does our girl need bigger mice?

hi, am attaching a photo of amber after eating her small mouse this morning, there is barley a lump in her belly, does this mean she needs the next size up??

also my son got to hold her for the 1st time last night, she is such a good girl and he was thrilled that he finally got to hold her. she is such a funny little thing, spends most of the night peeking at me out of her hide.

barely a lump?

I see a well pronounced lump. It's obvious to me the snake just ate

Wow! What would be the "next size up" in Amber's case? Have to agree with Karl, 'cause if Amber was able to reason, she wouldn't even be able to JUMP to a CONCLUSION!! LOL!!!

Appears to have been an adequately sized meal to me also!

Just sayin'.

BTW, your little one looks cute with your little sneaky one!

she is on small mice, by tomorrow there will be no lump there at all hence my partner thinking we need to give her bigger mice. i havent weighed her yet but she is just an inch shy of 3ft long.

Just for the record, my snake is 2 inches shy of 3 feet and it eats large adult mice. (He weighs 228 grams last weighing) I am currently feeding him weekly @ 22 to 26 gram mice.

Most of us feed by weight. We weigh the snake and weigh the food. A "Growing snake" can eat about 10% to 13% of its body weight weekly. If it's an adult snake and about full grown, you'll feed about 9% to 10% every 2 or 3 weeks instead of weekly to maintain a healthy weight and to keep it from getting fat.

For example: If your snake weighs 50 grams, feed it about 5.5 grams weekly. If the snake weighs 200 grams, feed it 22 grams weekly, and if it weighs 400 grams, feed it 35 to 40 grams every 2 weeks... etc...

At this size, leaving a lump for only a day is about right. My ~100-120g yearlings are comparable. I wouldn't up the prey size for a while yet.

thanks so much for the help. we weighed her tonight and she is 140g. she has now taken 3 feeds off us with no problem at all but has yet to shed.
she is such a friendly girl, comes out of the viv for a little while every night except for 48 hours after feeding. we had visitors over the weekend and they loved her, even the smaller children were giving her a gentle stroke while their mother hid in another room and refused to come out. i suppose not everyone can love snakes.

Conflicting Information

I'm a little more than just curious, since I've seen different opinions on what's best for an adult snake. I was feeding all of my adults, ranging from 400-800 grams, except during breeding season which throws everything outta whack, 2 small rats or 3 adult mice (whatever was available but I preferred to feed them rats due to the extra protein) every 2 to 3 weeks. Now I've read the Munson Plan which states that any snake over 300 grams should just be fed an adult rat every two weeks. However, some here on this forum who advocate for this plan also state that an adult snake should be fed 10% of it's weight every 2 weeks. My dilemma is that for my larger corns, weighing from 725 to 850 grams, this would be a difference of a whole mouse or small rat every two weeks!

So for my big boys, should I feed them 10% or just 1 rodent? They are 8 years old and in great shape, I just don't want to under-feed them.

Thanx in advance to anyone who cares to respond!!

Actually, the largest rodent on the Munson plan is a jumbo mouse, not a rat.

I think most feed an adult corn snake between 25 and 30 grams a feeding which is an adult mouse on the Munson plan. How far apart the feedings are depends on what it takes to maintain weight.

Some folks just eyeball the prey size and snake size and others of us weigh. I'm more confident weighing. There is no one right way of doing it.

It is important to know what a healthy weight corn looks like even if you are weighing. That's the so called loaf of bread crossection. A triangle is too thin and a circle is too heavy, especially if the snake has gaps between the scales and hips. That is way overweight. I've seen a fourth added where squarish is muscular.

So if your snake is gaining too much you can either decrease prey size or space out the feedings a bit. Or losing, then do the opposite.

I have an even more complex situation with Mandy because, due to jaw arthritis, I've been advised to feed her two smaller mice once a week. That usually comes to 22 grams. However, she is gaining and if she gets to what I consider "fighting weight" my best option will be to space the feedings out a bit to halt the gain. On advice of the rescue and the vet she's currently fed every 7 days which is often for a non-reproducing adult female. But then her total meal is a little on the smaller side.

Bottom line, there is no set answer. It is ever a judgement call. I hope my mental wanderings on the subject give you some ideas.

One last thing, most don't space it out more than 14 days for a corn snake.

Wow! Thanx a bunch for your "mental wanderings," which are very informative, btw. And I meant adult "mouse" and not "rat" in reference to the Munson Plan, but since I had them on my mind, perhaps it was a Freudian slip! Lol!

My snakes have never had that triangle appearance, so if I ever did anything wrong, I probably am guilty of overfeeding. I've been feeding my 3 adult corns 2 small rats which are similar to jumbo mice, for years, hence the 2-3 week spread, or they or probably would be overweight! If anything, Lilly, who is just a little over 3 feet, has been the one who surprised me since she never seems to gain weight despite the relatively heavy meals. Bozo, who is over 5 feet and about 875 grams, seems to retain more weight than her but perhaps it's because she's a reproducing female?

I'm not sure, but I do want to ensure a healthy weight and quality of life going forward, so maybe I'll try 1 small rat every 14 days from here on, if this mating/breeding season ever ends! Both Bozo & Chil-Pepper haven't eaten regularly since February!!! And Lilly just declined a large mouse today (she was on an increasingly titrated schedule since laying eggs last month and happily devoured 2 mice on the 8th) but she might be blue (never can tell with her due to her devilishly red eyes!). At least, I HOPE that's why she refused a mouse because u can't be sure since she's normally voracious even the day she has shed in the past. Could she be double-clutching so soon? No way, right? Hope not!

In any event, thanx for the response! In the end, I'll have to figure it out myself but your guidance and support are always appreciated!!

No wonder they don't gain too much if they are one self imposed strikes. Sounds like you have worked things out in your own fashion!