Ready for Fuzzies?

[Leandrae]

I'm guessing that my little cornsnake is ready to move up to fuzzies, but I wanted your opinions =)

No idea how old she is, but she's been digesting pinkies pretty quickly it seems. I fed her one pinky yesterday afternoon and tonight the lump is gone and she was cruising her cage as she seems to do when she's hungry.

A few weeks ago, I did feed her a fuzzy, but it seemed huge and it took her awhile to get it down. It took about 15 minutes to get it down and she did keep it down, but it seemed too big, so I went back to pinkies about every 4 days. Her body is maybe pinky finger size, but her head and neck are tiny.

Should I do 2 pinkies at a time for a few feedings to prep her for fuzzies maybe?

-Janel

[Shade]

If she can eat a fuzzy and keep it down, I don't see the problem with moving up a size. Alternatively, you can feed her two pinkies at once for a few feedings, before moving up to fuzzies.

[BeckyG]

If she kept the fuzzy down, I'd go ahead and switch her. Just pick out the smallest fuzzies you can find for a while.

Fuzzies have more nutrition than pinkies, and every snake I've ever had has gone through a massive growth spurt when I switched them. I even had one grow 5 inches in 3 months. Yours may seem to have problems at first, but she'll grow in to them before you know it.

[RedRaydin]

Yea, I had fed my corn Raydin (bought as hatchling 09/18) one pinkie per feeding first month. Then it started digesting those too easily, lumps in stomach were small, so the next month I moved up to two pinkies per feeding. Early November I switched to fuzzies because it was getting the pinkies down way too fast and hunting around the cage looking for more. I am probably going to move up to hoppers by the end of December cause these fuzzies are starting to go down the same and the lump isn't too big any more but we will see. But yea if you have not had any regurges, I agree move up. Just be sure not to hold the snake until you see that it has fully digested these meals because it may take another day for it all to get out of the snakes system (lot more to digest). If you aren't looking for massive growth then you could stick to pinkies and do two every feeding like you said you may. That's the path I took. Just you will probably notice before long using that method you will bump up quickly to fuzzies. Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[Leandrae]

Thanks for the advice! I'll check my local reptile shop and see if they have some smallish frozen fuzzies.

I got her the last week of September, so it sounds like she should be ready for em. They just seem so huge!

We only handle her minimally...feedings mostly. We take her out and hold her/exercise her for a little bit before feeding. We do throw in occassional holding just so she doesn't think she'll get fed everytime we hold her. She's been great so far, no aggression at all. Feedings have gone perfecty so far as well...never refuses to eat, no regurges. She recently shed for the fist time for us, and despite the fact my hydrometer shows no humidity most of the time, it was a perfect shed. (I'm guessing that the hydrometer only goes as low as 25%...it always either shows -- or 25%) She soaked in her water dish a lot in the 2 weeks prior to shedding.

I did have some problems getting her temps right, but after fiddling around with the rheostat some, the warm side fluxuates between 85 and 81 between day and night. I should move the thermometer to the cool side today to check that side.

I'll see if I can get some decent pictures of her later today. We were told she's a creamsicle because of her color. Since I have no idea of her parentage, my guess is she's just a different colored cornsnake.

So, when switching to fuzzies, in general how often do we feed? Once a week?

-Janel

[Paradox]

Erm...I think your main concern should be humidity not food size. Humidity should be between 40 and 50 percent, not at 25 or below... :eek1:

[RedRaydin]

Yea I feed once a week, every seven days exactly. But if your looking for substantial growth then try every 5, typically hatchlings and babies need to be fed more often so they get the proper nutrition they need. While most people would say to go against live feeding I prefer it and my snake has done fine with no regurges eating live 11 straight feedings now. But, it is true and most would say thawed and frozen pinkies have more nutritional value and to go about it that way. Just what I've read around the forum here. But yea every 5 or every 7 days. Up to you. Keep in mind if you are like me and like handling your snake a few times a week, the more often you feed it the less handle time you get because they can be stressed when held while still digesting. But thats your last concern, put the snake before what you need.
Good Luck!

[Leandrae]

Erm...I think your main concern should be humidity not food size. Humidity should be between 40 and 50 percent, not at 25 or below... :eek1:

Humidity is my toughest problem without a doubt and one which I hae yet to find a good solution to.

During the shed, I took out her piece of climbing wood and soaked it in water, which did bring up her humidity, but within an hour or so, it was dry again. I thought about misting, but figured that would make things too soggy unless I did a single spray every hour which is not feasible, so I didn't do that. She has a large water bowl that she drinks from (I see her drink) and soaks in, which she did a lot prior to the shed. Since her shed was complete, I haven't stressed out over the humidity since then.

Humidity is a problem here in Colorado, especially in the winter. Any suggestions regarding that?

-Janel

[Paradox]

Is the water bowl on the warm side of the tank? If it is, seeing what you've already tried, I don't think there IS anything else I can suggest...I suppose you could buy one of the electric humidifiers that mist the tank whenever it gets below a certain level...but they're probably not cheap.

[Leandrae]

While most people would say to go against live feeding I prefer it and my snake has done fine with no regurges eating live 11 straight feedings now.

I'm really glad she eats f/t as I don't think I could feed live...I'm the type of person that doesn't even like to kill bugs. I don't begrudge people that feed live at all, I just couldn't do it myself. I'm not a vegetarian at all, but if I had to go out and kill my own food, I would probably become one, lol. Praise to the grocery store and it's faceless food!

If Cherry ever goes off her feed and I have to try live to get her to eat, I'll do it, but only as a last resort.

-Janel

[RedRaydin]

I agree w/ paradox, a mister might be your best bet. I just use a common one I bought from the dollar store. Keeping the water bowl on the warm side is definately a good idea like paradox said. As a matter of fact it's worthy of rep points! I added both of you by the way. Take care.

[Leandrae]

Is the water bowl on the warm side of the tank? If it is, seeing what you've already tried, I don't think there IS anything else I can suggest...I suppose you could buy one of the electric humidifiers that mist the tank whenever it gets below a certain level...but they're probably not cheap.

It's on the cool side, so I'll try moving it over to the warm side today. I've also heard that covering half of the top of the screen lid with plastic will help as well. I haven't tried that yet either, but will give it a shot now since I'm no longer using a heat lamp.

Thanks again!
-Janel

[Weebonilass]

Janel,

You aren't the only one. I gave a big thank you after I sat through a 15 min. lecture by a herp vet about the disadvantages of feeding live. I felt so guilty when Lady G treated a new pinkie as a speed bump and the guy died there in the cage.

If I ended up with one that required live, I'd be doing whatever I could to transfer them over. I can only hope I would have the stomach to do all that Diamondlil did for her little girl :)

[BeckyG]

If humidity is a concern, try keeping a humid hide in there all the time. Just put some dampened sphagnum moss inside a plastic container and cut a hole in the side so the snake can get in and out. You'll need to check the moss every day or two to make sure a) it hasn't dried out, and b) it hasn't grown little white hairs. When the snake needs humidity, she can go in there.

[Leandrae]

Well, I offered a small-ish f/t fuzzy tonight...Cherry was interested in it and obviously hungry, but after nosing it around for a while, she apparently decided it was not edible. I'm guessing it might have be 'stinky', so I tried rinsing it off (I don't have the dish soap recommended for washing it) but no dice.

So I thawed out the last pinky I had and she struck at it the moment it was in front of her face and less than a minute later, only the feet were visible in her mouth.

Now, I'm no expert, but the fuzzies I got from the reptile store looked pretty nasty...the stomachs were squashed in looking and the fur was not clean. The one I offered tonight even had poo stuck in/on it butt. These were not prepackaged frozen mice, my guess is they were extras from the live ones they carry so they froze em.

This was the first time feeding her something other than 'Gourmet Rodent' which she has never rejected. The fuzzy I gave her a couple weeks ago was the same brand and she ate it. That brand of mice has always looked plump, clean, and healthy (well, healty prior to death, lol). I'll hit Petco before the next feeding...if she eats the prepackaged fuzzy, I may toss the nasty things I got from the reptile shop. I only bought a couple of them anyway.

-Janel

[RedRaydin]

That's nasty dude. But what do you expect from little hole in the wall reptile shops. The one I go to typically has pretty decent pinkies and fuzzies, guess I'm lucky though. Well at least your guy looks like he's all about the thawed now and eating so that's all that matters. Good deal.

[Weebonilass]

Or.... It may have been that it was simply too big for her and she realized it, which is why she went for the pinky that was offered to her. Just another thought :)


Also, on your humidity problem... Just a couple of thoughts...

When we lived in Arizona, we had a lot of problems with my daughter's snake. What we did was use the substrate that require pre-soaking (Bed-a-beast or something like that). I would also take a garden watering can and used it instead of a mister (the mister just didn't cut it). We also just covered one end of the cage with cardboard. It really helped, but it did require a lot of attention.

Interestingly enough, we still had problems with her cage when we moved to Illinois, but didn't have any problem with my guy and their cages were identical... same water dishes, same hides, same decornations... couldn't play favorites, you know ;)

[patm1313]

You should just buy fuzzies in bulk. If they are too large you can cut them up so that you can still buy in bulk.

[patm1313]

If humidity is a concern, try keeping a humid hide in there all the time. Just put some dampened sphagnum moss inside a plastic container and cut a hole in the side so the snake can get in and out. You'll need to check the moss every day or two to make sure a) it hasn't dried out, and b) it hasn't grown little white hairs. When the snake needs humidity, she can go in there.

Actually, that's a no-no. Snakes can develope sores from crawling over overly moist substrate. Using this method for shedding is amazingly successful, but using it all the time can harm your corns.

[Susielea]

This thread is nearly TWO years old!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure by now the original poster has found an answer to the question!

[patm1313]

This thread is nearly TWO years old!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure by now the original poster has found an answer to the question!

You have a knack at complaining about old threads. Let me explain something to you: It does not matter. As long as people read after you post, they learn things.