a chance he got out of the house somehow.

I sure hope you find him. Good Luck!!
About 5 to 6 months with out food
When our Mexican king snake baby got out he was gone for 3 weeks I tore the place apart and I found him at 5:30 in the morning in the kitchen.
What we do when ours do get out is once the kids go to bed and the whole place is dark and quite get up around 2:00 or 3:00 AM with a flash light and go through the place as quite as you can you will soon find it. What you can do now is look under the fridge or stove or the dishwasher if you have one they like warm places. Also in the bathrooms or any room where there is tile not carpet on your floors put down a very damp towel they can smell the water and will come to it we have found 2 of our snakes this way and a few tarantulas that got out a few years ago. Good luck.
look under your stove and refrigerator. it will try to find a warm spot in your house and it shouldn't venture too far away from a secluded warm area. The hot water tank and furnace would be other good places to look. if you have holes in the underside of any furniture that too can be a place to look. if you can get it as hot as you can in your house so it will be more inclined to roam. it will also speed up its metabolism making it want to eat. you may find it slithering out from somewhere you thought you checked already. some pythons can go 3 to 6 months without eating depending on how much fat they have stored up.

No comments:

Post a Comment