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Baby corn size

AmelEP

New member
One of my baby corns just shed a few days ago. I measured the skin and it was 15 1/2" long. Is that normal for a baby corn? He was born on 08/09/07 so he's only roughly two months old. Am I perhaps feeding him too much? I thought a yearling corn is only slightly bigger than that?
I feed him one pinkie every week and I can barely see the bump in his tommy an hour after he swallows it. Based on his girth, I should probably be feeding him fuzzies already but the pet store says to switch to the next size when he reaches 6 months of age. He seem so hungry all the time though. Or maybe I can feed him two pinkies at a time??
 
Measuring the shed skin is not a good indication of the size of your snake as it can stretch up to I think 30%. Also agre with Rich on fedding plan.
 
susang said:
Measuring the shed skin is not a good indication of the size of your snake as it can stretch up to I think 30%. Also agre with Rich on fedding plan.

Oh wow, I did not know that. Okay so I remeasured him while he was stretching himself earlier and he's 13 1/2".

And thank you Rich for the helpful link, also thanks to Munson for the detailed chart, although I still have to figure out how to weigh the babies.
I tried going in the pet store to buy the pinkies today (three days earlier than the once a week they told me), the pet store people got a bit judgemental and kept asking questions. One of them even followed me out to my car, "warning" me that I'd get my corns obese. I didn't know it's possible to make snakes fat...
 
Unfortunately some petstore workers aren't as knowledgeable as they like to think they are...

You can't put a time line on when you must increase their food as all snakes grow at different rates, it's true that usually they reach fuzzy eating size around 6months but it's not a set in stone kind of rule...

You can make snakes fat but if yours is barely showing a bump an hour after feeding, it's definitely time to move them up in prey size or feed more often, youngsters do really well on being fed every 5 days or so, I feed mine according to the Munson Plan and none of mine are close to being obese in anyway imagineable! They do grow very well though! lol

If you have a kitchen scale, you can weigh them on that, that's what I use. Mine's a digital and is accurate to 1g. :)
 
I use a kitchen scale as well digitals are nice as they have a "Tare" Function So you just set a small box that will hold your corn on top of the scale "tare" it which returns it to 0 (basically ignores the boxes weight) then you place your corn in the box). You could do it manually with an analog scale just be weighing the box alone then weighing the snake and the box together and finding the difference between the two (Your snakes weight) The munson plan will defiantly serve you well as for the pet store maybe you should look around and find somewhere else to get feeders. Or you could always point them here or to kathy Loves book :-D
 
I agree with the others here, you should probably up the size and feed a little more often. Check out the Munson Plan link and get a scale to weigh your snake and the food, it's the best way to keep track of everything and make sure they are being fed enough.
I've been doing it with my corns and BPs long before the "Munson Plan" and I came up with pretty much the same numbers looking back at my own data.
 
another option that worked for me very well is to simply feed more than one pinky. i used to feed my babys 3 and sometimes even 4 pinkys each feeding simply because i couldnt bare the thought that they might be hungry for the next week. this way of feeding does make the snakes grow much faster as i was breeding within 12 months already.
 
Thanks for all the replies, now I'm more confident to go back to the pet store next feeding time and say, "hey, I'm taking better care of my babies than you, so back off!" :p
Although they are the only pet store around town that provide frozen pinkies...

Kitchen scales eh? I haven't seen one in almost ten years since I went to culinary school. Would WalMart have it? Or do I have to order it somewhere online?
 
oreo1700 said:
another option that worked for me very well is to simply feed more than one pinky. i used to feed my babys 3 and sometimes even 4 pinkys each feeding simply because i couldnt bare the thought that they might be hungry for the next week. this way of feeding does make the snakes grow much faster as i was breeding within 12 months already.
That would be WAY too fast. I'd advise not taking this advice.
 
oreo1700 said:
another option that worked for me very well is to simply feed more than one pinky. i used to feed my babys 3 and sometimes even 4 pinkys each feeding simply because i couldnt bare the thought that they might be hungry for the next week. this way of feeding does make the snakes grow much faster as i was breeding within 12 months already.

I cant see why you would give 3 or 4 pinkies when you could go up to fuzzies??

Breeding in 12 months? Surely thats not healthy?
 
oreo1700 said:
another option that worked for me very well is to simply feed more than one pinky. i used to feed my babys 3 and sometimes even 4 pinkys each feeding simply because i couldnt bare the thought that they might be hungry for the next week. this way of feeding does make the snakes grow much faster as i was breeding within 12 months already.

I would recommend not following this advice, this kind of "Power-feeding" is reckless and irresponsible and could seriously put your snakes at risk.

Let alone breeding within 12 months!!!!! :eek1:
 
another option that worked for me very well is to simply feed more than one pinky. i used to feed my babys 3 and sometimes even 4 pinkys each feeding simply because i couldnt bare the thought that they might be hungry for the next week. this way of feeding does make the snakes grow much faster as i was breeding within 12 months already.

I sure hope it was the male you were breeding at 12 monthes.. This is far to early for a female cor to even think about breeding...

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
Let alone breeding within 12 months!!!!!

Agreed. Useful analogy: human females can give birth at 12 years old, but this is a serious risk to their immediate and long-term health.

And power-feeding to that extent is a good way to shorten your Corn's life.

Talk about "Use it up and wear it out"....
 
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