New Gopher Snake!

[ReptheBest]

Hello Ssnakess! This is my first post and I am happy to be here.

Just yesterday I bought my first snake, a hatchling San Diego gopher snake.

She has only hissed at me twice, but I think this is because she was shipped. She was probably very stressed. Anyhow, I promptly put her in a terrarium (4' x 1.5' x 1.5') which has lots of soil, a tunnel I made out of toilet paper rolls, a water dish, sticks, pile of leaves, and several rocks. One end of the terrarium has a heat lamp which will heat the bottom to 75-80 degrees. She spent all night inside a tunnel she dug into a dirt mound. And she is literally digging another one as I talk, haha! She is friendly when handled. I couldn't be happier!

I bought some small lizards as well for food. 12 of them. They are in her terrarium and I don't believe she has eaten one yet. I also have tried to feed her frozen mice (I let them thaw) but she hasn't eaten one yet. I found a poop today which I cleaned out, so I believe she was fed at some time before she was shipped. How long should I wait until I should be concerned about her eating habits? And what are your recommendations regarding frozen mice? I simply do not want to leave them in there for too long, you know? I am considering buying live mice instead of frozen pinkies.

Any advice, comments, or concerns you have are appreciated. I want be sure I am doing a good job for her!

Regards,

[Roman]

Hi and welcome

First of all, congratulations to your new snake.

Since she is new (and a hatchling) just don’t disturb her for the next several days. Don’t handle her, don’t look every 5 minutes where she is now (I know, that’s hard especially with your first snake). It is absolutely normal for a snake to be active if she gets into a new enclosure and then going into hiding to figure out what’s going on. If you don’t disturb her for some days she will settle in much faster.

Wait with the next mouse for at least two or three days, right now the mouse is just another disturbance. If the snake settles down and you might see it going around in her terrarium put another mouse in it. Leave it over night, if she doesn’t eat it try again a week later. Sometimes it is easier to get a young snake to eat by offering smaller food, so probably try a smaller mouse next time.

Your snake will not starve, they don’t need as much food as we might. So you don’t have to worry if it doesn’t eat. If it doesn’t eat in a month or so you might have to check the environment, temperature humidity etc. but right now just wait a bit.

What lizards did you put into your enclosure? Get them out as soon as possible. Because of their movements they might stress your snake right now. Since lizards and snakes are more or less alike (I know that’s a simplification but anyway…) they share a lot of parasites and can spread diseases to each other. So if you don’t have to feed a snake lizards, don’t do it. Your gopher snake is perfectly all right with eating mice, so get rid of the lizards.

Last not least – stay with frozen food, only when anything else fails you might try a living mouse as food – but you are a long way from there.

So just have a little patience and it will most probably turn out OK.

Roman

[EL Ziggy]

Welcome and best wishes Rep. I agree with Roman on several fronts. Please ditch the lizards right away. They could carry parasites harmful to your snake. It sounds like you've thrown a lot at the little fella in a very short time. At this point I also think it's best to let your snake acclimate for a good week before attemting to feed him again. If you thaw and offer f/t prey correctly and consistently your pit should take them. I know it's tough but try to let him eat 2-3 times before handling him. Once he knows you're not going to eat him, and that you are in fact the bringer of food, he should calm down quickly. Let's start with making sure your husbandry is dialed in. That will go a long way towards keeping your snake healthy and happy. The first question is what are you using for a heat source and is it regulated by a thermostat? For your gopher snake you'll want a hot spot of about 84 and a cool side of about 75. Ambient humidity should be fine. Please post pictures of your setup when you can.

[ReptheBest]

Hello Roman & El Ziggy

I am at work right now, but will remove the lizards right away once I get home. They are anoles, specifically feeder anoles (brown).

I will get you fellows the other information as quickly as I can as well.

[reptocarl]

Hi, congratulations on your gopher. I love the pituophis clan they're my favorite. My views are my opinion only and yes I do own a pit. I never feed mine live because a mouse or rat knows what a snake is and sometimes will defend themselves. I feed frozen/thawed exclusively so there's no chance of being bitten. These snakes have one weird quirk to them and that is they're Notorious for stopping eating for no reason at all sometimes for months. It's really hard to starve a snake so don't worry she will eat when she's ready. I'd be leary feeding lizards especially if wild caught because of parasites that could be passed on to the snake. I use a radiant heat panel controlled by a pulse proportional thermostat that's set at 85°F during the day and drops to 75°F at night. Hope this helps

[EL Ziggy]

@ Carl- You've had pits that took long food breaks? My female will be 3 y/o in Sep. and my male will be 2 in July and they almost never miss a meal. They may have missed 5 meals total between them and that was when I switched them from mice to rats and once when I increased prey size. Other than that both of mine are monsters at feeding time.

[Andy_G]

@ Carl- You've had pits that took long food breaks? My female will be 3 y/o in Sep. and my male will be 2 in July and they almost never miss a meal. They may have missed 5 meals total between them and that was when I switched them from mice to rats and once when I increased prey size. Other than that both of mine are monsters at feeding time.

Yeah...some will have a winter fast if not brumated but other than that they are voracious feeders...I am with you here Ziggy.