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new corn snake - few questions

M

meatpie

New member
i just bought a beautiful baby sunglow corn snake from petco.
so i have a few questions that may seem horribly "noobish" to you all.
first, petco fed him every friday, and i was wondering if i should keep him on this one pinky a week diet.
next, i was wondering when i should move him up in meal size, as some of you said that your snakes were on a fuzzy at about 6 months.
lastly, i wanted to know why you shouldn't handle your baby until its eaten a few times. i got him 2 days ago and handled him a few times since then.
 
Welcome to the forums - Dont hesitate we are here to answer questions - However so is the search and FAQ features ;)

To make it quick:

One pink a week for a hatchling is NOT enough - I would bump him up to 1 pink every 4/5 days.

The reason we dont handle or feed for the first week or so is to reduce the amount of stress on the snaklet. We also dont handle for at least 48 hours after a feeding to reduce the risk of regurge.

You can bump his food size up when hes able to take larger prey items. The rule is the prey item should be no more than 1.5x the girth of the snake at the largest part.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your baby!
 
How big is the snake? Rule of thumb is to feed it a prey item equal to one and a half times the width of its body. It should have a visible lump for 24-48hrs after eating. With small babies, you can feed anywhere from every 5-7days. Once it reaches a size where that lump disappears quicker than 24-48hrs or there is not a visible lump after feeding, then you can consider moving up to a bigger prey item.

It is strongly advised not to handle a snake for 48hrs after feeding so that they have time to digest properly. Handling before that time can cause them to regurgitate which is not good.

It is also not recommended to handle them for about 5days when you first bring them home to give them time to acclimate to their new surroundings and not stress them out. Snakes can stress out rather easily from what I understand and this can cause poor health, bad feeding response etc...

Try the search function at the top of the page for more threads or more detailed info on any of these topics.
 
thank you guys so much. i will feed him tomorrow. little ozzy is about a foot long, and a centimeter around. tops. though i haven't measured formally.
also, a question that may prove dire: i bought a little package at petco that said it was good for up to 20 gallon tanks. the heating pad that came with it is pretty small, and im not sure it's heating the tank significantly. i bought one of those little black thermometers that reminds me of a moon ring, in that it changes colors for different temperatures - its a " Zoo Med high range reptile thermometer," anyway its about a foot or so away from the heating pad and says 75 degrees (i would have put it closer to the pad but i saw the picture and put it near the top) though i'm not sure its getting a good reading. its a low quality thermometer and its far away from a small heating pad so, i'm not sure if i should go buy a light, though i prefer a pad because he's in my bedroom. any help would be appreciated.
 
meatpie said:
thank you guys so much. i will feed him tomorrow. little ozzy is about a foot long, and a centimeter around. tops. though i haven't measured formally.
also, a question that may prove dire: i bought a little package at petco that said it was good for up to 20 gallon tanks. the heating pad that came with it is pretty small, and im not sure it's heating the tank significantly. i bought one of those little black thermometers that reminds me of a moon ring, in that it changes colors for different temperatures - its a " Zoo Med high range reptile thermometer," anyway its about a foot or so away from the heating pad and says 75 degrees (i would have put it closer to the pad but i saw the picture and put it near the top) though i'm not sure its getting a good reading. its a low quality thermometer and its far away from a small heating pad so, i'm not sure if i should go buy a light, though i prefer a pad because he's in my bedroom. any help would be appreciated.
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Well, you've recognized the problem that it is a low-quality thermometer. The best advice I can give you is to buy a cheap ($6-10) indoor/outdoor thermometer with a probe. Find one at Walmart, Lowes, many different places. Put the probe inside the tank right against the glass where the UTH is underneath. This will give you a much more accurate reading of the temp. Then you will know how hot it really is and whether you need more or less heat or if it's juuuuuuuust right. Also, the UTH should cover ~1/3 of the bottom of the tank.
 
ok, i will buy a better thermometer. the UTH is small compared the the 20L terrarium - 1/5 maybe 1/6th the size.
 
meatpie said:
ok, i will buy a better thermometer. the UTH is small compared the the 20L terrarium - 1/5 maybe 1/6th the size.
Click to expand...

I would check into a new UTH. They generally aren't too expensive ($10-15 maybe, I can't remember for sure). Most will say on the box what size tank they are intended to fit. Also, attaching it to something like a piece of picture frame glass or a ceramic tile will help to distribute the heat more evenly. It also makes it a snap to move the UTH to a different spot or different tank without having to try and peel it off of the underside of the tank and risk breaking it. FWIW, I've always attached my UTH's to picture frame glass and it has seemed to work well for me.

Hope that helps!
 
yea, i'm almost positive it will help and thank you!
one more thing though, i tried to feed for the first time today (5 days after his last pet store feed) and he refused to eat it. so i took the pinkie out and put it back in the freezer and put the snake back in his tank, i waited an hour then got a new pinkie out, in case i had to re freeze again, and this time i cut holes in it, but i put it in his tank thinking it was probly my scent that made him real "iffy" about the pinkie and he's still not eating. any suggestions?
 
I would say to just give him more time. A general rule is to not offer them food too often. If they refuse one day (after only one offering) then wait at least 3 or 4 days before offering again. If they are offered food every day (sometimes more than once) you are sort of conditioning them to refuse everytime, because they just assume food will be offered everyday. If they only get to see food once every 4 or 5 days, they might be more inclined to eat...because they aren't sure when they might see it again.

I would wait another 3 days at least before trying again. Maybe try towards the late evening. Put the snake in a smallish container with a pinky that has slits in its back (you can even brain it, if you wish). Leave him alone for an extended period with no interruptions or disturbances. Using a small container (with air holes, if for an extended period) you're basically "forcing" the snake to recognize/notice the mouse.

Try giving this a shot. If it still doesn't work, then you can try extended measures like scenting.
 
meatpie said:
would you recommend braining it? and if so, what would be a good way for doing so?
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It's up to you. It might increase the odds of him eating, but it might not. Just use the same thing (knife/whatever) you use to slit the back and use it to poke a hole in the head. Try to make sure some of the juice comes out, because the whole idea is to have the scent to entice the snake.
 
So I tried to feed Ozzy again tonight, I would've waited but he was out and about pacing and such. so I put him in the little Petco box that he came in with a cut, and brained pinky mouse. He still didn't eat it and I guess I'm wondering what I should do from here.
 
I almost forgot to say, I'm pretty sure he's afraid of the pinky. He looks at it and then recoils quick like its gonna hurt him. I'm starting to wonder what Petco has been feeding him if hes so scared of pinkies. Any ideas?
 
zwyatt said:
wait at least 3 or 4 days before offering again. If they are offered food every day (sometimes more than once) you are sort of conditioning them to refuse everytime, because they just assume food will be offered everyday. If they only get to see food once every 4 or 5 days, they might be more inclined to eat...because they aren't sure when they might see it again.
Click to expand...

I gave my advice, but it didn't seem to matter all that much. I would suggest trying to make use of the search function for ideas. All of these topics have been covered many times.
 
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