Is this..Normal?

[TheaN526]

Am I overfeeding my girl? The first day I got her home and settled in she ate a rat pinkie. A day after that she's sneaking around hungrily so I place another rat pinkie in her cage and shut the lights off. In the morning it's gone. Rat pinkie number two gobbled up. hmm.. I think that I'm feeding her too much.. Another day after that around the same time I place a rat pinkie in her feeding tub and she gobbles that up too.

Should my snake be eating this much? I looked up things on the internet and it says that Corn Snake hatchlings/babies eat more.

I don't want to overfeed or underfeed. Help me. I don't want to make feeding mistakes early on.

Tell me if that's normal or not.. or how many pinkies I should be feeding her. I don't know how much she weighs yet but I think she's about 18 inches long.

[Maloof]

Hey there, many new corn owners worry about proper feeding schedules and amounts, so you aren't alone. A great guide is called the Munson Plan, which is a general guideline for what your snake should be eating based on weight. Weight is the best and most appropriate means of measuring proper food size, so investing in a $20 food scale would be great. Another general rule of thumb is that the prey item should be a maximum of 1.5 times the largest part of the snake. This means that the mouse can be as wide as one and a half the fattest part of the snake (around mid-body). Heres a link to the Munson Plan: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50106& Enjoy the new corn!

[Suzy]

Maloof gave you a great link to use. Remember that the Munson Plan is more of a guide than what you absolutely have to do. I loosely followed that with my Corn, and I just let my gut tell me when the right time to switch over was.
I definitely wouldn't feed on a daily basis. At the bare minimum, it should be no less than every 5 days. (That's for a hatchling.) I fed my Corn every 5 days on (mouse) pinkies, every 6 days on fuzzies, and now he's at a 7 day interval on weaned mice.
Another thing to remember is that snakes are opportunistic feeders, and they'll eat as much as possible. In the wild, they don't know when their next meals are, so by nature, they're going to eat eat eat until they can't find any more food. You should probably just let your snake pace itself and feed at a steady interval. :)
And now for a few questions - please don't take these the wrong way. I'm not trying to be harsh or anything, i'm just trying to figure out some information.
How old is your corn? And how much does it weigh? The reason I ask is because most young corns don't eat rats. (In fact, the only time I ever really hear of corns eating rats is when they're large corns. I've always heard that rats were higher in fat than mice, and weren't as good for corns as mice were.) Is there a reason you're feeding your corn rats as opposed to mice, or is it all you have? (Again, not trying to be rude. I'm sincerely curious.)

I apologize for my rambling post. :) I hope you get all the information you need! :)

[TheaN526]

Maloof gave you a great link to use. Remember that the Munson Plan is more of a guide than what you absolutely have to do. I loosely followed that with my Corn, and I just let my gut tell me when the right time to switch over was.
I definitely wouldn't feed on a daily basis. At the bare minimum, it should be no less than every 5 days. (That's for a hatchling.) I fed my Corn every 5 days on (mouse) pinkies, every 6 days on fuzzies, and now he's at a 7 day interval on weaned mice.
Another thing to remember is that snakes are opportunistic feeders, and they'll eat as much as possible. In the wild, they don't know when their next meals are, so by nature, they're going to eat eat eat until they can't find any more food. You should probably just let your snake pace itself and feed at a steady interval. :)
And now for a few questions - please don't take these the wrong way. I'm not trying to be harsh or anything, i'm just trying to figure out some information.
How old is your corn? And how much does it weigh? The reason I ask is because most young corns don't eat rats. (In fact, the only time I ever really hear of corns eating rats is when they're large corns. I've always heard that rats were higher in fat than mice, and weren't as good for corns as mice were.) Is there a reason you're feeding your corn rats as opposed to mice, or is it all you have? (Again, not trying to be rude. I'm sincerely curious.)

I apologize for my rambling post. :) I hope you get all the information you need! :)

At this time I don't remember how old she is. I will e-mail the guy I got her from and ask him. I don't know how much she weighs either as I haven't invested in a scale. I will though. I've been getting more supplies as I didn't realize I was missing quite a few things.

Only reason she's on rat pinkies is because that's what she was feeding on. Can I switch her off these pretty quickly to mice? I wasn't thinking of keeping her on them anyways.

I still have a lot to learn so thanks for the information and no offense taken. I didn't even know that rats were higher in fat than mice. Good to know. I think I'll switch her off these and get her to eat mice. I will also try and get her to feed every 5 days or so.

I'm just afraid of making mistakes and want to correct any before we have any problems. :)

[Suzy]

At this time I don't remember how old she is. I will e-mail the guy I got her from and ask him. I don't know how much she weighs either as I haven't invested in a scale. I will though. I've been getting more supplies as I didn't realize I was missing quite a few things.

Only reason she's on rat pinkies is because that's what she was feeding on. Can I switch her off these pretty quickly to mice? I wasn't thinking of keeping her on them anyways.

I still have a lot to learn so thanks for the information and no offense taken. I didn't even know that rats were higher in fat than mice. Good to know. I think I'll switch her off these and get her to eat mice. I will also try and get her to feed every 5 days or so.

I'm just afraid of making mistakes and want to correct any before we have any problems. :)

Ok - well, if she's still small, then you should be all right at a 5 day interval. :) I definitely recommend getting a scale - it's a lifesaver, and it really helps you keep track of your snakes. :)
You should be able to switch her to mice fairly easily. Corns aren't usually as picky as some other snakes.
I'm just happy that you're coming here to get advice and learn more about your snake. I wish more people would do that. :)

[TheaN526]

Ok - well, if she's still small, then you should be all right at a 5 day interval. :) I definitely recommend getting a scale - it's a lifesaver, and it really helps you keep track of your snakes. :)
You should be able to switch her to mice fairly easily. Corns aren't usually as picky as some other snakes.
I'm just happy that you're coming here to get advice and learn more about your snake. I wish more people would do that. :)

I'll get a scale with the next paycheck. I have to pay the rest of my rent, phone bill and bus pass for next month. LOL. Spent quite a pretty penny for my snake and I still haven't quite gotten everything. I think that I can get a few more things now and have them take it out of my paycheck next month. They're very flexible!

I'll just get some mice pinkies for her and I am sure that will be fine. I'll keep a good record as well. I know that snakes are not like cats and dogs and have their own set of rules. Never owned reptiles before of any kind but I've been reading about the corn for a while. Still don't quite understand everything but I am sure I will. I wasn't going to wait until I got more experience though.

Since I work at a pet store though I can learn a lot through that as well. :)

[bitsy]

The first day I got her home and settled in she ate a rat pinkie. A day after that she's sneaking around hungrily so I place another rat pinkie in her cage and shut the lights off. In the morning it's gone. Rat pinkie number two gobbled up. hmm.. I think that I'm feeding her too much.. Another day after that around the same time I place a rat pinkie in her feeding tub and she gobbles that up too.

This is the natural behaviour of a wild animal. It will eat anything it finds, as it doesn't know when its next meal will come along. Out in the big wide world, it might not have found anything else to eat for weeks, so it's making the most of what you offer. Problem is, you can carry on doing that - it will continue to "act hungry" and if you feed on demand, you'll end up with a bit of a blob!

Great advice above on correct feeding. Remmber that as the food size gradually increases, the intervals between feeding should also increase.

Don't pay any attention to those soulful little eyes, that seem to be begging you for more. I'm afraid you've just taken on a 15 year long job as a Weightwatchers group leader!

[TheaN526]

This is the natural behaviour of a wild animal. It will eat anything it finds, as it doesn't know when its next meal will come along. Out in the big wide world, it might not have found anything else to eat for weeks, so it's making the most of what you offer. Problem is, you can carry on doing that - it will continue to "act hungry" and if you feed on demand, you'll end up with a bit of a blob!

Great advice above on correct feeding. Remmber that as the food size gradually increases, the intervals between feeding should also increase.

Don't pay any attention to those soulful little eyes, that seem to be begging you for more. I'm afraid you've just taken on a 15 year long job as a Weightwatchers group leader!

Don't want her to be a blob. LOL. Thanks for the information. It really helps. She's definitely a good little feeder. I'm trying not to give in to those "I'm Hungry" eyes. She was out of her cage this afternoon giving me that look standing still just like a cobra. LOL. It was really funny.

I put a feeding schedule on my calendar so it should help me stay on track. :)