Clarification on Feeding

I went searching through all the forum posts under multiple searches to find a good feeding range by length chart, or post. I didn't find anything that answered my questions, as in all the posts I found the snakes were either measured in grams or much smaller than mine.

I just picked up a corn snake that's been chilling in the pet store for over a year. There's a reptile store across the main way that people go to instead if they're into snakes, so I'm not surprised that this guy and the 3-4 year old milksnake I got were left all alone. Once they started getting bigger, nobody really wanted them. Everyone just wants the babies that come in cheap! Anyway, I picked them both up for about 30 each, as the milk snake has been in the store for a whopping 3 years. Poor dude, all cramped up in a cage meant for babies.

I've got them all set up, but I have some questions. I've been going over their feeding charts and the corn snake is 28 inches long with a diameter of 1 1/2 inches at the thickest part of her belly. She has healthy defecation, as she shat all over me today while I was moving her. The milk snake is about 24 inches at best, with about the same thickness body. Both healthy and active.

The pet store has apparently been feeding them both 5-6 fuzzies a week. That to me sounds like weird feeding. So I decided to ask for other opinions. It seems to me that they shouldn't be fed that much that often, as I have read that snakes their ages should eat every 10-14 days. Correct me if I'm wrong, I only have experience with baby corns so far. Also, if they're feeding that many fuzzies, should the size be upgraded, or should fewer be fed? I am fully prepared with 20 fuzzies in the freezer for these guys, and I don't intend to feed them until next Friday to give them settling in time and such.

So can someone let me know how many of what I should really be feeding them? I want to get more knowledgeable opinions on this before I go about assuming whatever I read is right, or that I'm even understanding it correctly. I just want my snakes to be healthy and happy.

Milks I can't help you with. However...

I feed most of my adult Corns one large mouse every 2-3 weeks - I have a couple of very inactive males who get flabby if regularly fed once a fortnight.

Your Corn sounds sub-adult if the length is anything to go by, but it could just have been kept small by that slightly odd feeding regime. As a rule of thumb, whlst growing (up to around the age of three years, although it varies between individuals), they should be fed one food item which is not more than 1.5 times the width of their body (not the head or the neck). Once the food no longer leaves a bump in the belly 24-48 hours after feeding, it's time to try the next food size up. Once they reach adult size, they rarely need anything bigger than an adult mouse in order to maintain good muscle tone and condition.

If you prefer something more precise and can bear to weigh both snakes and mice, there's a great set of guidelines called "The Munson Plan". The original post was deleted a while ago when the personal forum was cleared, but there's a summary of it here:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118271&highlight=Munson+Plan

However, bear in mind that these are just guidelines. Corns Snakes grow at very individual rates which can be influenced by things like genetics, husbandry and the condition of the food. What constitutes a maintenance diet for one, will make another lose weight and another pile on the flab.

It's a matter of starting off with what you judge to be an acceptable routine, then watching the snake and tweaking it if you feel that it needs to be altered. Nothing's set in stone.

As your Corn is used to digesting multiple fuzzies, it's worth being very cautious and conservative about increasing food size. Whilst he's settling in, I'd stick to the diet he's familiar with for a few feeds. New arrivals can link feeding to stress, so the last thing you need is to make him wary of bigger mice. Once you're happy that he's eating reliably, you could leave him a fortnight (to make sure he's good an hungry) and offer a small mouse. You should hopefully have no trouble getting him accept something larger, as long as it's not too large.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like my friends and I need to invest in a kitchen scale to really know what we're supposed to be feeding. I think I'm going to cut down their feeding from their store schedule and see how that works. It seems to me that she's eating a bit much.