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Help me with a feeding schedual..

H

hemolymph

New member
For some reason my snake always seems so much smaller than other snakes it's age. I am guessing the petstore (petco) probably didn't feed it enough, or something-- or maybe they did.
Either way I bought Pearl on April 14th 2004.. as a "baby corn snake".
I don't know how old she was when I bought her... but I think I remember people saying on this board that she was probably 8 months or so when I bought her in April.

I just now recently fed her her first fuzzie a few days ago.

What feeding schedual would you reccomend ? Is there a way I can fatten her up a little bit ? I am worried she might be under-weight for her age.

Thanks.

pearl_gettin_first_fuzz_clearer.jpg


- Jeni
 
I feed mine once a week, but I actually may feed a little sooner on my Aztec due to the fact that she is smaller and has been more difficult than my amel. She will be a year in August, and is only 22" long at this point. In comparison, my amel. was a year in June, and is 33" long and eating medium sized adult mice once a week. The Aztec is now up to one fuzzy/one pinky every 6 days. She regurged once a few months ago after refusing to eat for a week, so I went down to pinkies for the next 3 weeks after waiting the required 7 days. I think she'll never be huge like my amel. It might just be her. She's from a breeder, not a pet store, so she was kept in good conditions. Your snake might be younger than you think, and it just might be a small snake like mine. You could probably feed every 4-5 days if you wanted, but power feeding's not the healthiest thing to do. It might just take longer for yours to mature. Your snake looks in good weight in the photo. It's not thin and the scales look nice and healthy. Pretty animal! Here's a picture of the Aztec and the amel. so you can kind of get an idea of the differences in size.
 

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MegF. said:
I feed mine once a week, but I actually may feed a little sooner on my Aztec due to the fact that she is smaller and has been more difficult than my amel. She will be a year in August, and is only 22" long at this point. In comparison, my amel. was a year in June, and is 33" long and eating medium sized adult mice once a week. The Aztec is now up to one fuzzy/one pinky every 6 days. She regurged once a few months ago after refusing to eat for a week, so I went down to pinkies for the next 3 weeks after waiting the required 7 days. I think she'll never be huge like my amel. It might just be her. She's from a breeder, not a pet store, so she was kept in good conditions. Your snake might be younger than you think, and it just might be a small snake like mine. You could probably feed every 4-5 days if you wanted, but power feeding's not the healthiest thing to do. It might just take longer for yours to mature.
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Thanks for the info ! When I bought her she was 14 inches... and she is isn't much bigger than that now.. so if she is suppose to be a year old by now.. she is way small ! Unless of course, she was born this year.. and is younger than I thought.
I don't really care if she is a slow grower or not, I just want her to be healthy.. and I just have this feeling I may not be feeding her enough for her age... she just seems too small..and VERY skinny compared to others that should be around 1 year by now..

So 1 fuzzy every 5 or 6 days is what I should be doing ?

Thanks
Jeni
 
(Edit: Well, Meg beat me to the punch while I spent the time to look up my records, but anyway, here's what I do.)

I feed mine about every 5 days up until they are about 50 grams (usually about 20-22 inches), then every 7 days until they are 100 grams (usually about 26-28 inches), from 100-300 grams I feed every 8-10 days. Once they are 300 grams (usually about 38-40 inches), I feed my males every 14-21 days (females are still fed every 8-10 days, sometimes more often during breeding season).

If you want to use my schedule (it will give you heathly sized animals, not fat, not skinny) go out and get a gram scale and weight her to find out how often to feed or just measure her and go by her length.

When you feed, just make sure that the size of the food leaves a lump in her belly. Though, I usually only feed enough to leave a lump that is barely visable.

According to the photo, she looks okay. She doesn't look skinny to me. Hatchlings always look thinner than adults, so if you're seeing photos of adults and wondering why yours doesn't look as hefty, that's why.

Another thing, you don't want to feed her too much too quickly, that's not healthy for her.
 
Hatchlings always look thinner than adults, so if you're seeing photos of adults and wondering why yours doesn't look as hefty, that's why.
Click to expand...

Well, I was worried because if mine was 8 months in April.. then pearl would be over a year old now...... and she looks very small to be a year old.. even compared to megs photos... pearl wouldn't be half as big as what either hers are.. or others I've seen.
I should get a photo of her crawling on my hand for a size comparision.

But thanks so much for the good info. I am going to weigh her as soon as I get a scale !

Thanks
Jeni
 
My amel was 18" when I got her in Dec. and they estimated she was a June hatchling. She's now 33" long and pretty big in the body.My Aztec was 22" when I got her in April and has only put on 2-3" since then. She's also very slender. I think they're just different snakes. Each grow at their own rate. Where did you buy your gram scale Amanda? I want to get one for when I start breeding.
 
MegF. said:
Where did you buy your gram scale Amanda? I want to get one for when I start breeding.
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You know, I don't know where it was bought, as it was a present from my mom this past Christmas, but it's just a digital gram scale, meant to be used in the kitchen. I really like it. It seems pretty accurate and it can weigh up to at least 1000 grams (that I know of), but I guess it was expensive, or at least according to my mom. The brand name is Salter.
 
Thanks. Maybe I'll go on a search and see if anyone's mentioned where they got theirs. I'm sure someone has.
 
8 months? more like 8 weeeks i'd say.....

We got our Corn when she was 8 weeks old and she was about 17-18 inches long. She's just had a shed and I'd bet she's a little longer now, matbe 19 inches.
If you use our snake as an example yours was either really underfed or was not as old as you think.
 
Hi there. I have heard that snakes will grow more in girth/width after the first year. So even if your snake isn't where you think she/he should be at one year, it will probably put on more weight as it gets older. As other folks have mentioned, as long as she is healthy don't worry about her size. I am sure your snake is being much better cared for now that it has a good home :)
 
Mine really start growing on once they've started on fuzzies. You should see a bit of a growth spurt soon.
 
Really???

Thanks for the info...I never knew that. :idea: :) The thing about after reaching the first year how they gain more in girth. I didnt know that
 
niblips said:
We got our Corn when she was 8 weeks old and she was about 17-18 inches long. She's just had a shed and I'd bet she's a little longer now, matbe 19 inches.
If you use our snake as an example yours was either really underfed or was not as old as you think.
Click to expand...

I know my snake was definatley 14 or so inches when I brought her home, and she's maybe an inch or two longer now.
So if I bought her in april and she was 14 inches.... assuming she wasn't underfed.....she would have been born sometime in 2004.
I guess I was told if I bought her in April.. she couldn't have been born in 2004 because snakes hadn't started popping out eggs yet or something !

Hmmm !
 
Well hemolymph, I'd say you were given some incorrect information.

We got our Corn at a reptile show in Ontario. There were quite a few vendors that all had new hatchlings. The Corn we bought was one of the oldest (laid on Feb 21/04, hatched on Apr 19/04). Every Hatchling at that vendors table had a feeding record along with the laid/hatch date, so we chose one that looked healthy and had a good appetite.
 
hiya :wavey:

my snow corn was born August 83.......and only measures 14 inches or so now.
the breeder fed it every 7 days but after shedding and being fed he still seemed skinny and sluggish, so I feed him a pinkie every 4 days after 2 feeds I will try him on 2 pinkies every 5 days for a few weeks then start him on fuzzies. He seems much happier now :)

thank you
 
hi Cindy :wavey:

21 years old and only 14 inches.... its a very old pigmy snake!!! - (03 Perhaps?)


LOL.......yeah you are right of course :crazy02:

august 03 :rofl:

thank you
 
If you purchased her from a pet store it is most likely that she is a late 03' hatch. Very few breeders have hatchlings as early as April. None of the "commercial" breeders I know have babies that early so there is even less chance of an April hatchling being in a pet store.

As for size it sounds like it is simply a small snake (most likely a female as they tend to be smaller at this age). I have 3 yearlings. All of them hatched in July 03'. My largest, an Orange Candy Cane male was 21" on 06/20/04 as of today (07/16/04) he is 23". Then there is my Motley Sunglow male who was 17.5" on 06/20/04 as of today (07/16/04) he is 19.5". The smallest is our Motley Sunglow female (from the same clutch as the Sunglow male) she was only 15" on 06/20/04 as of today (07/16/04) she is blue so I'll get her new measurements after she sheds.

I feed every 5 days and they each get one fuzzy. The female gets peach fuzzies and the males get ones a little older/larger.

Hope this helps,
Jeff C.
 
Amanda E said:
(Edit: Well, Meg beat me to the punch while I spent the time to look up my records, but anyway, here's what I do.)

I feed mine about every 5 days up until they are about 50 grams (usually about 20-22 inches), then every 7 days until they are 100 grams (usually about 26-28 inches), from 100-300 grams I feed every 8-10 days. Once they are 300 grams (usually about 38-40 inches), I feed my males every 14-21 days (females are still fed every 8-10 days, sometimes more often during breeding season).
Click to expand...

hemolymph, I work at the local Petco, and what Amanda says here is pretty much the schedule that we go on... the smaller corns get fed every 5 days.. and largers are every 7 days.. we really dont go by a weight ratio to how we feed them... but that sounds like an idea that i can propose. anything larger than 300 grams we usaully dont have, corn wise, but as for the larger snakes like the large kings and milksnakes we get in, those get fed about every 8 days.
 
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