• 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.

Returning from a long hiatus

Arson

Arson

NEEDS MORE COWBELL!
Some of you may remember me from about a year ago:

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12122

I got my very first cornsnake. Since then I've kept the same snake and I've yet to have a single problem. She feeds and sheds regularly. Everything is going perfectly. The reason I've return is because I'm taking an active interest in keep cornsnakes again and I'm considering getting some more. Now that breeding season is approaching I know lots of yearlings will become cheap. These forums have always been a great source of knowledge and I've spent the last few days mulling over some of the new stuff. There's lots of new faces around. It's good to see the community growing.

As with before my presence always comes along with a strong sense of wanting to learn new things. This has brought me back to here.

I do have one concern with my corn. I'm a bit concerned she may be too small. I think this may be my own fault as I believe I may still be feeding her mice that are too small or have been too conservative. She's approaching 2 years of age. Does anyone have any measurements by weight and/or length of their corns that are near the 2 year mark? Also, what size mouse should she be feeding on by now? Lastly, should she be too small for her age would any manner of feeding and gradually bumping to the appropriate size help alleviate that? I'm aware that all snakes vary in size, but I'm sure you can give me generalized measurements or educated guesses.

I appreciate your feedback and look forward to speaking with all of you on the boards in the coming months.
 
Welcome back.
My 03 corns are approaching the 3' mark, give or take, except for 1 female that is a slow grower. She's about 28".
They are all feeding on small adult mice and doing well.
How big is she? Can't make an educated opinion without some more info.
Pic would be helpful too. :cheers:
 
My '03 amel is approaching 4 ft, and my '03 aztec is around 3 ft. They weigh 411 grams and 212 grams respectively. My amel was up to 479 grams, but he's been in breeder mode and hasn't eaten sice January 22.
 
I spoke with JoeJr last night in the chatroom and he mentioned that his '03 female weighed 107.3g. I"m going to go purchase a scale today and weigh mine. I'll give more information when I have more accurate measurements. I don't have a digital camera. I'll see what I can do about producing a picture.
 
i would geuss an 03 should probably eating close to or adult size mice. my 9 month 04 is taking and handleing med-large juvi mice very well. this was one thing i was always told, by the person i got my snakes from (breeds various types of snakes) he said "I find alot of people feed their corns too small prey" now i know he didnt mean to shove a huge mouse down a tiny corns throat, but ihave stayed with in the feeding 1.5X to sometimes 2X the fattest part of the corn, i have had great success in my short time of keeping corns. hope this helps, otherwise if you feed too small i would assume this would keep your corn stunted, and not able to reach their full size, i am no expert just a hobbiest, and this is what has worked well for me.
 
Today I purchased a scale to weigh my corn. I'm ashamed to admit she only weighs 52 grams. She is 22 months (just short of two years). It's obvious to me that she is far too small for her age. As I mentioned last night since this became a concern for me I have arriving tomorrow hopper and small size mice. I will immediately begin upsizing her meals. She has always eaten every 5-6 days and never missed a meal. I guess I've simply been too conservative and misjudged what a corn can handle. I feel horrible. :awcrap:


I guess my next concern is whether or not there will be permanent consequences to her being so undersized. Do you think that consistent feedings of larger mice will eventually lead her to her proper size?

edit: I'll see what I can do about getting an accurate length measurement.
 
Too small mice . . .

Don't feel too bad, I've tended to err on the too small size myself. It's easy . . . it seems irrational that they can eat something several times the size of their head!!! :shrugs: You get worried about a regurge, so you keep the mice small. It's only been thanks to the folks here that I've got to where I'm getting close to feeding the right size. To my surprise, Monty -who is about 17" long - is eating huge pinkies and will be on fuzzies very soon. And due to a problem with not being able to aquire "medium" pinkies my smallest ghost ate 3 neonates the other day with no problem! So they really can handle much bigger food items than you would think.

I think your snake will be fine, she may just reach her growth potential later than others. You have to think that in the wild snake's eating is sporadic and opportunistic, so as long as they eat enough to live and grow at all they will eventually reach maturity. That is an assumption, tho, if I am wrong I'm sure someone will set me straight!
 
My 8-12 month old corns are ranging 30-60 grams (some have been really slow starters)

My 20-24 month old corns are ranging 200-350 grams

My 32-36 month old corns are ranging 300-450 grams

They all seem to have different growth rates even though they're all on the same feeding schedule. I have 04's that seem to be growing very, very slowly (a Charcoal and a Ghost). It can be really frustrating...

* Yearling corns will be at a higher price then hatchlings...Their prices generally do not drop, but rise... *
 
Just updating saying FedEx delivered my hoppers and small adults today and I fed my snow one of the hoppers. These seem much more appropriate for her size judging by the 1.5x rule. She downed it like a champ. I'll be pushing her to the small adults as soon as she can handle them.

Thanks for everyone's input. I appreciate it. Hopefully she won't have suffered any long-term stunted growth.
 
my female is a sptember 03 and is about 3.5 feet and is laying her first clutch as i type. i never weighed her but i would have to say she's about 300-350 grams. so far there are 15 eggs, 3 possible slugs, and about 5 more to come.
 
I wouldn't be too hard on myself if I were you Arson. As long as she's been eating regularly, she hasn't been hungry.

It's been my experience that while she may stay a little bit on the smaller side, growing them slow helps to keep them healthy. That said, as you now beging to step up the size of the food, you will notice some serious rapid growth.

When I first started keeping corns, I made the same mistake as you. When it was finally proven to me that my anery could handle bigger food, I switched her to big hoppers, then to full size mice.

For a while there, she was shedding monthly, sometimes bi-monthly. It's like the bigger food unlocked her potential. She's still not the biggest corn around, but she never has a bad shed, never refuses food, checks out fine at the vets, and has laid 2 beautiful clutches in two years.
 
Wanted to offer another update on this thread. My snow is now feeding on small adult mice and her weight has increased to 84 grams in just a few weeks. She seems to love the larger mice. She is definitely getting much bigger quickly. Thanks to everyone who offered help on this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top