Adult corn size and weight

[dburdick]

I have two females, one is 3'-11" long and weighs 705 grams; the other 3'-8" long weighs 655 grams. Two males, one is 4'-2" long and weighs 862 grams; the other 3'-11" long weighs 667 grams. I feed 2-3 adult mice every two weeks. Sometimes a particular snake won't eat a third mouse. Is this size and weight O.K. for adult corns that are active and in good health. I do not want to get them too fat but want to insure that I'm feeding them properly. Wouldn't it be desirable to have a table showing range of weights for a particular age and size (length) for m/f corn snakes? I know one can power feed but I mean for average growth. Thanks much for your replies. Don

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Aren't corn snakes illegal in GA?

[dburdick]

Yesd, but I'm Licensed by the state and present programs in our State parks on conservation of native snakes.

[Suzy]

To be honest, those snakes do sound big to me. However, they could just be naturally large. It's common to feed adult Corns 1 Adult mouse every 7-14 days. Males usually eat every 10-14, and females 7-10. I would cut back on feeding so much, and only offer 1 mouse per meal. If you notice that they have "hips"* I would cut back to a minimum of 14 days between meals, as well as exercising them. You can find a lot of information by searching for overweight snake or hips. :)

As for the feeding chart you are looking for, there is one on this site. It goes by the Munson Plan (http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50106). It's more of a guide than "law", but I have used it since day 1, and many members here use it.

*Hips are basically fatty tissue near the vent. You'll notice a drastic change in size from the vent to the tail, and it will look like a bulbous mass at the vent.

[dburdick]

Suzy, Thanks v. much - just what I wanted Don

[Nanci]

Those are some big corns!!! I'm currently trying to keep my two, three and four year olds from turning into hippos. I just sent home a 2005 male corn I was babysitting at a weight of 1100 grams, and I was only feeding him one jumbo or one normal adult mouse every ten days!! At the end I stretched it out to two weeks, and he was still growing. Which isn't bad, but he was getting a touch pudgy in the vent area...So my plan is to feed only one prey item, weigh at every feeding, aiming for relatively slow growth (I don't want the growth to stop). I'm feeding the smallest adult snakes every seven days, a lot every 10 days, and the biggest males every 14 days, and watching. I'm not very comfortable with going longer than 14 days between feedings, and I'm not even that comfortable going two weeks, but if they are gaining weight on that schedule, then every 14 days ought to be okay.

[Buzzard]

I agree with everyone here, They sound large. I would go with 1 large mouse every 2 weeks. When looking at them, they should apear to look like a loaf of round top bread.
Flat on either side and bottom and rounded on the top. If they start looking more like hot dogs or sausages, cut back on the feeding. They can also get hips, as mentioned before, but hips also can occur because of breeding(laying eggs) so I tend to keep a closer eye on the "loaf of bread" look.