Just a thought...could the general environmental conditions be affecting the natural tendencies for hatchlings to be good feeders or not? You have to admit, Rich, that we've had more rain this year than in the past 5 years (or longer). I actually have a pond for the first 100 feet of my front yard...complete with ducks, herons, egrets and more frogs and toads than anyone can imagine! I can't step out my front door without worrying about mushing at least a dozen tiny hopping things about the size of a pencil eraser. Seems like perfect corn hatchling food to me!
Last year was so dry that it took me weeks to even locate an anole, let alone catch one! This year, they're all over the place...I've counted at least 7 small hatchling anoles inside my back screened porch this week alone! More perfect corn hatchling food!
Could Mother Nature be telling corn hatchlings that food is plentiful and all of them should do their best to eat and grow up to produce more corn snakes? And in years past, telling only the strongest to go out and eat since there wasn't enough to go around? Yeah, ours are in captivity and we always have food for them, but I think that no matter how much we control their limited environment, our corns are still influenced by factors that we are unable to control or even detect.
I have a head-ache now so I'm going to take some aspirin and go to bed. It is nice to know that my brain can still come up with an idea after dealing with a 5 yr old and a 3 year old all day! BUT IT HURTS !!!