• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Increase feeding question

kurt1288

kurt1288

New member
The pinkies I'm getting seem to be on the small side, so I figure it's time to start feeding him more. If it helps, he currently weighs 9g. The pinkies that I've picked up seem to be pretty much 1g (I weight one today, the others seem to be the same size). The bulge is gone as far as I can tell within 48 hours (probably even closer to 36 hours).

I'm aware of the 1.5*width, and from what I can tell these pinkies are below that.

So if I want to feed him more, how should I do it? Feed more frequently (right now I'm doing every 5 days)? Feed 2 pinkies at once? Something else?
 
That's actually a good, average digestion time. I don't start double pinks until the snake is at 16 grams. I think with a 9g snake you definitely risk a regurge. One thing you could do is carefully go to a four day interval, with the smaller of the small pinks, and see how he does, but this drastically cuts into your handling time. Or you can be patient and feed every five days. Maybe when he gets up to 12-14 or so think about feeding one and a half. (You cut them when they are frozen).
 
Curious. Why carefully go to a 4 day interval? Can suddenly switching from a 5 to 4 day harm a snake? Or is it just more about overfeeding?
 
Their digestive system takes a few days to work. If you pile more food on top of undigested stuff too quickly, you risk a regurge. Any increase in food size or feeding frequency needs to be done carefully and if you rush them, you can cause feeding problems which take months to sort out. 5 to 4 days doesn't sound radical and wouldn't be for most Corns but you don't know whether yours will be one of the oddballs until you try it.

The only regurges I've ever had, have been related to increased food size - it's mostly a trouble-free process but it's a risk point that needs management. I always err on the side of underfeeding rather than trying to speed things up. It's actually quite difficult for a vigilant owner like you to underfeed, with the detailed observations that you're making.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top