Another feeding question

[Muggle]

Hay!

My niece has a corn, A.G., to whom I recently have become the primary caregiver. In the past he was fed two live mice with every feeding but his feedings were far apart. I've switched him over to frozen thawed but my question is are two f/t all right in one week or should I only give him one? The ones I have avalible are a little smaller then his biggest part. He's about six years old and skinny. I can see his backbone. Any help would be great!

Laura

[Lennycorn]

I think that you should feed the snake a f/t that no larger than 1 1/2 of the snake widest girth. I also believe that feeding one larger feeder than two smaller. So it depends on size of the snake. I feed my every seven days but as the get older, two years and up I think you can extend that.

Thanks for helping her out !

Good luck :cheers:

[Muggle]

So is one a bit smaller then his widest spot better then giving two that size? I'll try to find bigger ones.

[Gintha]

I would give 2 smaller ones if I didn't have any larger ones. How often is he being fed?

[Lennycorn]

Feed the snake a f/t that's about 1 1/2 of the the widest point. Use up what you have and try to find that size. Like I said I, I prefer feeding one feeder per feeding, which should be about 1 1/2 size of snake.

Good luck to you

[Muggle]

Thanks, He's being fed once a week.

[vanderkm]

In a corn that is already thin, a couple of smaller than normal feeder mice may actually be easier to digest than one large mouse. Best to offer them both as one meal and feeding once a week is fine.

With adult corns it can be difficult to find mice that are large enough (1.5 X diameter) to make a bulge in their body, and we have had no problems with feeding 2-3 mice per meal to several of our larger cornsnakes when we are out of rats.

Good luck with this guy and congrats on getting him converted from live prey to thawed - much safer for him in the long run, not to mention more convenient

mary v.

[gardenmum]

My suggestions is first to make sure she is not carrying any type of parasites that would cause her to be (and stay) thin. Taking her to a good herp vet for an exam would be beneficial. If you cannot take her or do not have a vet close to you that knows herps, then at least she should be medicated with Flagyl to make sure she is cleared out of internal parasites. There is a good chance that she picked up some parasites from her food or something.

I, myself, administer mine in the mouse. I cut a small slit in the belly and put the dose in with a syringe (one without a needle). Then I feed to the snake. I use preventative measures by dosing my whole crew when they come up from brumation and before they go to brumation.

About the size of the food, I agree that it is better for a thin snake - and actually probably all snakes....shrug) to have two smaller size food items as opposed to one large one for the ease of digestion. Also, more frequent small meals would help put weight on better than one large one once a week. The thing is to gauge how often and what size works best for her. I had a thin snake once and found that two small (small adult size) mice every 5 days worked real well, but you have to see how yours does with closer feedings. Generally, but NOT always, a snake will not want to eat if it is not ready to digest more food yet. So, if you feed two small mice and wait 5 days and offer two more, if she eagerly eats it, then it is a good chance that it will work out fine, again, this is not fail proof. One thing you can use to help gauge the feedings on is if she passes a fecal, normally the snake will be ready to eat after a fecal is passed.

Hope this is of some help. Good luck!! :)