Hi, I am new to the site, and i have a question

Hello. I have a Creamsicle Corn Snake. His name is Rocky, we love him to death he is about 2 years old.

He has been showing startling growth as of late, after two years of letting our snake eat frozen mice, we decided to feed him a live one. We fed him Thursday, and he killed it with no problem. It was also one of the coolest things in the world. He got past the head, and ears of the mouse, and then he could not finish it.

I am wondering how old a corn must be before he can eat live mice? We have a ten gallon cage, and he is about 3 inches longer than the cage. He his also getting pretty thick. I am planning to buy another with a new Viv and everything in June.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Here's a thought... if it ain't broke, don't fix it. In other words, if your snake eats f/t rodents without problems, why gamble its safety?

Everytime our snake ate, his appearence would not really change. So we asked the pet store owner if there was a bigger frozen one, they said no. So they asked us how big he was, and we told him how big. He gave us a mouse and said 'enjoy.'

the size/age has no bearing on whether you should offer live or frozen mice. What is important is the size of the mouse you offer.

You should aim to give a food item that is one to one and a half times the girth of your snake in his thickest part. If your local store does not offer frozen mice of the correct size, they are very easy to buy in bulk over the internet, and also much cheaper too.

Skye

If mice are too small you could move up to rats.
A 2 year old corn, should be eating small to medium rats by now.

I am such an idiot. If it makes any difference, the mouse we fed it had a long tail. It was all white with red eyes.

mykal - the mouse was too big, not too small which is why the snake was unable to finish eating it. As to whether a two year old corn should be eating rats - that is a very general statement, and actually it should only apply to very specific cases. I don't think I have ever had a two year old that was big enough to eat rats. It will completely depend on how big the two year old snake is. Once again, I say that you judge the size of food your snake requires by the girth of your snake at the snakes thickest part.

Jesse - I have found that corns will tend to eat all types of mice (of a suitable size), so it doesn't really matter that it was a white mouse. Some other species of snakes are more particular though, and will only eat mice of a certain colouration.

Skye

Skye...I actually have some picky corns who will ONLY eat white mice. I've tried other colors with them, and they flat out refuse to eat them.

ok, thanks Terri - its nice to know I don't have any fussy ones!

Skye

Lucky you...

I agree with those that are saying the mouse was too big for your snake. Try to find one that is comparable in size to the frozen mice you have been feeding and try that. If that doesnt work you may have him hooked on the tv dinners.