• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

About Feeding and growth

DarkSmoke

DarkSmoke

relax = longer life span
ok guys so i'v got a cornsnake which i bought like 1month ago and is like 1year old , iv fed him about 3times and he sheded his skin already.

Now my question is about growth so lets get to it.
how can i assure that i get maximum growth out of my snake?
don't get me wrong i dont want to make it a python or something lol
i just want to assure that he grow to his maximum.
how much should i feed him weekly ? currently im feeding him once everyweek.
also does the size of the aquarium matters when it comes to grow ? or thats not true that they grow depending on how much the size of the aquarium is big ?
also im feeding him size 2 mice as thats what they call them here i dunno the name, they are a little bit bigger then the pinkies, they have hair but their eyes are still closed so they are small.
thanks alot for your help :)
 
If you do a forum search on the Munson method, it will give you guidelines on what size prey to feed and how often, based on the gram weight of the snake and the prey. Most of the guidelines give a range of days (4-6, 5-7, something like that) and a range of prey weights (2-3g, 4-6g), and if you go with the shorter end of the time range and stick within the weight range you'll see good growth. You'll quickly get to know what size prey your snake can handle. Some snakes will start cruising their enclosure when they're hungry, and some won't. If you have one that cruises, it makes it easy to tell when they're ready to eat. If not, then the day ranges are a good guide.

Aquarium size doesn't really dictate snake size. Just make sure the snake has room to move around and things to climb on, so it'll be able to get exercise. That will help maintain better health over the long term.
 
guys , thanks for the posts so far.
but i wish to get help more on how to make the snake grow alot and not help one how often to feed the snake. i feed my snake like 1 mouse every 7days the mouse we call it size 2 here wich has hair all over its body but still with closed eyes. what i want to know is not how to feed it just to live and grow but to achieve its maximum size.

sorry i don't know how to explain this alot since english is not my language i find it difficult to explain corectly but i think you should get the idea what im asking for,

thanks again everyone XD
 
The Munson Plan is a fairly aggressive feeding schedule. Feeding more often than recommended can lead to major health problems in your snake. I would suggest staying on the 7 day schedule and maybe bumping him up a mouse size.
 
I'm certain that it could be talking about either or... notice it is talking about food items in grams?

I think if you go by the Munson plan (IMO it is very good, but don't adhere to it strictly) you'd be maximizing growth about as much as safely possible. You could change the adult part to 1x every 7 days but you might run into "overweight" issues.
 
As the others have mentioned the Munson plan is a great guideline to use. Others feed once a week and some power feed(not recommended). If you feed to much you run the risk of having the snake regurge undigested food, and un-like us they do not tend to recover as quick and it can lead to death if it occurs multiple times in a row. Food that spoils in there gut can cause illness which also can lead to death.They also can get fat which can hender reproduction and causes a shorter live span. I feed once a week for my young snakes and once every 10-14 days for my adults. As far as getting MAX growth. It will depend on your snake(genes), the conditions you keep the snake, and husbandary. An enclosure will not hender the snakes growth but it helps to have an enclosure with enough room for them to excercise. Also remember snake grow throughout their lives so Max growth may not be accomplished for many years.
Large prey items does not mean it will grow faster. Keep up what you are doing it sounds like your doing it the right way.

SideNote:

"If" you are trying to raise the snake up quickly for reproduction, I would stop and rethink that idea. Healthy snakes produce better eggs and usually more of them. It is smarter to raise your snake up at an average pace and have a healthy snake. Healthy snakes will produce more good eggs over the years than an unhealthy snake. Do hurt the snake by trying to quickly produce a few quick babies.
 
I just read your other post.... Is your snake on Large fuzzys or hoppers????

You stated here size 2 , the other post(about a similar subject) you stated size 3.
 
but is that feeding plan talking about mice or rats ?
Click to expand...
It refers to mice. I can't think of a pure Corn that would (or should) be capable of eating an adult rat.

The info that I've had, is that rats have a higher body fat ratio than mice and are therefore unhealthy as a regular food source for Corns.


i wish to get help more on how to make the snake grow alot

what i want to know is not how to feed it just to live and grow but to achieve its maximum size.
Click to expand...
Advice above is very good. What you're proposing is power-feeding; forcing a Corn to grow at more than its natural rate. That will result in an overweight, unhealthy Corn, with a much shorter life than usual. I'm sure that's not what you would want.

The Munson Plan shows you how to grow a Corn Snake on at a reasonably healthy rate and I wouldn't feed any more than recommended there. Personally, I tend to feed less, but it has worked well for many people.
 
Buzzard said:
As the others have mentioned the Munson plan is a great guideline to use. Others feed once a week and some power feed(not recommended). If you feed to much you run the risk of having the snake regurge undigested food, and un-like us they do not tend to recover as quick and it can lead to death if it occurs multiple times in a row. Food that spoils in there gut can cause illness which also can lead to death.They also can get fat which can hender reproduction and causes a shorter live span. I feed once a week for my young snakes and once every 10-14 days for my adults. As far as getting MAX growth. It will depend on your snake(genes), the conditions you keep the snake, and husbandary. An enclosure will not hender the snakes growth but it helps to have an enclosure with enough room for them to excercise. Also remember snake grow throughout their lives so Max growth may not be accomplished for many years.
Large prey items does not mean it will grow faster. Keep up what you are doing it sounds like your doing it the right way.

SideNote:

"If" you are trying to raise the snake up quickly for reproduction, I would stop and rethink that idea. Healthy snakes produce better eggs and usually more of them. It is smarter to raise your snake up at an average pace and have a healthy snake. Healthy snakes will produce more good eggs over the years than an unhealthy snake. Do hurt the snake by trying to quickly produce a few quick babies.
Click to expand...
No im not trying to produce eggs or breeding , i only own 1 corn snake as a pet.
Buzzard said:
I just read your other post.... Is your snake on Large fuzzys or hoppers????

You stated here size 2 , the other post(about a similar subject) you stated size 3.
Click to expand...
this post is old i just checked it out and replied on it so it got back on front, now im feeding him size 3 , hoppers.
bitsy said:
It refers to mice. I can't think of a pure Corn that would (or should) be capable of eating an adult rat.

The info that I've had, is that rats have a higher body fat ratio than mice and are therefore unhealthy as a regular food source for Corns.



Advice above is very good. What you're proposing is power-feeding; forcing a Corn to grow at more than its natural rate. That will result in an overweight, unhealthy Corn, with a much shorter life than usual. I'm sure that's not what you would want.

The Munson Plan shows you how to grow a Corn Snake on at a reasonably healthy rate and I wouldn't feed any more than recommended there. Personally, I tend to feed less, but it has worked well for many people.
Click to expand...
i dont think it refers to mice. i mean my small snake can already it a hopper which isnt even close to half the size of and adult corn. i dont think and adult mice would even make a bumb in an adult corn snake, at least not the mice we have here, well maybe different race of mice? i dunno.
but the big snakes that we have in malta which grow as big as a corn snakes usually feed on birds or on big rats.
 
also no, i didnt mean power feeding, what i meant is i dont want my snake to stay short like the 5year old one at the petshop , which is not even double the lenght of my 1year corn snake and only big in diametre. thats what i wanted to preven that my snake stays short.
 
DarkSmoke said:
also no, i didnt mean power feeding, what i meant is i dont want my snake to stay short like the 5year old one at the petshop , which is not even double the lenght of my 1year corn snake and only big in diametre. thats what i wanted to preven that my snake stays short.
Click to expand...


If this is the case, Continue doing what you are doing. If the snake's genetic background is fine, There should be no problems, he will grow normally on a meal once a week until he gets larger. I would stick to a weekly program, or the munson plan both work great.
 
i dont think it refers to mice.
Click to expand...
And I'm equally sure that it does refer to mice; rats are not the normal recommended food for Corns

i mean my small snake can already it a hopper which isnt even close to half the size of and adult corn. i dont think and adult mice would even make a bumb in an adult corn snake, at least not the mice we have here, well maybe different race of mice? i dunno
Click to expand...
You're right - adult mice do not leave much of a bump in an adult Corn after eating. That's absolutely normal and correct. You don't have to feed an adult Corn until it has a significant bump. Once it has attained adult size at about three years old, it won't grow significantly bigger.

thats what i wanted to preven that my snake stays short.
Click to expand...
A Corn Snake's length will depend on its genetics and not on how much it is fed. If it came from short parents, then it is likely to be short itself. I have a six year old female that is only two and a half feet long. I saw her parents and they were small as well - that's just how she is. She'll never be any longer, bu that doesn't mean she's unhealthy or "less" of a Corn Snake. In fact, she's one of my greatest characters and most reliable eaters.

In any case, feeding a Corn more than it should be eating will not make it longer, just fatter, like humans - if my dear Mum grew taller with every cream cake she ate, she'd be 10 feet high instead of 24 stone! Unfortunately, you can't achieve what you want by feeding more.
 
Our freakin'-big amel, Bob, is over 1.5m (57 inches) and just under a kilogram (over two pounds). He is by far the biggest corn snake I've ever seen, and the 35-years-in-the-reptile-business owner of ZooKeeper here in Austin says he's never seen one that big. Yeah, he's big.

He can eat a smallish medium rat, but nothing bigger. A small rat or jumbo mouse is about right for him. He gets that every 1.5 to 2 weeks, depending on my mood. There's no way he could choke down a big rat. A house sparrow, probably, but not a starling. Lesleym just pointed out that maybe the rats are smaller on Malta, so maybe Bob could eat a Maltese rat. After all, Malta is smaller than Norway, so it makes sense that Norwegian rats would be bigger.:headbang:

As I said in the other thread, we have a female yearling that's about the same size as DarkSmoke's snake, and she gets two pinkies or a very small fuzzy. She's about ready to graduate to a small fuzzy, but it'll be another week or two.

One more note on rats. In our limited experience, with only one great big corn snake, the poop after a rat is unbelievably noxious. We're talkin' maggot-gaggin' time. OTOH, a rat fed to our Brazilian rainbow boa results in a nice, compact, nearly scent-free poop. Weird.
 
LOL

Glen try the smell from a quail chick...OMG... RANK!!! is the only word I can describe it with...

Mice are the perfered food for cornsnakes. I do however use African soft furred rats to bulk my girls up after laying eggs. But they loose a lot of weight in egg laying and the bulking only occurs for a few weeks. Rats tend to have more fat. If you have a giant like Glen I think a rat is fine but also look at the time span before he feeds again.(1.5-2 weeks). If your going to feed rats let there be a good time span between feeding. Around here mice cost less then rats do. So it should save you some money feeding mice.
 
i talked about the mice being smaller in malta, the rats that sometimes we see outside here are preatty big as big as a dwarf rabbit or some people say they saw rats as big as rabbits (the ones that are coocked for food ,the rabbits not the rats lol ) but i think they exegarate in that as i never saw a rat that big.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top