8-year old gopher snake refusing mice

Question
I have had this girl (vet sexed her) since about 8 mos old. She is about 6 ft long but fairly narrow, and eats defrosted adult mice (2 mice every 10 days to 2 wks). She always eats them, except once 3 yrs ago when the vet had to tube her to get her to eat again, and had me change her lighting and heat. The aquarium is at 75 degrees pretty consistently, with a heating pad and light over the tank. Can I wait before taking her to the vet, or should I do so ASAP since this is aberrant behavior for her? I just moved to Brighton, MA - do you know any good snake vets in this area?

Answer
The one thing that you didn't mention is how long it's been since she last ate. If it's only been 3-4 weeks, I wouldn't worry too much about it yet. If it's been longer, then yes, a vet check would be a good idea. You might also see if you can get her to try a different food item, such as a fuzzy rat, or perhaps a freshly killed mouse. You also mentioned moving. It's possible that the snake is slightly stressed from the move. If it's in an aquarium it may notice that it's surrounding have changes, and it's taking it a while to adapt to the change.

I'm not really familiar with the MA area. What I would suggest is looking either in the yellow pages, or googling on the web for a reptile vet. Or you can also just call a local vet and see if they have any recommendations for a reptile vet.

Good Luck.