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- Thread starter Danny232
- Start date
Rachel
Vet nurse in training!
Well...it's not bad in the sense that you're not jeopardising your corns health but I've been nipped a couple of time hand feeding. I wouldn't feed in the tank though or you could risk your corn associating the lid being opened with food and your chances of being bitten are increased.
HTH
HTH
bmm
New member
I am doing a suvery on this subject right now.
I believe the whole "don't feed in cage thing" is a myth, or at least not as needed as some people toss around the idea. And certainly not normally explaned correctly. IMHO
For one, I don't believe the snakes can become accustomed to your hand being food when placed in cage if you are doing proper husbandry. Let's say you fed your snake IN cage once per week. Then you also change water once per week. You clean cage once per week, and you handle your snake twice or so per week. That's a total of 4-6 times of putting your hand into the cage. And out of 6 times the ONE time you fed a mosue, this is supposed to condition your snake? Not in my mind. IF you are handling often. etc.
Also, most feeding accidents occur when the snake is being moved from this oh so wonderful feeding tub back into the cage. Not only is this stressful, but my unfinished survey results (which yes is only a personal thing, not perfect) also indicate most people have accidents while moving snake from feeding tub to cage. Which makes sense, common sense.
Also people like to say "conditioned" that food is coming. How can they explain the differance between feeding them in cage and picking them up outta cage? If snakes are sooooo conditionable by only ONE feeding per week in cage, don't you think they would also be sooooo conditional and think each and every time you remove them from cage they are getting fed? They don't though. And it doesn't make sense than every snake would condition itself the opposite way, and think food is coming IN every time if they don't also believe each time they are coming out of the cage they are being fed.
Another point is that many many people including myself feed in cage. None of my snakes have become more aggresive. I beleive if a person starts feeding out of cage and thinks "hey my snake is getting friendlier" that the reason it has calmed a bit is because feeding in tub gives you two extra pick ups/handlings per week right there! This WOULD be a good reason for tub feeding IMHO. That and preventing substrate ingestion. But as for aggresion, I think its fooey, and it opens people up to bites.
Remember just MHO and hopefuly I can post the results of my survey soon. I am not saying its wrong, I am jsut giving my opinion.
bmm
I believe the whole "don't feed in cage thing" is a myth, or at least not as needed as some people toss around the idea. And certainly not normally explaned correctly. IMHO
For one, I don't believe the snakes can become accustomed to your hand being food when placed in cage if you are doing proper husbandry. Let's say you fed your snake IN cage once per week. Then you also change water once per week. You clean cage once per week, and you handle your snake twice or so per week. That's a total of 4-6 times of putting your hand into the cage. And out of 6 times the ONE time you fed a mosue, this is supposed to condition your snake? Not in my mind. IF you are handling often. etc.
Also, most feeding accidents occur when the snake is being moved from this oh so wonderful feeding tub back into the cage. Not only is this stressful, but my unfinished survey results (which yes is only a personal thing, not perfect) also indicate most people have accidents while moving snake from feeding tub to cage. Which makes sense, common sense.
Also people like to say "conditioned" that food is coming. How can they explain the differance between feeding them in cage and picking them up outta cage? If snakes are sooooo conditionable by only ONE feeding per week in cage, don't you think they would also be sooooo conditional and think each and every time you remove them from cage they are getting fed? They don't though. And it doesn't make sense than every snake would condition itself the opposite way, and think food is coming IN every time if they don't also believe each time they are coming out of the cage they are being fed.
Another point is that many many people including myself feed in cage. None of my snakes have become more aggresive. I beleive if a person starts feeding out of cage and thinks "hey my snake is getting friendlier" that the reason it has calmed a bit is because feeding in tub gives you two extra pick ups/handlings per week right there! This WOULD be a good reason for tub feeding IMHO. That and preventing substrate ingestion. But as for aggresion, I think its fooey, and it opens people up to bites.
Remember just MHO and hopefuly I can post the results of my survey soon. I am not saying its wrong, I am jsut giving my opinion.
bmm
and one mo thing...
i have a few questions i wanna get outa the way now so here goes: do most cornsnakes grow to the same length? when will i know to move from pinkies to fuzzies, and fuzzies to adults? also how often should i feed him on all of them...currently i feed him every 4-5 days (pinkies), also how often should i clean his cage?....i dont have a digital camera or a scanner so ill just desribe his coloration so maybe someone could help me identify his type: he has red blotches on his back and between each of them is a orange stripe.....some spaces on his back are just grey , the pet store said that he is albino if that will help any. he looks much like a candycane but with much more color and less grey. any help would be greatly appreciated
i have a few questions i wanna get outa the way now so here goes: do most cornsnakes grow to the same length? when will i know to move from pinkies to fuzzies, and fuzzies to adults? also how often should i feed him on all of them...currently i feed him every 4-5 days (pinkies), also how often should i clean his cage?....i dont have a digital camera or a scanner so ill just desribe his coloration so maybe someone could help me identify his type: he has red blotches on his back and between each of them is a orange stripe.....some spaces on his back are just grey , the pet store said that he is albino if that will help any. he looks much like a candycane but with much more color and less grey. any help would be greatly appreciated
bmm
New member
O.k. to answer your questions...
1st question: No. All cornsnakes do not grow to the same length. Some may reach 6 feet, while plenty others may be four. And even some more might not even hit four.
2nd question: You can judge when to move to fuzzies and so on by your snakes girth. Feed prey items that are the same size - one and a half times larger around as the largest (widest) part on your snake. Sticking with prey items that are the same girth at the widest point as your snake is a very safe bet
3rd question: You can feed your snake every 4-5 days. That's fine. Normally by the time they reach one year, you slow it down as they also slow down in growing and grower slower. Hatchlings/young ones grow very fast so feeding every 4-5 days is pretty perfect for them. But they as well can eat only once per 7 days if that is what you want to do. It is by no means starving them. Like I mentioned, adults eating adult mice feed less. They can become obese when they have become adults. My adults eat every 14 days.
bmm
1st question: No. All cornsnakes do not grow to the same length. Some may reach 6 feet, while plenty others may be four. And even some more might not even hit four.
2nd question: You can judge when to move to fuzzies and so on by your snakes girth. Feed prey items that are the same size - one and a half times larger around as the largest (widest) part on your snake. Sticking with prey items that are the same girth at the widest point as your snake is a very safe bet
3rd question: You can feed your snake every 4-5 days. That's fine. Normally by the time they reach one year, you slow it down as they also slow down in growing and grower slower. Hatchlings/young ones grow very fast so feeding every 4-5 days is pretty perfect for them. But they as well can eat only once per 7 days if that is what you want to do. It is by no means starving them. Like I mentioned, adults eating adult mice feed less. They can become obese when they have become adults. My adults eat every 14 days.
bmm
surfrkidTS
New member
If it helps, my snake is 10 months and eating a fuzzy once every four days. They are still bigger than his widest part but the lump dissappears pretty quickly and he is growing like crazy! two sheds in less than two months! The only reason I feed him in a sweaterbox is because of the substrate issue and I usually don't feed by hand (just dump the mouse out of a bag after checking it for fleas) because he gets really excited at the faintest smell of mouse. Its rather funny actually to see him zoom around looking for where it is when I haven't set it down yet. The smell on my hands would make it hard to get him out since I usually do not have time to wash my hands. ( In other words, I like to watch) Here is a picture of his size next to a fuzzy. Yes, It is real, I just made it look like graphics with a program. I spend way to much time on the computer...
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surfrkidTS
New member
Matt L
New member
bmm,
I will agree with you to a point on conditioning, I feed all of mine in there tubs, with close to 175 animals it would be difficult otherwise. I feed many of them by hand with little trouble. There are a few that without a doubt are food aggressive. By this I mean they will come out of the tub and grab the first thing that smells like mice, sometimes it's a mouse--sometimes it's a finger. With that said this is by far the rule and certainly not the majority. I worked with large pythons for quite a few years and I would say the hazard of conditioning is much stronger in them than with corns. Now Danny! to answer you question directly--If you don't mind an occasional nip from a corn snake, I see no harm in hand feeding. I would not do this with a 18 foot Burmese Python or any large monitor. I have experienced bites from both and this is not bragging. Both were stupid mistakes I shall not repeat--some of us have to learn the hard way.
I will agree with you to a point on conditioning, I feed all of mine in there tubs, with close to 175 animals it would be difficult otherwise. I feed many of them by hand with little trouble. There are a few that without a doubt are food aggressive. By this I mean they will come out of the tub and grab the first thing that smells like mice, sometimes it's a mouse--sometimes it's a finger. With that said this is by far the rule and certainly not the majority. I worked with large pythons for quite a few years and I would say the hazard of conditioning is much stronger in them than with corns. Now Danny! to answer you question directly--If you don't mind an occasional nip from a corn snake, I see no harm in hand feeding. I would not do this with a 18 foot Burmese Python or any large monitor. I have experienced bites from both and this is not bragging. Both were stupid mistakes I shall not repeat--some of us have to learn the hard way.
EtherRex
Otter-Like
Im a newbie, but want to post my experiences so far
My little corn (called Toes) is only 5 months old and is 50cms. She eats 3 pinkies every 5-6 days and I will be moving her on to fuzzies in the next month or so. So far I have fed her mainly in her cage on a plate to stop her ingesting substrate. She has never struck at my hand and is fine being picked out. As said above I think the scent is the most important thing. If they smell a mouse then whatever it is that smells that way is treated like a mouse
We fed her by hand last week with me holding her and my Girlfriend holding the pinkie. She struck so hard that my gf jumped out of her skin! She then developed an unhealthy interest in my gf's thumbs. Hehe. When we placed her back in the tank she attacked the others with a passion, striking and constricting. She was patroling for more as well, the greedy guts.
I see no reason to move her out of the tank for feeding as long as she is not in danger of eating the substrate. Does anyone else? I think I will keep feeding her by hand (in the tank maybe)from now on as its fun and should prove a good bonding time to get her even tamer.
My little corn (called Toes) is only 5 months old and is 50cms. She eats 3 pinkies every 5-6 days and I will be moving her on to fuzzies in the next month or so. So far I have fed her mainly in her cage on a plate to stop her ingesting substrate. She has never struck at my hand and is fine being picked out. As said above I think the scent is the most important thing. If they smell a mouse then whatever it is that smells that way is treated like a mouse
We fed her by hand last week with me holding her and my Girlfriend holding the pinkie. She struck so hard that my gf jumped out of her skin! She then developed an unhealthy interest in my gf's thumbs. Hehe
. When we placed her back in the tank she attacked the others with a passion, striking and constricting. She was patroling for more as well, the greedy guts. I see no reason to move her out of the tank for feeding as long as she is not in danger of eating the substrate. Does anyone else? I think I will keep feeding her by hand (in the tank maybe)from now on as its fun and should prove a good bonding time to get her even tamer.