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Philramsay

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Hi. Our corn has just shed succesfully and I was expecting him to be hungrier than he was afterwards. I wieghed him just before the shed and he was about 28g. I have a copy of the Munson Plan and according to it he should be on 2 pinkies/small fuzzy, but he's only had 1 pinkie, I left a 2nd out in the viv but no takers! Should I be worried, or is he quite happy the way he is?
Thanx in advance.
 
The munson plan is a guide, a well planned out and awsome guide...but your snake is really going to be the one making decisions on what he does/does not eat. :D
If he's shedding, he's growing. i assume that he's pooping ok too? lol, if you cant get him to eat two pinks, have you tried a small fuzzy? as long as its no bigger than 1.5X the thickness of your snake, perhaps that would be more appealing. i dont think you should worry. you've only tried the once, and sometimes you need to be a little persistant with the little buggers :)
 
Some snakes do not like to eat more than one item at a time, so as RosieReal mentioned moving up to an appropriatly sized fuzzy may be the move needed to get the amount of food you want into him, without having to give more than one prey item at a time.
 
I've always been of the opinion that you have to decide by your personal snake. I'm not the biggest fan of the munson plan because it doesn't take into account the different "body types" of our snakes. I have 2 corns, both weigh the same but my one guy is long and thin and my other is short and fat. If I was going by the munson plan they'd both be on 2 pinkies/small fuzzy. My long skinny guy only accepts 1 pinky/week so that's what I give him. My other guy will take up to 2 small fuzzies!
It's all about YOUR judgement. If it looks too big for your snake (1.5X as RosieReal said above) then feed smaller. If he seems hungry (cruising the tank after a meal, like he's looking for more.) then put another one in!
 
All of the previous posts are great advice. In short though, no, it's not a problem. As long as he is eating, shedding, and pooping fine, it's all good.
 
ladypunk123

While each snake is different, like us humans having their own metabolism, you must also remember that generally snakes are innately opportunistic eaters. Thus some snakes will eat more than they should if given the chance.

While you do not want to under feed your snake, it is even worse to over feed your snake. A slightly underfed snake is not going to have health problems. An over weight snake can have health effects on the heart and liver which may cause their life to be shortened. As well once a snake is over weight it is often very difficult to get the excess weight off of them.

A good way to judge your snakes weight is to look at their body structure. A healthy snake should look like a loaf of bread. The bottom of the body(under belly) being the main part of the loaf and the rest of the body(dorsal part) looking like the rounded top of the loaf.

A snake that is to thin resembles a triangle, a spinal ridge along the back and the sides draping downward toward the under belly.

A snake that is to fat has two main indicators, tube sausage looking, round everywhere, no flat belly and hips. Hips are when the area just before the cloaca bulges out to the sides.

Hope this helps.
 
* Also, do not ever place food in the vivarium. Only feed them out of their cage. The snake can eat unintended things or become aggresive when you try to take it out or clean.

Other than that - you should be fine!
 
salvadorian said:
* Also, do not ever place food in the vivarium. Only feed them out of their cage. The snake can eat unintended things or become aggresive when you try to take it out or clean.
Click to expand...

I feed *all* of my snakes in their vivariums/tubs.

Careful choice of substrate and using the cage furniture as a "plate" prevents ingestion of accidental stuff.

And I personally haven't ever noticed any of my snakes being particularly bitey just because sometimes when my hands come in there's food and sometimes there isn't. It seems more down to the individual than it is to the method of feeding. I much prefer - not least because I have tetchy royals - not to disturb a snake before, during and after feeding - I put the food where the snake is comfortable, let them eat it, and don't have to move them with a full belly.
 
Ssthisto

The very first snake we had....I had always hand fed in the enclosure and after about a year it decided that my hand = food and would strike at my hand every time it came in the enclosure. It took about 6 mths of reconditioning by feeding in a separate container to not be struck at anymore. I now never feed anything in the enclosure for that reason and I am not willing to take the risk of impaction however slight it may or may not be.

Just my experience and opinion.
 
I think the key term there is "hand fed" not "in enclosure". I never attempt to feed using anything other than tongs - my hands don't touch the food. Now, my snakes absolutely ARE interested in "shiny metal things" and do investigate those with their tongues... and the little ones are interested in "yellow things".

And of the sixty-some snakes I have, the ones who strike at hands are NOT doing feeding related strikes. I do have a couple who are defensive and try to frighten me away. One radiated ratsnake, two royals and a corn snake. If I tried to get them out of their homes to feed them, they'd never eat - and in the case of the radiated, I'd never manage to get him into the feeding tub in the first place.

But I really haven't seen convincing evidence for putting yourself in a situation where you HAVE to handle/move a snake who has just eaten to get it back into its normal enclosure. That's my personal experience, based on having tried both feeding in a separate tub and feeding in enclosures :)
 
Wow! What feedback! Thanx everyone. I never use me hands anyways, always small plastic tongs. I only have left food in the viv if for some reason he shows interest but can't be bothered, that's how it appears to me, and on those occasions he has followed his nose and eaten, I put the pinkie in the fork of a branch that's in the viv. Admittedly the pinkies I have now are a tad larger than the first batch I had, so maybe this may be a factor. Thanx again to you all.
 
I have never had a problem with my Frank. I always feed him in his viv. The one thing I do is I come in and remove his water bowl, hides, and anything else in the tank except the aspen. Oh boy, he knows it's coming when this happens. He is in feeding mode at this point. I don't put the mouse in the cage, I drop it in. I have never had a problem, nor would I mind a bite from Frank. I would never feed my Ball python this way. I would not prefer to be bitten by him. I have seen his teeth. They are like a million little needles about a 1/4 inch long.
 
Belated thanx Frank! I don't check my emails too often but thanx for your reply mate. My problem now is finding Sid as he went AWOL last Thursday! No news is good news they say!!
 
Ssthisto said:
But I really haven't seen convincing evidence for putting yourself in a situation where you HAVE to handle/move a snake who has just eaten to get it back into its normal enclosure. That's my personal experience, based on having tried both feeding in a separate tub and feeding in enclosures :)
Click to expand...

I agree. Frank DOES NOT LIKE BEING TOUCHED BY ANYTHING after eating. I started off feeding him in his viv. It became such a problem moving him back into his home, that I just started feeding him there. No problem. One year later, no strikes.
 
I don't like the fact that I can't see the postings I've posted while logged in. I feel like a schmuck when I see that I've commented a similar thing twice.

In regards to the AWAL snake, My frank did the magical disappearing act just the other day. I found him less than a foot away from his home in a cd rack after ransacking the whole house. There are plenty of interesting methods of finding lost snakes on these forums. They all sound like good ideas to me.

Keep the dogs and cats out of the house until he is safe!
 
Been just over a week now and I'm still checking the piles of towels I've put around the place, and a sticky trap! Checked every shoe in our cupboard as well. I don't wanna give up but hey......what a learning curve!!
 
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