More?

[Saucey]

Well, I fed my first corn today, and he ate like a champ (and shed directly afterwards, it was his first time with me, and all in one piece too!). My question is thus:

At about 3 feet long, he's not super thick or anything, but after eating the hopper sized mouse (it's the size the previous owner had fed him every other week) I notice no visible lump and he appeared to be looking for more afterwards. Should I feed him another hopper or wait?

I'm leaving for a week the 1st of July and wanted to feed him before I left. If I was to feed him another one today, then feed him the next size bigger on the 1st before I left, can anyone forsee any problems with that?

[bitsy]

The meal should be about one and a half times the width of the snake's body (not the head or neck). Sounds like he's ready to go up to the next size mouse.

At three feet long I don't anticipate any problems, but if I were you I'd wait until you came back to try increasing the food size, just in case.

One hopper every other week is quite a "slimming" diet. Most of mine go to fortnightly feeds once they're taking large adult mice. You might consider increasing the feeding frequency slightly while he's still on smaller food - maybe to every 7 or 10 days.

Beware of them "looking like they want more" and resist the urge to increase feeding based on that assumption. In the wild, they're opportunistic feeders and would eat anything they could find, as fast as they could. Hunting behaviour immediately after a meal is a normal instinct and not an indicator that a Corn actually needs any more. However, in this case, I think food size and feeding frequency could bear an increase.

[Saucey]

Thank you for the quick response. I felt like feeding every other week and of that size was a little off. I guess the "looking for more" just concerned me because of the lack of a distinct bulge. (Which I've read should be visible 24-48 hours after eating?)

I wasn't sure if I should feed him another similar sized mouse today, or wait until this time next week. Any recomendations?

Also, my girlfriend will be looking after them (avoiding touching them at all costs I'm sure, mainly changing water if needed.

[wade]

I wouldn't feed more right now but as bitsy said, increase size for the next feeding

[Saucey]

Ok, thank you again for the replies, maybe I'll try giving him a slightly larger mouse next week and see how he does.

[giraffe77aft]

You might want to take a look at the Munson Feeding plan. I cut and pasted it below. A lot of people on here use it. If you don't have a scale to weigh your snake I picked up a digital one for less than twenty dollars in the kitchen section at Wal Mart.

-When they're on single pinks (2-3g), I feed every 5-6 days. (Snake = 4-15g)
-Double pinks (3g x 2) every 5-6 days. (Snake = 16-23g)
-Small fuzzies (5-7g) every 6-7 days. (Snake = 24-30g)
-Regular fuzzies (7-9g) every 6-7 days (Snake = 30-50g)
-Hoppers (9-12g) every 6-7 days (Snake = 51-90g)
-Weaned (14-20g) every 7 days (Snake = 91-170g)
-Adult (20-30g) every 7-x days (Snake = 170+) See below.

Note: Adult females are fed more frequently than adult males (especially following brumation). Adult females are fed every 7-12 days; adult males are fed every 11-14 days.

This is by no means scientific, and not all corns will cooperate 100% with the schedule. The weight ranges I gave for the prey and snakes are approximate.