My 5 year old stimmie came out of brumation September last year. Since that time he has only eaten 1 rat and 2 mice (after him refiusing multiple rats we tried mice) all summer. He has now not eaten for at least 2 months. His enclosures is an old converted TV cabinet with 3 distinct areas. His temperature on his hot rock is 31 (on 24 hours). His temperature under his heat light (on from 9:00 until 3:00) is 33 and the cold area is 24. We had a few really hot days over summer with no ac but I placed wrapped ice bricks in his enclosure on these days. He sits mostly in the cold area during the day (occasionally I’ll see him under his light) and then roams at night. Nothing has changed. No new enclosure. No new housing. He last shed 2 months ago and that was the only time he has shed over summer. With his food he doesn’t strike at it or anything. He just wants to get away from it. Is the normal? He has always eaten every 2-3 weeks in previous years except when he was a hatching to yearling where he would eat weekly.
Stimson's are notorious for going off food for months at a time, so it's probably not something to worry about. In fact I'd say your snake has eaten about as much as it would have done in the wild in that period of time. As far as the setup is concerned, I would definitely get rid of the hot rock and the heat light, and replace them with a low wattage heat cord sandwiched between two tiles, and set at no more that 32C. Stimson's are almost entirely nocturnal, and don't bask in the same way as Carpets do, so having light as well as heat serves no useful purpose. Heat rocks supply heat only in a very localised area, and unless the snake perches on it, which is unlikely, it doesn't supply the kind of heat your animal needs. A warm tile supplying gentle belly heat is perfect for Stimson's, and you can have two or three hides in the enclosure, one of them on the tile (or half-on), and the others variously positioned in the enclosure. These are small, secretive snakes, vulnerable to predation in the wild, so bright light and exposed heat sources are not really suitable for them. Jamie
Sorry when I said a heat rock I meant a tile. I have a heat cord wound under a tile just like you have said. The tile is covered by a log that he could go under if he wanted. I’ll try turning the heat lamp off. Is there a chance he will go into brumation again having only eaten this small amount?
