should I leave her

Hello All,
I have posted on here a couple of times and you have all been extremely helpful. I have a minor question and a perdicament that needs attending. First off my red albino corn (mitsu) is almost a year and a half old and I think shes really small. shes about as thick as the base of my pinky finger maybe and inch and a half around. But she eats well ( about 2 pinkys per week and a half) and she is active so i think shes great, but was just wonderin about that. But heres my perdicament. I am a student In kelowna B.C. and i have to go home for christmas and dont know if she will be ok without being fed while I am away. I am planning on feeding her right before i go but she will be without food for 19 days. I have a freind here that is going to come over a couple of times to check on her and change her water but he isnt comfortable feeding her. Thanks for your help, and happy holidays


also i got her a UVB light and she seems to enkoy it but does she need it?

Well a couple of things
1) you can feed it a bit more. A year and a half should be able to take down an adult mouse already.
2) Feeding once every week and a half is a bit on the less side..so try feeding every week or even more..every 4-5 days.
3) If you feed it before you go away, it might regurgitate and I would think that your house is going to smell quite a bit...so I wouldn't really feed on the day that you are leaving. Feed around 2 days before you leave so that at least you know that it has kept the prey down.
4) If it has enough fat, 19 days shouldn't be too hard to go without feeding. Just make sure that the snake has water. It is a must.
5) Since you say that your snake is skinny and small and all....you might want to try and convience your friend to help you feed it. There are a lot of herpers in BC. Maybe you can ask someone to do that for you.

Good luck and hope this helped~

Oh right...one more thing about the feeding...

all your friend needs to do is to thaw the pinkies out and the put them into the tank (if possible not on the substrate) and then see if it eats. It usually eats the food like that. Unless you'refeeding it live....hope you're not doing that cause live can cause a lot of problems (not when they're pinkies, but hoppers and up could do a lot of damage...)

Anyway just try to talk your friend into feeding it for you~

hey thanks for the info simon but what about the UVB light does anyone know anything about that. Also here is a picture of her shes super tiny and ive had her for almost a year and a half she seems normal and healthy and I dont mind that shes small but should I just be feeding her more??? can you overfeed a snake?? also whats the best type of substrate is sand better??thanks again
later

I don't know from experience, but I've heard that snakes can become obese. However, I don't think feeding 2 pinkies every week and a half poses a risk. As far as substrate, I've heard/read that newspaper/papertowel is best because it can show you when they've defecated, and it's easier to keep clean. Aspen shavings have also been recommended.
Here's a thread that discusses aesthetic bedding. I don't remember for a fact, but I believe I heard that sand was bad to use as a substrate for corns. You can always do a search for 'bedding' on the forum.

Re:

From the picture, I'd say that your snake is about the same size as most of my snakes that age. Mine also tend to be on the smaller side, but I don't power feed my snakes, as some people tend to do. Mine get fed 1-2 small mice crawlers or hoppers a week and they seem to do good on that. As far as what Simon says (heh), I don't think any of my year and a half old snakes could handle an adult mouse. Some people just feed and beef up their snakes more than I do I'm sure, but I'm not in that big of a hurry to undercut a healthy snake for one that grew up too quickly. To me, your snake looks good. Doesn't look thin or obese in anyway. Snakes are individuals, just like people, and we each have our own metabolisms and growth rates..some more so than others. What may be good and acceptable for one person's snake, may not be acceptable for everyone elses.

As far as substrate, I use shredded aspen. For me, paper towels are expensive, as you have to replace the whole thing each time they go to the bathroom. And I don't get the newspaper, so thats not an option. Aspen for me is better looking asthetically and is convenient for me as I also use it in my rodent enclosures.

You definately want to avoid sand. Not only does it dry the enclosure out and promote bad shedding, but can easily get into the nasal passages and mouth of the snake, also something thats potentially deadly. The substrate you have in the picture looks good to me, as it's large enough to not be ingested. Looks like JungleBedding stuff to me.

For the necessity of a UV lamp, I don't think it's either beneficial or not for a corn snake. They're mostly night creatures and aren't really in dire need of UV absorbtion. Although I would reckon that it doesn't hurt the snake either. So its basically what your personal preference is.

I think that if you fed it a couple days before you left, to make sure that it kept it down alright..and you friend just checks on its water supply, it'll be ok for 19 days. A couple of mine have been on hunger strikes for 40 days now, so I hardly think 19 is anything much to worry about. =)

Hope that helps.

It's hard to judge from that picture, but IMO, the snake looks a little thin. The tail area, especially. My '03 corns have thicker proportions than that.
I'd definitely consider feeding her more. Get her off pinkies and on to something more nutritious, and feed once a week, and you'll probably notice a difference soon.

I too recommend gradually working up to powerfeeding these next few days. For a snake that size if it's still on pinkies (small food for that size snake) I'd do at least 2 pinkies twice a week for the next two weeks (how much time you have before you leave right).

As long as there is fresh water 19 days is nothing. My ball, a few years back went 6.5 months without eating (that little crap) and came out of it just fine. Currently someone scammed me with a motley that was probably born in July and never ate until I forcefed him in october. Snakes can go long long times without food...


One more point I wanted to make. At my undergraduate college they used to turn off all the heat when they sent us all home. Make sure you are in a dorm where they plan on keeping the power and heat on throughout. I always had to bring my ball and my corns home during break for that reason exactly.

I DO powerfeed my snakes and I have an 03 thats bigger than that, I've since backed off due to time and monetary restrictions.

Go to rodentpro.com or one of the biggiest and see if you can order some bigger feed for your little guy. Remember though, more of a little is better than one super ultra big feed.

Boooy....my corn snake must be a BEAST! I feel REALLY GOOD now! He is only 6 months old now...and he looks juust about as big as the one in that photo. Maybe a little bit smaller, but pretty close.
I think it might be the Evian water that he drinks.

posh snake

Show us some pictures of Evian snake

thanks for all the info

i will try and feed her as much as possible and hopefully she will beefen up a bit.
later

I was going to post some pics, except I just haven't gotten around to it yet.