Adult corn, adult mice

[cornsnake234]

I have a stupid question,
What do you do when adult mice seem to small for an adult corn? can you switch to rats? or is it better to give two adults? or maybe two small adults? or is it just better to stay at one adult mice for his entire life to avoid having a fat snake?

Thanks :rolleyes:

[Kel]

Hi Karine. When you say that the adult mice seem too small, what's giving you that impression? Is it that they no longer leave much of a lump when they've been swallowed? Or is your Corn out looking for food again a couple of days after eating?

[cornsnake234]

Humm... for the moment, adult mice seems to be not enough for my snake since it leaves no lump in his belly, but he don't seem to look for food after a couple of day. So I guess it is ok, but, what should I do when it would be not enough for him? what is the best solution? two mice? or a bigger pray item? or continuing giving one adult mouse every week like i did normally?. He is still growing, so he is not still an adult but almost.

Thanks

[MegF.]

I usually go to 2, and then later to the next size up. My amel was ready to go up in size with small mice, but two small seemed like it would be too much. For a while I fed her a small, and a hopper, then went up in size after about 4 feedings. It seemed to work well that way.

[Kel]

If you're already feeding adult mice, then I'd stay with them. If he's going through hunting behaviour, then he's hungry again - the fact that he isn't, means that you're doing just fine. Adult Corns don't show much of a lump after feeding. I wouldn't feed more than one adult mouse per week. In fact with a non-breeding female or a male, I stick to one adult mouse every ten days at most.

It might be worth just waiting after the next feed and watching to see when he goes into his hunting routine. That will give you an idea about how often HE thinks he needs feeding! Hope that helps.

[moreptiles]

One small adult mouse per week will be more than ample for a juvenile corn snake until it reaches adult size. The problem with going with large mice is that, unless you raise them yourself, the jumbo mice will probably be retired breeders. Retired breeder mice do not have the nutritional value of smaller mice because so much of the weight is in fat.

Rats are a good alternative but I would stick with the smaller ones.

Mark