URGENT HELP REGARDING FEEDING

[jadorexalex]

My dad went to buy food for my snake. When he returned with fuzzies instead of pinkies, I was a little concerned. However, he assured me the pet store clerk told him he was more suited to be eating fuzzies. He's a little over a year, and hes a little over, and about two feet long and about an inch at his widest part. He really seems to be struggling to eat it, but he gets aggresive if I try to move him. I am really concerned and I have no idea what to do. It just seems entirley to large for him.

[Cat_Eyed_Lady]

They can eat food that is about the same size around as they are (at their widest point). Hope that helps :)

[jadorexalex]

He finally got it down after about fifteen minutes, but there's a pretty big lump in him. Should I keep feeding him fuzzies, or should I continue feeding him pinkies (i feed him about two, because he seemed to be hungry a few days later if I only fed him one: he would strike at me, even though hes normally a gentle guy)

[Hexadeci]

I would (and will, if all goes well) be probably over paranoid about increasing the prey size for my hatchling as I'm dealing with a regurge and hunger strike and it is a scary thing, even though it wasn't due to prey size. But, that said, snakes in general can handle food surprisingly large. The rule of thumb is no bigger than 1 to 1.5 times the size of their widest point (usually belly area) is ok to eat. There are also recommendations based on weight (search this forum for the Munson plan).

If he doesn't regurgitate the fuzzy and it isn't too much bigger than his widest part, then it should be fine for future feedings. If you are still concerned, you can try slitting the back and sides of the mouse to aid digestion, as well as snipping off the clawed feet and folding the legs back along the mouse to make it easier for the snake to swallow.

As always, be sure to keep the temperatures just right for digestion, keep the water fresh, and let the snake rest without handling or disruption for the next 2 or 3 days. Sniff the tank when you are changing the water to tell if there is a regurge.

[Cat_Eyed_Lady]

if after 2 pinks he is still hungry then he probably does need a bump in size but maybe fuzzies are too big a jump. Might want to try med or large pinks or small fuzzies. You will have to use your best judgement because I cant see him :) If he digests ok, then maybe try abit smaller next time, so his system can adjust to something bigger... try to make it as gradual as possible. (make sense?)

[Fatman608]

I suggest you buy a book

Corn Snakes in Captivity (Professional Breeders Series) by Don Soderberg (Oct 1, 2007)

or

Corn Snakes: The Comprehensive Owner's Guide (Herpetocultural Library, The) by Kathy Love and Bill Love (Sep 1, 2006)

Like Cat_Eyed_Lady said a corn snake can eat a food item 1 to 1 1/2 times the widest part of its body. I can not see your snake or your food item so you have to look at it yourself.

[schnebbles]

He's a year old and still eating pinkies? I got a yearling recently and I'm guessing she is a little over 2' long and about as big around as my thumb and she is eating adult mice. If she is an inch around, she should easily eat much larger than a pinky. I might guess mine is 3/4" or so around.

[jadorexalex]

Thanks everyone! I just ordered the Comprehensive owner's guide, so hopefully that will help me more...

[schnebbles]

If he is as big as you said (can you take some pics with something for size comparison?), I think he should be eating larger than pinkies for sure. Is he about as big around as a quarter? My girl is more like a nickel I'd say.

[jadorexalex]

Umm I could definitely take some pictures, only I have no clue how to upload them? and is there anything you want me to compare him to? I'm not too sure what would give you the best idea of his size...

[schnebbles]

well, would you say he's as big around as a quarter or any coin? Like I said, mine is about as big around as a nickel and she eats adults. I don't want to try and feed her anything too big but I just can't imagine her eating pinkies. Have you had her a long time?

[jadorexalex]

I'd say he's (well I'm actually not sure of the gender...) about the size of a nickel, maybe a bit smaller...I got him on Easter Sunday of 2011, and they said they'd had him in the store since Octoberish

[schnebbles]

Sounds like he is close in size to mine then. So if you have had him for at least 6 months and he's been on pinkys, I'd definitely be giving him the larger prey, if he ate the fuzzy and you don't have problems, I would say keep on them for a while and then increase as needed. I'm thinking he will be healthier with the correct size of mice, b/c the bigger the mouse, the more nutrients, calcium, etc.

I can try and see if I can get a pic of my snake tomorrow compared to something, I'll see what I come up with to take a comparison shot. She is easier to handle b/c she's bigger so I shouldn't have trouble with a pic.

I think to put pics here you have to upload them to photobucket or something like it and then copy the web address to here. Photobucket gives you an option to copy the URL or IMG and you just copy/paste and it's here.

Here is a feeding chart that some people use, some don't. I like it b/c I am new to corns and it gives me something to go by. But as said above they can eat anything 1 to 1-1/2 inches as big around as the snake is. I thought the adult looked quite large for my girl but she did ok with it and has eaten another one since. The breeder told me she was ready for adults, switching over from weanlings. The plan below is called the Munson plan. Just another reference for me at least. My adult is 180-200 gms. So this chart matches exactly what my particular snake can eat. Yours might be smaller since he hasn't been eating as much.


When they're on single pinks (2-3g), I feed every 4-5 days. (Snake = 4-15g)

-Double pinks (3g x 2) every 4-5 days. (Snake = 16-23g)

-Small fuzzies (5-7g) every 5-6 days. (Snake = 24-30g)

-Regular fuzzies (7-9g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 30-50g)

-Hoppers (9-12g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 51-90g)

-Weaned (14-20g) every 7 days (Snake = 91-170g)

-Adult (24-30g) every 7-x days (Snake = 170+)

-Jumbo Adults (40-50g) every 7-x days (Snake = 400g+)

[jadorexalex]

Okay, thanks. I'll have to get a scale sometime soon so I can see how much he weighs...I think there's one at my mom's house somewhere...And thanks for the chart, that should help.

[schnebbles]

Not everyone weighs them, but some do. I might eventually quit once I know all of my snakes better & as they grow.

[AliCat37]

Yeah, I agree with schnebbles. Half of mine are a year old and my boys are eating large hoppers. I don't weigh my snakes very often, as I do not have a digital scale, but I go by their width. I would say mine are the same thickness as a nickel to a quarter. A picture would help a lot, if the fuzzy left a HUGE lump in his belly then he could probably go on those for a while longer. To upload pics just click to "go advanced" button right down in the middle of your reply. You'll get an option to upload pics, a popup will appear and you can select the pics you want to upload. If the pics are too large they won't appear, I just resize my images through the internet. Pics will definitely help us help you :)

[jadorexalex]

I'll definitely upload some picture tomorrow, as long as I

[jadorexalex]

figure out something that would give a good indicator of his size...Sorry this is in two posts....I have no idea how I posetd the unfinished one...And thanks so much for all the help

[AliCat37]

You're welcome :)

[schnebbles]

I didn't realize you could insert pics that way. Thanks!

I'm still going to try and get a pic of Joanna against something so you can see her size.

[schnebbles]

I tried to get some pics of Joanna with a ruler today. I did get her length pretty close, somewhere around 3'.

When I put the ruler over the top of her, it's about 3/4" - when I measure the tallest part it's very close to 1" Here are the pics, it was the best I could do and I'm not sure the measurements came out good on the pics but that's what they were.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v447/schnebbles/photo-31.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v447/schnebbles/photo-29.jpg

This one was just bc it was cute!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v447/schnebbles/photo-30.jpg

I also thought it was neat that she could get clear up the side of my bathtub ad almost into it. If it weren't so slick, she could have.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v447/schnebbles/photo-32.jpg

[jadorexalex]

Okay, I'll try to get a picture of Henry uploaded as well, any ideas as to what i should compare him to?

[jadorexalex]

Wow, Henry seems A LOT smaller than that...

[jadorexalex]

Ge definitely did not enjoy cooperating for the pictures...So i did my best. Unfortunately I apparently don't own a tapeasure, and the ruler failed, I compared him to my thumb. So here he is. The picture quality kind of sucks, so sorry about that. He's just about two feet, a little less.

[AliCat37]

Yeah I would say that he can definitely be eating small hoppers by now. My anery is much skinnier and doing fine on smaller hoppers. If you're worried about them being too big, you can always slit them to make sure all the digestive juicies get in there well.

[jadorexalex]

Would it be a good idea to keep him on the fuzzies for a few weeks though? I just don't want him (and I'm not exactly sure though) to confused if I move him up food sizes too quickly. He's been on pinkies since he's been born, with yesterday being the first time he ate anything bigger. He struggled with that a lot, so maybe I could just feed him a little more often, like maybe every five or six days instead of every seven or ten. (By the way, he was eating two, even three a few days later once or twice...Sorry for this random thought I just didn't want anyone to think I was starving him or anything) Anyways, would that be a good solution while he gets used to the bigger food?

[schnebbles]

Yes, he is probably smaller because he has not been fed quite right. I found it hard to take pics too! I tried getting the pic head on the tape measure but it was hard while trying to take the pic. I was quite surprised when I measured her length b/c I didn't think she was 3' long, but she is!

[jadorexalex]

I'm going to get a scale right now, so hopefully I'll be able to feed him more appropriately from now on. Should I take him to a vet or anything to see if he has any problems because I haven't been feeding him correctly?

[AliCat37]

I wouldn't worry about going to the vet! He is just a little small, but that's not a big deal. He'll catch up in time :)

[schnebbles]

Yup, he will catch up. He does look longer than 24" though to me. I couldn't believe Joanna was 3'! My big girl :)

[jadorexalex]

He might be a little longer then that, but i just have a ton of difficulty measuring him. Is thee any trick to doing it. We don't have a measuring tape, so I tried to use a piece of string and laying it along his body like a friend suggested. It came out like 20 inches...So I'm not too sure

[Davil11]

My Amel is almost the exact same size and she does perfect on large fuzzies every 5-6 days. I wouldn't go back to pinkies, keep the snake on the bigger feed if there is no problem from this feeding.

[jadorexalex]

He seems to be doing pretty well, he;s even moving around a little more and going to different spots in his tank. I'm not sure if this is good, but I'm definitely going to keep a close eye on him in the next few days

[willderphil]

To measure your snake you can use this website. http://www.serpwidgets.com/main/measure
You just take a picture of your snake from a top view next to something you know the length of then tell the program where your snake is and it gives you an answer. Cynder who at about three months was about 17.5 inches long.

[Dracoluna]

If you want a simple way to do it, use a string but start it at the head and then run your hand down the body with the string in there as well. When you get to the end of the tail, mark it. They don't hold still generally to just lay it along their body. As long as you don't pull the string as you go down his body, you'll get an accurate measurement.

[jadorexalex]

I'm really concerned, I think he regurgitated/vomited his food up. I've never seej anything like whatever it is in his cage before. I have no idea what I should do, or if its even that. I'm really scared, any suggestions?

[Hexadeci]

I'm really concerned, I think he regurgitated/vomited his food up. I've never seej anything like whatever it is in his cage before. I have no idea what I should do, or if its even that. I'm really scared, any suggestions?

Can you post a picture of whatever it is? We might be able to help ID it as poop/regurge/whatever.

[WingedSweetheart]

Their poop will be much bigger and look quite different once they are on something bigger than pinkies. But a picture would help to ID it.

[Cat_Eyed_Lady]

You should be able to tell from the smell. Regurge smells bad enough to make You regurge. I hope it isnt that. Not sure I wanna see it either LOL :D But yes, pics probably could/would help :)

[Hexadeci]

It seems everyone here says the regurges stink to high heaven, but I would caution that's not necessarily true. Or maybe I have a higher threshold of tolerance. When my hatchling regurged (definitively, there was no question the barely digested pinky was a regurge), I didn't even find it for a couple of days. It was buried on the warm side (which Sherlock was atypically avoiding) under a hide. I smelled something unpleasant, but figured it was just a poop I couldn't find. I happened upon it completely by accident looking for the snake! By then it had been probably a couple of days, the regurge was dried up and shriveled, but not particularly decayed or smelly even. It seemed atypical of experiences posted in these forums.

[bitsy]

If it's left long enough that it dries up, then the smell will certainly be reduced. Fresh regurges are the worst thing I've ever smelled (and I've worked in a lab filled with rotting rats, slow-cooking cabbage and open dog food!)