young gopher snake

about a month ago a person from an auto shop next to where i work came over with a bucket and asked if i knew what kind of snake was in it i looked in and said its a gopher snake he told me he was going to kill it so i told i would take it home as i have a 17 year olgd gopher snake i got from my brother in law, well i brought it home and purchased a frozen pinky mouse thawed it in warm water and the snake ate it instantly its been about a month now and the snake wont eat the snake is only about a foot long, concerned as my older snake will eat once a week, i have never had such a young snake before and not sure of there eating habits the snake is otherwise active it does drink water and has not problem being in same tank with older snake. any help would be appreciated, thanks Russ

 

This may be an unpopular suggestion but I would try one of two things. Cut open a pinkies head so it is bleeding and see if he will eat that, if not I would try a live pinkie. A month is a long time but not catastrophic so you have time to experiment.

 

i may try that bleedind head however i can not find live pinkies in my area i live in tracy,ca

 

How big is the young Gopher and how big is the older one? How big is the tank you have them in? I would not house the two together. Even if you feed in separate containers you might be setting the smaller snake up for disaster. I have 4 Gophers (2 San Diegos & 2 Great Basins). Put the smaller one in a separate tank by himself, give him 3 days to a week to get used to it, offer food, and maybe throw a T-shirt over the tank to give him some "privacy". Good luck.

reako45

 

my young gopher snake eats once or twice a week. Your snake shouls be eating a lot more. how big is it?? and definitly don't house them together, the larger may get hungry and eat the little one, I have had this happen to a friend. also try live pinkies, if you can. you also should wiggle them around in front of it a lot.

one last thing- as this is a wild snake and it is almost winter, it could be getting ready to hibernate, when they do not eat for weeks and then sleep. look into the behavior of the snake and get it to a vet or try some other stuff. good luck!!