Feeding multiple pinks

[Anel & Dirk]

What is better: Feeding every 3/4 days or Feeding double once a week?

I want my baby to grow quickly and want to get him on fuzzies as soon a spossible. So now I want to get his growth up a bit.

If I feed him 2/3 pinks in one session, how do I go about doing that?

PS. He eats live pinks.

[CornCrazy]

My hatchlings are already up to feeding 2 pinks at a meal. I still feed them every 4-5 days, however. I only go to once a week feedings after the babies are eating fuzzies.

As to how to feed him 2 (I wouldn't try 3 if it is a young hatchling) pinkies per feeding, simply put 2 in with him. If he wants them, then he will eat them.

[EtherRex]

Well my snake eats 2-3 pinks at each sitting depending on the number of days from her last feed. She is five months and 50cmsand i feed her every 4-5 days. I just defrost them and place them all on a plate in her cage unless I have some time and want to play tug-o-war with her ;) I will be moving her up to fuzzies next week though as she reminds me of an elephant eating cherries :)

I have read that multiple squirming pinkies can confuse / intimidate hatchlings but if she is feeding strongly already I cant see this being a problem. Maybe of the more experienced peeps can advise on that? Or maybe you should switch to defrosted?

[CornCrazy]

Or you can just put one pinky in at a time. I forgot you said you were feeding live pinks.

[Scorpionking]

I feed 2 peach fuzzies every 7 days, mine is 9 months old. 23 inchs long.

[Anel & Dirk]

My baby is 3/4 months old and 32cm (you can bathe me if I know the inches). I heard that fuzzies have a lot for healthy stuff in that pinkis and that is why I want to change him so quickly.

Thanx for all the replies, I will try them all starting wednesday!

Thanx again!

[EtherRex]

Im going to be trying my corn on her first fuzzy tonight. Man, do they look big compared to the pinkies! When compared to her body they are around 1 1/2 times the size though so should be ok. Wish her luck please :)

[Anel & Dirk]

Good Luck!

[Aradia]

Let us know how it went. Goodluck.

[EtherRex]

Well, that was impressive. Took about eight minutes, lots of thrashing around and even standing the mouse on end, but she did it. She now looks extremely portly! Just got to wait and see if she can hold it down now. Im pretty confident that she will. Going to leave her in the feeding box for a little while to get settled before moving her back to her cage.

Cheers

[Anel & Dirk]

Check if your feeding box won't fit in your cage!

I build mine self and did it so that when feeding she is seperate and then I open a latch and put it in the enclosure. He then crawls out when he's ready!

Congrats on the fuzzers! I'm going double pinks wednesday and'll post on here then!

[EtherRex]

Hmm, cant put my feeding box in my cage as its much too tall. My corn is still in a geoflat plastic cage at the moment and will be for a few more months. I intend to get her into a nice wooden viv by the end of september or so. Im sure your snake will be fine with two pinkies. They are greedy little buggers.

Last night when i went to put Toes back into her cage she tried to eat my fingers! Her eyes are much bigger than her belly.

Interestingly, she also shuns high temperatures when digesting her food. She always stays in the hide that sits at 24 c rather than utilise the hotspot. Anyone else seen this?

[CornCrazy]

Do you have a hid on the warm side as well as the cold side? I have seen snakes choose the cold side simply because they didn't have a hide on the warm side. Typically if I put a hide on both ends, they will choose the warm end.

[EtherRex]

Hell yes CornCrazy. I have a hide at each end and one long thin one across the middle of the tank (lengthways) also. Temperature in the cool hide is 24c, hot hide is 31c with the middle hide varying along its length as you would expect. I also have a wide-ish branch that extends nearly the length of the tank about 4 inches above the floor. Both hides are a little too big for her but have a large stone in one end to reduce the space inside so she can fit comfortably but feel snug. They are different shapes and if anything the 'cool' hide is the (slightly) larger one. I may try swapping them over actually to see if it is down to the shape of the hides.

The reason its weird to me is that she uses the hot hide when she has evacuated her bowels and is ready to eat again. This behaviour runs counter to everything I have read! As far as i've read she should seek upper range temperatures when digesting and slightly cooler temps when hunting. She 'aint though!

She has had no problems with regurgitation and her bowel movements start 2 - 3 days after feeding and consistant of one large faeces followed by one smaller one generally.

She seems to be a healthy, active, very confident snake.
Bizzarre eh?

[CornCrazy]

It is bizzare. Oh well, as long as she not having any trouble digesting her food, then I guess it doesn't matter which side she goes to.:confused:

By the way, there was no need to swear at me. I wasn't puttting down your snake husbandry. The hide thing was the only reason I could think of that she might prefer the cold end.

[EtherRex]

CornCrazy.

That was the conclusion I arrived at although I will be keeping an eye on her, rest assured.

My apologies if I offended you. I dont consider the use of the word 'Hell' to be swearing, although I should perhaps remember other people might. Ive also re-read my post and it could be concluded that I was offended by your suggestion. I was not. I was merely emphasising that I have a number of hides in her tank.

I appreciate your input.

Cheers.

[CornCrazy]

Apology accepted. I am glad to know you didn't mean it the way I took it. I tried reading it several times to see if maybe you didn't mean it that way, but I really couldn't tell for sure. I apologize if I was a bit sensitive. I've been under a lot of stress lately!

Good luck with her, and I hope things continue to go well.

[EtherRex]

Yeah, she's just lazing around, looking fat!

[<<S>>]

So when they are about 30 cm/12" you should feed two pinkies??

Oh well if so I should be doing it also....:eek:

[Anel & Dirk]

Not neccesarily...

It depends, I just (before posting) tried feeding two pinks to no success... He is big enough to handle it but doesn't want.

So now I have a freshly frozen one in the freezer, my moms very thrilled...

I guess I'll just increase pinkie size and then go to Fuzzers!

[CornCrazy]

Where as I have some 1 month old hatchlings already eating 2 pinkies. If you think your snake is big enough to handle (or want) 2 pinkies, then I say go for it!

[<<S>>]

ok..I'll try it and see if he/she wants it or not..after all..in the end it's his/her choice...

[tmountain35]

i would appreciate a "guestimate" as to how many pinkies you think an "average" corn would eat b4 moving up to bigger things. I'm just curious so i don't have to make several trips of buying x amount where i could buy xxx amount (does that make sense?) or possibly even buy in bulk online (although this is only for one snake) I'm not gonna hold any1 to this number, but quite frankly i have no guess to even get in the "ball park":D

[EtherRex]

Cant really comment on the size issue, but I would suggest you dont keep mice in your freezer for more than 2 months before feeding them. Frozen meat does degrade and you do not know how long the mice have been frozen for before you buy them.......

[CAV]

If you buy in bulk, most of the big names use vacuum packaging. This will easily extend the life out to 6-12 month without a problem. I place my order once a quarter and have never experienced a problem with spoilage or the items being refused.

As far as quantity, if you are only ordering for one snake, you are not going to get a good price break after paying shipping costs (~$40). If you ordered 50 pinkies the total cost per item would be close to $1.25 - $1.40. A better option would be to find a nearby breeder or herp society and go in with them on an order as split the shipping costs.

If you need to figure out how long it will take to go through 50 pinkies with one snake, take a "worst case scenario":

3 pinkies X 2 feedings per week = 6 pinkies/week

(50 pinkies/bag) / (6 pinkies/week) = >8 weeks

So..........One bag of 50 would feed one snake for at least 8 weeks

[tmountain35]

thanks 4 the responses.(prob shoulda started a new thread...)

i just didnt want to end up buying a ridiculous amt of pinkies when i could b feeding fuzzies etc. I went to the pet shop the other day to buy pinkies, but once i got there was kinda stumped as to how many i really needed or should get:)

So, would it be safe to say an "average" hatchling goes through atleast 50 pinkies?

[CAV]

There is not a "textbook" answer. I had some that moved up in weeks and other that ate pinkies for months. Each one is different.