How long does it take for a [4 month old] corn snake hatchling to adapt to a new home?

I bought a new snake from Petco. Her previous tank was a small square tank [about 10 inch cube] with at least 5 other young corn snakes. It only had a water bowl and a plastic plant suction cupped to the side of the tank. My tank [her new home] is 20 inches wide and 2 times bigger than her previous one. She also has a lot more objects in there [2 hiding spots, water bowl and tree branches].



I've had her for about 5 days and I heard she hasnt eaten since 10 days ago and I tried to feed her only with pinkie mice [I think the food could be a factor but she doesn't seem interested in food lately]. All she is doing is nose rubbing against the tank everynight since she came home...



Is this normal? [Sorry the long details but I don't know if the environments she lived in matter]

How long does it take for a [4 month old] corn snake hatchling to adapt to a new home?
Snakes aren't usually emotional about a new environment (as long as it isn't moving from the wild to captivity). And, yours should be happier in its bigger tank with more hiding places. They are not social animals and will not miss the other snakes. 3 possibilities:

1. You got a sick snake. This happens a lot from pet stores. If she is kind of limp when you handle her this is the most likely explanation. If her mouth has a white, cottony look to it and/ or red splotches, she could be sick with mouth rot. This can be treated by painting the mouth (via q-tip) 3 times a day with betadine solution and cepacol antibacterial mouthwash, or with a commercial anti-mouthrot solution. She could also have a systemic infection such as a respiratory infection, which a vet would have to treat with antibiotics. Petco should have a guaruntee and should either trade her in (grim for the poor snake!) or get her a vet exam.

2. She could be shedding. A shedding snake will not eat, and will also rub her nose as you described to begin to take off the old skin. She will be active and will not feel limp or scrawny when handled. In the shedding cycle, the snake will first get a milky appearance with cloudy eyes, as the new skin forms under the old one. She wiill then have a duller look than your average corn snake but no more milkiness, and will begin to rub her nose until the skin comes off. The whole process can take a couple of weeks during which she will not eat, but at this point in your story there would only be another day or 2 at most until the skin comes off. Then she should eat right away.

3. She never was interested in pinkies, or will only eat live food but you have been offering dead, or is a wild-caught snake who has been on a hunger strike since she was put into a cage. Checking her history with Petco and varying her diet, especially tempting her with live, active food, should help this.

Bottom line is, Petco should have warrantied the snake and should be willing to help you with these issues. But hopefully, she is just shedding.
Reply:i own a corn snake and 7 other snakes besides her and what we do to get them to eat is we put our corn snake into a smaller container out of her cage(like a tupperware conatiner) so then they have less room to wander and just put a lid over the top of the container then they usually eat their food unless they are shedding.
Reply:5 days would normally be enough time, but maybe you just have a shy snake.



Since she's rubbing her nose against the tank, I would say she's about to shed. Some snakes go off feeding when they're about to shed.



Only try to feed her maybe twice every week. If you try to feed them too much, they will get stressed out and refuse to feed at all. If you have more problems, try different types of methods, such as using live pinkies, cutting the pinkie so that blood scents it, or scenting the pinkie with an anole. Just find someone with a pet anole, and rub it all over the pinkie. Anoles are more natural food, and corn snakes tend to like those better. Eventually, you're going to have to try to get them to unscented pinkies, but that can wait until you've got a better feeder.



You should go to CornSnakes.com Forums. They've got loooads of helpful people there who are experts on corn snakes. This includes Kathy Love, who is THE expert on corn snakes. I suggest you buy her book, The Corn Snake Manual. It's got a section on stubborn feeders.



If you use the forum, don't ask a question on the feeder, okay? You should use the search function; plenty of people have posted about non-feeders. There are loads of threads started by noobs who didn't use the search. You don't need to add to them. Actually, I think they're making a FAQ section on subborn feeders, but I'm not sure. You should go look. ^^



Hope your snakie eats!