Corn snake ate rat to hips then spit it out!

[jreiakvam]

I'm new to the forum so i hope i am doing this right...
Thoughts are appreciated! :)

I have two corn snake, the one i am worried about (Pitaya) is 2 1/2 years old and i got her about two months ago. I was told she grew up eating live prey, at this point in time live small rats. I went along with it the first feeding and everything was fine. I decided to try to switch her to frozen rats and everything went smoothly, she ate with no problem.

This was her fourth feeding..

She usually take about 30 min to eat, 30 min passed and i went in to check on her and she was at the head. More time passed and i was thinking this was taking forever! At about an hour in she was down to the hips so i gave her another 15 min to finish. I came in and the rat was "spit out" and left in the middle of the shower.

Some information:
I threw the rat away and ill try again in 5-7 days
Her viv has a cool side (68-70 F) and a warm side (~80 deg F)
I have seen her eat bigger rats before so i'm not sure it could be a size issue
When i put her back in her viv she did drink some water, i'm assuming because spitting it out made her dehydrated
Now when i check on her she is basking under the heat lamp (not something she normally does)

My main questions are..
Why could this have happened?!
Will she be okay??

[ghosthousecorns]

Could have happened for a lot of reasons, maybe she was startled in mid-meal, maybe she just decided it felt too big, maybe she wasn't hungry or will shed soon. Try again in a few days and see what happens.

[HerpsOfNM]

Her viv has a cool side (68-70 F) and a warm side (~80 deg F)

Now when i check on her she is basking under the heat lamp (not something she normally does)

My main questions are..
Why could this have happened?!
Will she be okay??

She should be ok. The basking is most likely due to possibly not being warm enough. But before we get down that road:

how are you measuring her cage temps?
where are you measuring her cage temps?

[Chip]

If she'll take them, I would switch to mice.

[jreiakvam]

Could have happened for a lot of reasons, maybe she was startled in mid-meal, maybe she just decided it felt too big, maybe she wasn't hungry or will shed soon. Try again in a few days and see what happens.
Thanks I'll try again!

[jreiakvam]

She should be ok. The basking is most likely due to possibly not being warm enough. But before we get down that road:

how are you measuring her cage temps?
where are you measuring her cage temps?


I have two thermometers, one on the far end on the cool side and the other on the far side of the warm side

[jreiakvam]

If she'll take them, I would switch to mice.

She has had mice before, they are usually too small! And she would need more than one.

[Nanci]

Wait, what? My largest cornsnakes are fed one mouse, every two to three weeks. There's no way an adult mouse is too small for an adult corn.

[jreiakvam]

Wait, what? My largest cornsnakes are fed one mouse, every two to three weeks. There's no way an adult mouse is too small for an adult corn.

Well the vet/snake-place told me to give food that is about the size of their largest part of their body.
The previous owner fed her small rats so i do too!
In the summer they eat every week and a half and in the winter every two weeks

[smigon]

Rats are more fattening that mice, and Nanci is right, one large mouse every 2-3 weeks is plenty even if it doesn't seem like enough.

What does she weigh?

[Phruit Dish]

I have two thermometers, one on the far end on the cool side and the other on the far side of the warm side
Are they digital thermometers with probes or dial thermometers? Where on each side are they placed? (on the substrate? on the sides of the viv?)

[smigon]

After reading your post again, you may want to bump up your temps. I set my thermostats on the UTHs to 86°, it keeps the top of the substrate at about 85° and the cool end at about 75° which are more ideal for corns.

Also, corns don't need heat lamps, they dry out the viv and are dangerous in starting fires or burning the snake. Corns are a breed that prefer the belly heat of your UTH to digest, they are not basking snakes.

[Chip]

No corn snake needs rats, the previous owner needed educating on proper care for the species. Frankly, I'm not sure the vet doesn't as well. Could you post a photo of your snake? If it's as big around as a small rat, I'm worried it may be fat.

[jreiakvam]

After reading your post again, you may want to bump up your temps. I set my thermostats on the UTHs to 86°, it keeps the top of the substrate at about 85° and the cool end at about 75° which are more ideal for corns.

Also, corns don't need heat lamps, they dry out the viv and are dangerous in starting fires or burning the snake. Corns are a breed that prefer the belly heat of your UTH to digest, they are not basking snakes.

It's hard to know what do to because everything i research says something different!

[Chip]

It's hard to know what do to because everything i research says something different!

You have people with decades of experience keeping hundreds of corn snakes here. I will take the consensus advice you get on this message board over any care sheet on the web. If your temperatures are warm enough for digestion, that is not the issue at hand, though you might benefit from getting them dialed in. The foremost issue that I see is that you are feeding a corn snake small rats. I currenlty have 54 non-breeding adult corn snakes that are fed a small mouse weekly, some alternate a hopper. A small mouse weighs 13 to 18 grams. This is plenty of food for maintenance. A small rat weighs between 45 and 85 grams. Fed weekly, that is guaranteed to make your snake fat.

[jreiakvam]

Rats are more fattening that mice, and Nanci is right, one large mouse every 2-3 weeks is plenty even if it doesn't seem like enough.

What does she weigh?

Well thats good to know! I don't want her to get obese.
I don't really have a way to weight her so I'm not sure.

[Chip]

Post a photo, please. If it's really bad, we can tell.

[jreiakvam]

Post a photo, please. If it's really bad, we can tell.

I can't seem to figure out to get a picture on, it wont accept any saying they are too big. I'll work on it

[jreiakvam]

Post a photo, please. If it's really bad, we can tell.

I created a photo album hopefully you can access!

[Chip]

If it's this album consisting of one photo of the anterior portion of the snake (http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/album.php?albumid=2182&pictureid=15551), then I found it. However, it is the other end of the snake that fat tends to build up on, not the the front half.

[jreiakvam]

If it's this album consisting of one photo of the anterior portion of the snake (http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/album.php?albumid=2182&pictureid=15551), then I found it. However, it is the other end of the snake that fat tends to build up on, not the the front half.

Still haven't figured out the pictures but i added another one of her whole body to the same album!
I appreciate all your help!

[demonss]

Maybe i read this wrong but you're feeding in the shower? Maybe there was a trace of soap that the snake tasted and didn't like?

[Chip]

I think the best route is to weigh your snake. From there, you can easily find the suitable size prey items. Like I and others have said, no corn needs a regular diet of small rats. My largest are fed small mice for maintenance.

[ghosthousecorns]

Having looked at the photo, as far as I can tell from that particular picture it's a big snake but not obese...yet. It doesn't have the "hips" a grossly overweight corn does but it probably would be a good idea to either switch to mice if the snake will take them, or if it prefers rats increase the time between feeding and handle the snake a lot so it exercises. Once they get those hips it doesn't go away. You want to avoid that. I would definitely not be worried that snake didn't eat last time you tried feeding!
I've a few snakes that won't take f/t mice, but WILL take f/t baby chicks. Like rats, these are way bigger than mice. It's better than not getting to eat or having to feed live mice. So since they are getting bigger items they only get fed every 2 weeks.

[smigon]

You need a digital scale that measures in grams for your snakes. Here is one I like scale (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FJFJDGS/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and you just set a container on the scale, zero it out (tare) and put the snake in.

I weigh my snakes before every feeding so I know if I need to move up a size, here is a good site for feeder sizes although you seem to have a full grown kid on your hands! Munson Plan (http://www.medusa-corns.webs.com/feedingchart.htm)