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I just got my first corn snake and have a few questions.

exitree

New member
I just got my very first corn snake "Flossy", and wanted to know how often I should feed her?. The people I got her from said she was about 14 months old. Another question I have is, What is the average length and diameter of a full grown female Amelanistic Okeetee Corn Snake?

thanx:)
 
hi

You should fed her in a tub or cardboard box. Just put a thawed mouse in the box and place your snake in. She should eat right when she finds it. Then as soon as she has it most of the way down you can gently pick her up and place her back into her home. And leave her alone for a couple days to digest.

Normally cornsnakes can be anywhere from 4 feet to the larger (and not as common) 6 footers.

bmm
 
Thank you for the information:D
I've got another question
When do Corn Snakes reach sexual maturity?
I would like to breed Flossy cause she's such a beautiful snake and I would like to expand my collection of snakes. This is my first Corn Snake but I have 64 other snakes from 7 species of snakes(I'm kind of a snake freak:rolleyes: )living in my home and have succesfully bred them all, and would like to add to that list.
 
You should feed her...

every week to two weeks...depending on the size of the food. I personally feed my adults every 10 days.
 
It depends

As with many otehr species of snakes the males aren't so important in size. Although obviously not a hatchling *L* But females should be 36 inches or over. This can be at age 2 or 3.

bmm
 
well

If she gets poo on her you can bath her, or if she is going to shed. But bathing is not 100% needed although most learn to enjoy it and its good exercise...

If you snake is big enough you can fill up the tub a bit. I like to float a towel just in case they get tired of swimming. Make it just room temp water. If it feels warm on your arm its probably a bit to hot for the snake just room temp is fine. :)

bmm
 
Okay okay I know I said my last questions was my last question but I just wanted to ask one more:rolleyes: (I know someones going to tell me to go get a book on these things but I don't trust books ever since I followed the advice in one and it killed my whole lot of 14 Ringneck Snakes:( :mad: ) Okay heres my question. None of the snakes I currently have hibernate in the wild but people say that the corn snakes should hibernate, is this true? and if so how do you get them to hibernate and what do you do before during and after hibernation?
thank you SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!:D
 
I know you said you don't trust books...

but the Corn Snake Manual by Bill and Kathy Love is the absolute best. I think just about everyone here will just tell you what is in that book. I suggest you get the book.

I know that corns do not have to brumate, but most of the breeders brumate them. For more info than that, you will have to get it from a more experienced person.
 
if

Your snake is a pet then you do not have to brumate it. It will be fine. But if you choose to brumate lots of info can be found in the book CornCrazy suggested.

Its the cornsnake "bible" for corn keepers.

bmm
 
Thank you all so much:D
I've decided to take everyones advice and go out and get the book everyones talking about.:)
But beware if my snake dies i'll be watching you:mad:



just kidding:p
 
I see your from oshkosh, bygosh

Bet you heard that one before,he he ;)

Welcome to Corn snake collecting :)

Actually I just want to warn you about the high rate of addiction when it comes to collecting Corns.

So many beautiful colors to collect and so little time ;)

Your right about taking advice from some books,there are many dated / obselete books in print with potentially dangerous advice when it comes to modern reptile husbandry practices.

Always remember who the source of that information is and verify any information elsewhere before attempting potentially dangerous "treatments".

A published "expert" author,one would assume,would be publishing up to date, accurate information.
Not always the case though.

You can Order direct from the Loves website and they'll autograph the above recommended book, the Corn snake "bible" for you ;
 
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My Okeetee was bought on June 5 last year, she was about 7". Today she is almost 36" and not been a year yet. She feeds on adult mice 3 times a week and is not fat, she sheds once a month, never a problem. My corn is sooo easy to take care of. And she always comes to me when I reach in and climbs up my arm. I don't understand why some people feed in a seperate container?? To me thats just added stress, mine has no problem feeding in her tank and never mistakes me for food.
 
Lyle said:
My Okeetee was bought on June 5 last year, she was about 7". Today she is almost 36" and not been a year yet. She feeds on adult mice 3 times a week and is not fat, she sheds once a month, never a problem. My corn is sooo easy to take care of. And she always comes to me when I reach in and climbs up my arm. I don't understand why some people feed in a seperate container?? To me thats just added stress, mine has no problem feeding in her tank and never mistakes me for food.

Hi
Some people feed in separate containers if they have multiple snakes housed in one cage, if they wish to avoid the possible ingestion of loose substrate, or if they have a very young or reluctant feeder. My snakes also feed in their regular homes.

michele
 
I don't understand why some people feed in a seperate container??

"mine has no problem feeding in her tank and never mistakes me for food"

Give her some time, she'll develop a conditioned feeding response, You may be the exception, but by the time she gets around to nailing you, you'll have a problem child / monster on your hands that you created,
Dr. Frankenstein.
It sees that hand, and just knows its chow time and POW, got a little owie .
That is one of the major reasons
people bother with the whole other tub thing.

Once it starts biting, then one can ask,
How do I get my corn to stop biting me?, he used to be such a gentle animal... oh well, to each his own snake husbandry practices,
whatever works, eh paisano.

Keep a bottle of peroxide handy, you just may need it ;)
= free medical advice


You feed adult mice three times a week
to your Corn?
Why he's never hungry, is he... ;)
 
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I am

Sorry CowBoyWay I mean no disrespect but I disagree. My thoughts: many advanced herpers have been discussing this issue more and more frequently as I can tell. And so far almost all have agreed that it could happen, but it also isn't PROVEN to be the reason nor is it proven this will always create a "monster"
You said yourself ""Give her some time, she'll develop a conditioned feeding response"

This simply is not true always, or in even half the cases I have personally asked about or heard of. And I have had a growing interest in this issue over the past year and I speak to everyone I can about it. I fed every single one of my snakes in cage, and haven't noticed a differance yet. If you clean properly, water enough and handle and feed.....thats opening the cage say 7 times a week. So 1 out of 7 opening will condition them? No way. If they lived by those instincts they would die in the wild. Of course if you open the cage once per week, throw a mouse in and don't see your snake again for another week then you will have the problem you describe. But not if you handle fairly often, water properly and clean cage often. AND (this is important) USE TONGS! People should use tongs 100% if they fed in cage or not. Your hand should never have *anything* to do with the snake aside from handling.

My other problem with the whole snake out of cage logic is this....o.k. fed out of cage but then you must place the snake back in the cage. This is 100% the best time to get bitten during these out of cage sessions. I can honestly say I have yet to be bitten feeding in cage. But got bitten more than once while moving my snakes from feeding tub to enclosure. This bothered me and is why I am interested in this topic.

Also....my thoughts are since you are taking out of cage, your snake isn't really avoiding the "hand is food thing" i believe it is just getting more used to handling because you take it out to fed it which along with preventing the snake from swallowing substrate is a good reason to fed out of cage, but in my humble opinion being afriad your snake will develop a hand biting habit isn't based on fact. And many people have found the reverse is true. It can happen and does happen, but not nearly enough to claim that feeding in cage is a big no-no. If it is such a problem then the countless people I have been talking to are either lying, and they are in fact getting bitten or they are nuts. :)

I just don't like accepting things that are so low in factual testing or even statistics. I am actually thinking about writing a paper or article on this by compiling thousands of peoples data. I guess after I find the best questions to ask people, and how to break the data down maybe you will be right. Either way I want to find out the truth in this matter based on solid statistics or facts :)

I just wanted to share my thoughts. :) BTW I am offering my opinion to share my thoughts, not challange anyone. :)

BMM
 
I agree with bmm...

I have switched from aspen to paper towels and I now feed my snakes in their own cages. I have noticed that some of my non-feeders quickly became feeders. I think it was stressing them out when I would remove them from their homes to try to feed them. Also, none of them EVER strike at me as if they are conditioned to believe it is feeding time simply because I open their cage. Maybe it is because I open their cages at least once a day...even if I don't get them out. I always check on everyone everyday. I think they are more conditioned to NOT expect food.
 
well

I am really interested in compliling some data from a LOT of keepers to at least be able to give everyone some stats..

Would you guys be interested in participating in that?
Anyone have suggestions to proper questions I willl be adding?
Any suggestions?

I need help! lol. I have a good idea what it will have in it but I would like to hear from you guys to before I start work on the questions tonight.

BMM
 
I agree

I have not noticed any change in behavior feeding in the cage vs. outside the cage. All the reasons for feeding outside the cage seem valid on the surface but upon closer examination you can find some flaws. I think that there always extreme cases but most snakes seem to know the difference between your hand and a mouse/rat. I still use aspen and I feed in the cage. I cover the aspen with newspaper or papertowels and feed. It goes much better then removing everyone to a seperate container. The exception are my 02 hatchlings and I feed them in deli cups till they outgrow them. This way I know if they ate and there is no chance that the pinkie rolled off into the substrate:D

When you only have 1 or 2 snakes it's not a big deal to put them in another container to feed, but when you start collecting a few it's much easier to feed in the cage.

BMM, good luck with your research!!
 
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