Just a Few Questions...

[EasternBlackNeckedGarter]

Hey, everyone. Recently I moved my WC Eastern black-neck, Mort, into a 15 gallon long terrarium. She had previously been in an enormous 55-75 gallon tank, and I decided that it would be best to downsize. At the moment she has an undertank heater for warmth, a warm hide, two large fake ferns draped across the enclosure, and a large plastic water dish doubling as a cool hide. (She burrows underneath) As substrate I have about four inches of aspen bedding. Mort normally eats small thawed mice once a week, but shortly after I moved her, she stopped eating. She's had eating issues before, and I've had to start feeding minnows (Extremely bad for her, I know.) twice now. Both times I converted her back to mice eventually. The last time she ate was September 18th, so it's been nearly a month. She's been somewhat active, but just hasn't fed. I'd just like to know if I need to give her a slightly larger enclosure (I'm thinking a 20 gallon Critter Cage), if I need to feed minnows for the time being, or what. She's an extremely shy snake and won't eat when I'm in the room, so when she doesn't eat it's hard to say why.

EDIT: Also, she stays in burrows almost 24/7. Should I have less aspen in there, or switch to a different substrate? Just wondering.

Thanks for reading,
Daniel

[guidofatherof5]

I think you're fighting 3 things here. 1- a species that seems to have some captive feeding issues 2- a snake that has had feeding issues in the past 3- a change in habitat(reduction in size) Rather then feed the minnows try crushing one and use it to scent the pinkies.
Keep us posted.

[EasternBlackNeckedGarter]

Question: Would it be better to use one pinkie, two pinkies, or a small? Also, could placing a pinkie in a dish with minnows work?

[guidofatherof5]

It still gives them the opportunity to eat the minnows. My suggestion was to reduce the chance of introducing parasites.
I'd go with a couple smalls to try it out. Crushing the minnow and coating the pinkies should do the trick.

[d_virginiana]

I've had pretty good luck with getting my blacknecks to eat regularly (including one that was almost a ftt baby). I think they're very sensitive to changes in temp and light, so yours may be picking up on the seasonal change. I've got a room set up for tropical species, so my ambient temps stay pretty regular year round... In addition to what Steve suggested, you might want to consider getting a small space heater. Even though she's got a heat pad, keeping the ambient temp up might help her eat more regularly. (Suggested the same for my parents' blacknecks and I don't think they've had any major fasts since they started using it?)

[EasternBlackNeckedGarter]

Alright, I'll try the pinkies and let you know. Thanks for the heating suggestions - would an overhead heat lamp work?

[d_virginiana]

It mainly depends on how constant you keep the temp IMO. You'd want a thermostat to keep it constant if you went that route. The heat thing is mainly speculation based on my experience.

[EasternBlackNeckedGarter]

Well, I turned off the heat pad and mounted a 100W Exo Terra daytime heat lamp over the tank. Warm side temps read 86 and cool side temps read 78. Also, here's a couple pictures of the setup, just because.

[d_virginiana]

Nice looking setup! How do the temps look at night once the heat's off? Mine stay at ambient 80-82 during the day with ambient 76-78 at night. Again, this species tends to just be notoriously bad eaters, so I may be attributing their good eating habits to the wrong thing. They just seem to do well with really constant temps. So far mine haven't gone off food with the season change, so I've got my fingers crossed on that.

[EasternBlackNeckedGarter]

I haven't measured the temps at night, but I would assume they go down to room tempurature, which is 75-77 in my house.