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Feeding question

C

cejean

New member
I've had my new corn snake since Friday and so far everything is going great. She seems to be super alert and healthy. I haven't messed with her other than the daily water changes. Any time she catches a glimpse of me her head whips around to look and I can only take that as a good sign. My only concern at this time is the fact that she spends ALL her time wrapped up in one of the plants in her tank. I'd think she never left it if I didn't find substrate dragged into the water bowl this morning. I was planning on feeding her Wed. Do I wait on her to leave the plant before I try to catch her to feed or do I try to somehow untangle her whenever I get ready? I hate to break into what she obviously considers her safe zone but I know she needs to eat.
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Sorry for the red tint. She's under a red light until the thermostat for her uth gets here later this week. That might be why she stays up in the plant. It gets her closer to the warm light. That plant is right under the light.
 
Id say just grab her. Take the middle part of her body and gently pull away from the plant and see if she doesn't start untangling herself.
 
most times if you touch them on there bodies they will slither out of things like this and make it easier. It would depend on how your feeding as to the need to remove her. If your feeding in her tank then I would just place it below the plant. If outside the tank remove her and the plant to the feeding tub and try to coach her out with gentle touching. near her center body to tail body area. If you need to untangle her just be gentle and keep guiding her head away from the plant as you go
 
Ok, thanks you guys. I just was worried about freaking her out and then her being too stressed to eat. I'll try to just be really gentle and will probably remove the whole plant like you suggested since I am planning on feeding in a separate tub. I've decided to move the feeding to today since my kids are going to grandma's house and it just seems smarter to do it when I don't have little ones under foot wanting to help.
 
they can tangle up in things pretty good. I remember once I had a skull as a hide in a tank it didn't have anything inside for the snake to grip onto but man was it hard getting him out of there most times I'd have to use a spray bottle and mist him out. And once I had to submerge the whole skull in water. I tossed that thing in the trash after a 2 month battle. Now I wont buy a hide if I think its gonna be an issue no matter how cool or nice it looks. Good luck with your little one, Its adorable how she is wrapped in that plant. Mine kinda look at the plants in there Viv's and are like yea no I ain't going into there lol
 
Update

Well, getting her out of the plant turned out to be no big deal. As soon as I touched her she took off and I had to chase her down. I feel dumb for even asking now, but the only other experience I have with corn snakes was with and extremely sick one that ended up dying. It never had that much energy.

The problem now is that she refused to eat. I put her in a her tub with the pink, covered it, and left her alone for 10 minutes in a quiet room. When I checked on her she hadn't touched it so I tried reheating the pink and leaving her alone with it again for another 10 minutes. Again, no deal. I put her back in the tank and she hasn't gone anywhere near her plant again. She's hanging out in the darkest little hole she could find on the opposite side of the tank.

I'm hoping the only reason she didn't eat was because she was stressed and freaked out. My kids ended up being home after all and my husband decided it was a good idea for the 2 year old to see the snake while I had it out and was thawing out the pink. As you can imagine, squealing was involved. Not the smartest thing to do right before her first feeding. I'm going to try again in a few days and no children will be anywhere nearby. Is it 3 days that I should wait before trying again?
 
Don't worry yet about eating then can be picky sometimes try cut in the pinky head to expose a bit of the brain leave it with her in her tank over night if that doesn't work we can try other things don't stress over feeding just yet tho look at her see if there are any sighs of shedding that will put them off feeding tank temps is another cause so make sure you temps are correct
 
I didn't notice any signs of shedding last night. Her eyes looked pretty clear anyway and I haven't had her long enough to really know if her color is looking dull. Plus, she's been under that red light and it really washes out her coloring. Her temps could be a problem I suppose. Her warm side fluctuates between around 80 in the daytime to 76 at night and her cool side from 75-77 or so in the day to 72 at night. Hopefully her thermostat will get here soon and I can stop using the light. When should I try again? I'm not planning on messing with her other than water changes. I did poke around in the tank this morning just long enough to figure out where she was but then I covered her right back up. Want her to be able to relax again.
 
10 minutes really isn't enough for your particular corn to settle and eat. I'd suggest next time, put her in the feeding tub before you thaw the pinky. thaw it in hot water (really only takes about 10 minutes for 1 pink), drain, pour just boiled water from the kettle over and wait about half a minute until you see the pink go pale and rubbery. Drain, put in the feeding tub, and go and read a book, go for a walk, anything that keeps you busy for at least an hour. Your snake is a good feeder, otherwise it wouldn't have left the breeder fat and healthy. But I can't eat with strangers watching me, nor can your snake.
If the pink hasn't ben eaten after an hour, reheat with boiling water, put back in the tub and leave overnight. Try not to worry.
 
Thanks, I'll try that on Friday. I thought I'd read that 10 minutes was plenty of time to tell if the snake was going to eat or not. Guess I failed to remember that snakes are individuals too. Just because somebody else can tell in 10 minutes doesn't mean I'll be able to.
 
cejean said:
Thanks, I'll try that on Friday. I thought I'd read that 10 minutes was plenty of time to tell if the snake was going to eat or not. Guess I failed to remember that snakes are individuals too. Just because somebody else can tell in 10 minutes doesn't mean I'll be able to.
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Don't worry. I've been there as a new owner, I remember being racked with nerves and I certainly got plenty of things wrong in the early days! The boiling water trick is something a few of us have used for the first time this year, and it really made a difference with some of my hard-core non-feeding hatchlings.
One thing I noticed is your temperatures, can you get the warm side stable at 80-85?
 
See this little booger? Last night all my other 6 keepers ate in seconds of the pinky being in the tub. This one held out for an hour. Just as I was going to leave her overnight and go to work, she finally performed the disappearing mouse trick! I don't take feeding photos until my babies are eating reliably. Until then I routinely cover their feeding tubs as I've found they are far more likely to eat if left in peace, especially in the early weeks. None of my adults could care less if I'm watching, but there are plenty of people on here who have to cover and leave adults for feeding. so again, don't worry, you'll do just fine
 

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Did you try wiggling the pinky in front of her face with tongs to fake-stimulate life? That usually does the trick with mine.
 
I've learned a lot from Nanci on getting hatchlings to eat. I've have a few that needed the pinks dropped in boiling water first, then fed to them. I've had some need that and be put under a pillow. Finally most of those are eating just fine now, but I had one that didn't eat in over an hour, so the pink was dropped into the boiling hot water, taken out after a minute or so put into the deli cup with the hatchling and the deli cup put under a pillow over night. This morning, the pinkie is gone and there is a nice little bulge in the snake! This is one that has been very hard to get to eat, so I'm happy now.
 
I would be careful about the boiling water thing. I'm not saying that it isn't a good idea, but you don't want to cook the mouse either.

I've had good luck putting a baby snake and pinkie in a small paper lunch bag, and then putting the whole thing back into the tank. Then again I don't use a separate feeding tub either.
 
captainjack0000 said:
I would be careful about the boiling water thing. I'm not saying that it isn't a good idea, but you don't want to cook the mouse either.

I've had good luck putting a baby snake and pinkie in a small paper lunch bag, and then putting the whole thing back into the tank. Then again I don't use a separate feeding tub either.
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Well, the techinque is a standard among people here. Recommended by some very experienced snake breeders and keepers. You want to get the mouse white and rubbery. Usually after a time or two the snake starts to eat the f/t pinkie without the boiling water treatment.
 
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Well, the techinque is a standard among people here.
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Surgery is standard among doctors too. If you're familiar with it, and know how to do it properly, then it might be a great idea.

All I was trying to say was that as somebody who has never done it before, they should be vigilant so as not to cook the mouse. I was not telling anybody not to do it, but to be careful with it.

Though to be quite honest, I am not really sure what the harm is to feeding cooked mice....
 
captainjack0000 said:
Surgery is standard among doctors too. If you're familiar with it, and know how to do it properly, then it might be a great idea.

All I was trying to say was that as somebody who has never done it before, they should be vigilant so as not to cook the mouse. I was not telling anybody not to do it, but to be careful with it.

Though to be quite honest, I am not really sure what the harm is to feeding cooked mice....
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Actually, the mice work best when they are pale and rubbery. I have no idea why, but it was recommended to try on non-feeders, I did it and found just dipping the pinkies in the boiling water quickly doesn't do the trick. Leave them to cook a little and the hatchlings went wild for them.
Easy to do and it saved at least 20 of my hatchlings this year from becoming cobra food.
 
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