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help about feeding my corn snake

DarkSmoke

DarkSmoke

relax = longer life span
ok guys so i finally weighd my snake , its about 28-30 grams , its about 1year old and some months (its a 2008 corn snake). im feeding him a size 3 mouse (hopper?).

now i read everywhere and many petshops told me that a 1year old cornsnake can eat an adult mouse. but i see it too big for him.
he's about 47-50 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.

is he too small or underweight for his age?!
can he really eat an adult mouse ?
 
Looking at my records, most of mine are still on small or medium sized mice aged one, although some have been on large mice by then (were mostly power-fed as hatchlings - not by me). They all grow at different rates.

The food should leave a bulge in his belly for 48 hours after he's eaten. When it no longer does, then - and only then - will he be ready for the next size up. Just watch your snake, feed him what he can cope with according to his size, and let him grow at his own pace. That'll be much healthier for him than forcing him to the next sized food too soon.

Basically, Corns don't read the same books/websites that we do!
 
Bitsy is right on. One of the most frustrating things about this hobby is that people make generalizations, pass them around, and treat them like The One and Only Truth. Snakes grow at different rates. We have a yearling that's about the same size as yours; she usually gets two bigger pinkies, sometimes a very small fuzzy. We have three other yearlings that I think must be part horse - around 130 grams. They each get a small adult.

You're doing exactly what you need to do - learn from the snake, and ignore what "everyone says". At 1.5 cm diameter, you really shouldn't feed a mouse that's much over 2 cm diameter at its biggest point. Your snake might eat something a bit bigger, but it's hard on their digestive systems. It has been proven (in research this time, not by Everyone) that they digest two smaller things easier than one big thing, so maybe going with two big pinkies would work for you, too.

This is where my finger method comes in for me. Figure out which of your fingers is about the same size as your snake, then make sure a mouse is that size or a bit bigger. We'll spend five minutes sorting through the fuzzies to see if there's one small enough for the small yearling, but so far we pretty much stick with two pinkies. She's a bit bigger than my little finger, and the other yearlings are about the size of my thumb. I like fingers because I don't have to remember to bring them along!
 
My snake that is the same weight as yours is going from peach fuzzies (huge pinks with the start of fur) to small fuzzies right now. Like Glen says, choose a mouse that is the same size or slightly larger in diameter as your snake in the widest part.
 
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