Recently it has become apparent that my eldest/longest owned snake (a 14+ year old Corn snake...and the first serpent i ever had many years ago) is perhaps succumbing to old age itself.
She no longer has the colour she once had and certainly not the appetite (and when she does eat it sometimes comes back up a day or so later...very small meals only!).
Now my (admittedly vague) point/question is this...what are your experiances of geriatric snake care?
All the books and care sheets in world talk at great length about incubating eggs, raising hatchlings and the like...but as far as i know none really say what is best to do with an old and generally frail OAP snake.
I'm not really talking talking about euthanising a very sick creature..what i am talking is what do we know about the "signs and symptoms" of advanced age in snakes (and i suppose in reptiles in general).
Additionally, while i know that the stated longevity for most colubrids seems to be 12+ years...is this what people have experienced?. I suppose on this point what i am asking is although i "know" from a text-book point of view that my animal is old, would those that have kept Corn Snakes for many years agree with the books?
Sorry about the longish post, but before my startling realisation that the reason that she was looking and seeming a bit sub par might due to the years creeping on, i had never really considered what this might actually mean.
Any thoughts would be appreciated...and i hope this post made sense.
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