Corn Behavior During Feeding?

I have had my corn for about 2 weeks and so far, I have had 2 feedings. I am feeding him fuzzies and during his first feeding, he struck at the fuzzie (f/t), but did not constrict.

During his second feeding, he just came up to the fuzzy and just started to eat.

So I guess my question is, how are corns generally supposed to behave when its feeding time? Are they supposed to bite, constrict, and eat or does it depend on the snake?

Also, I've heard that heating f/t mice up is a good way to get your corn to strike and perhaps constrict. Anyone know if theres any truth behind this? Thanks.

if the mouse is alive the snake will strike it to get a good hold, and then very quickly wraps around the mouse tightly. you get to see the mouse's legs and arms trying to get out of the death grip of your snake, but its hopeless for the little guy. Soon after the mouse will start to 'calm down' which is because its actually dieing...lol and then sometimes the back legs twitch near the end. Once the snake knows the mouse is dead it begins to swallow it.

now with F/T its different....ive only had my girl arun strike at a F/T once....every other time she just slithers over to it and starts to swallow. Maybe they strike at it more often when the mouse is thawed in hot water? i thaw in what i believe to be as pretty hot...definatly hotter than warm, and it doesent trigger any strike response consistently.

anyway hope that helps a bit.

Jim

I feed defrost, slightly warmed, and most of mine just go calmly up to the mouse and start eating it. A couple give it the "roly-poly-kill" routine, but it seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

Think it depends on the individual snake.

Yeah, I thaw my mice in pretty hot water, but for my next feeding tomorrow, I might get the mouse a little warmer... just to see if it sparks any reaction. I guess its instinctual to know that live food needs to be killed. Anyway, I'll let you know tomorrow how it went.

Not too long ago I asked the same question. I have always fed live and it works well for me. Well, anyway, one of my corns constricts and one doesn't. He would get crawl up and start eating, not even striking. What people told me was that corns are constrictors. My snake was just being a very aggressive eater and not bothering to constrict it. Someone told me Jack will probably start constricting as the mice got bigger. The other day I feed him and he did try to constrict it for the first time, very badly but its a start. I only fed frozen pinkies to my first snake when she was a baby, and she always struck at them. But she was not a corn so I really think it's relevant. I also think it just depends on the snake.

My amel always strikes and constricts. So much so that I feed him with tongs as he will tag you if you're not far enough back on the rat. My other one's strike and constrict or just take it from my fingers as the fancy strikes them. Sometimes they do....sometimes they don't.

i posted a thred exactly like this and same answers came. my amel never strikes an i feed him live he just goes up and swallows it alive although it is usually dead halfway into its mouth

Haha... well I imagine once I start feeding bigger mice that are able to fight back, he will eventually learn to constrict. That is if I begin to feed him live/stunned mice.

CMatt2157 said:

Haha... well I imagine once I start feeding bigger mice that are able to fight back, he will eventually learn to constrict. That is if I begin to feed him live/stunned mice.

Click to expand...

There's no need to start feeding stunned/live mice if your snake is healthy and happy on f/t You don't want to risk having a problem switching back.

Mine never showed any aggression at feeding time until he went up to large fuzzies, scared the hell out of me first time I saw him constrict! Now he's on jumbo mice (f/t) and 9 out of 10 times he 'murders' it first.

Just wait and see

i have a 6 month corn and he allways strikes at the fuzzy.
just give it a wiglle in front of him.
make it look alive and he will strike.Use weezers or tongs so u he dosnt tag u.also if he smells mouse on your fingers he will tag u.

After my last feeding, I tried to get the fuzzy extra warm in hopes that my corn would strike and constrict. I used tongs and teased him with the mouse (pulling it slowly away) until he finally struck at the mouse. However, he still has not constricted. I imagine if it's live, he would know to constrict. Anyway, it doesn't seem to be a problem since the mice are f/t but I would like to see it for my self satisfaction.

Believe me, they know. I fed my female two live meals to try to jumpstart her appetite after laying. She has never been fed live in her life, yet she struck and nailed the mouse so quick it never even squeeked. Same for the second. When I fed her the f/t after that, she struck and coiled it. We'll see what happens on the next f/t meal.

always hand feed f/t mice to mine. they both swipe from my hand & constrict.... never got my hand as yet !