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Did I feed my snake too big a mouse?

S

Sliths

New member
I just got him recently. I ordered frozen mice from a local independant pet store, but I guess I exagerated when I told the owner the size of the mice the corn snake was used to eating.

Today I gave him a mouse that was significantly larger. It was the first time I've fed him, and it took him a good 5 minutes to swallow the mouse.

He hasn't regurgitated(sp)? his food or anything(yet), but he's been hiding and sleeping since the meal. He ate about 6 hours ago.

Have I done something seriously wrong, or is this just normal behavior for a snake after it eats?
 
HI, you didn't say how big your snake is and how big the mouse was. But it is not unsual for them to rest for a day or two after they eat. The rule is 1.5 the size of your snake body, I usually go a little smaller. The mouse should leave a bulg for 24-48 hours after eating. hope this helps, susan
 
Well, I didn't see much of a bulge or anything after he ate. I guess I'm just being over-paranoid.

Watching him feed for the first time was amazing though.

Thanks for the quick reply!
 
susang said:
HI, you didn't say how big your snake is and how big the mouse was.
Click to expand...

Yeah sorry I should have mentioned that. I don't think the mouse exceeded 1.5 times the size of the snake, but it was certainly pushing some sort of limit. It was an adult mouse. At first the snake just kind of poked his head around it, but wouldn't eat it. So then I tried moving the mouse around with a cardboard tube. Then the snake sprang into action and bit it's head.

Then he gave up after awhile and spit it back out.

Then he tried again and, like I said in my original post, succeeded after about five minutes or so. I can't go into much further detail than that, because I left the room incase I was making him nervous or anything.
 
I wouldn't be to nervous about it taking 5 minutes, snakes vary in how long it takes them to eat. Even the same snake will hit and coil one time and poke around the next. But I still have to ask how big is your snake? susan
 
The snake is about 3 feet long.

I think you're right, though. He's probably fine.

Lesson learned: When the pet store lady asks how big your snakes food usually is, don't put your hands next to each other and say "about this big".

Especially if you have big hands like me.
 
a 3 foot long snake should be easily eating small adult or medium adult mice, depending on how big of round it is.
 
When I wathed my snake eat once, he took 9 minutes approx (i recorded it lol)
I wouldnt worry about how long it takes, some snakes are just slow eaters :)
 
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