Hi! I have a 5 month old Puget Sound Garter, and as of 4.5 weeks ago, she will not eat. At the time this began, I contacted her breeder and he suggested a short hibernation (3.5 weeks) to see if this would fix things. I did everything he said, and took her out of hibernation on Friday, November 27th. He said to give her a week before I tried to feed her. I tried last night (12/4/09) and she still refuses food.

This is not the only issue. Now, she is also acting very strange. She will not let me handle her, she tries to move throughout the cage upside down on her back, opening her mouth as though maybe she's in pain. I'm not sure of what this could be... my boyfriend typed "strange snake behavior" into Google and the first thing that popped up was this:

Strange Snake Behavior; Reptiles

This girl had the same issues, but no one had actually answered her. I did write a message on there hoping that maybe she would get an email about it and respond.

I made an appointment with a vet for next week, however it seems that no one around here deals with snakes! (New York City/surrounding) I'm worried I'll go to the vet, pay a large fee, and get no real answer because of lack of experience.

I'm worried about her! Has anyone else had the same issue before? I'd really appreciate the help!!