• 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.

So many questions!

D

darci666

New member
Hello all :licklips:

I have been scouting this site for a few weeks now and am very excited to be a part of it. I am a proud new mom to a jungle corn that I adopted from a friend, who, unfortunately had no interest in owning her any more. I took her off his hands as I have always been into reptiles. She is a beautiful creature, she has an amazing personality and keeps me company every day. So far, the past 4 months that I have owned her (I am a first time snake owner) has been great. There are a few things that I am still trying to familiarize myself with, the biggest is feeding. Previous owner did not keep up on a healthy feeding schedule, I have changed that and have been feeding every two-three weeks. (as per his suggestion, side note, he owned her for 7 years before he decided he did not want her anymore)

It has been going great, however, here are my two main concerns. Feeding is fine, she turns from a sweet girl into hunt mode as soon as I put her into her feeding cage..after feed, I struggle with putting her back into her viv. How long should I let her wait in her feeding cage before I put her back into her home? secondly, is there any comfortable ways of replacing her into her home after feeding? This has been my biggest struggle. I don't want to harm her by replacing her back home wrong. She is usually pretty squirly when she is in her feeding cage and is slightly aggressive (as im sure all snakes are considering they are still in hunt mode).

Second issue is new..it was a schedule feeding on New Years Eve, but she was burrowing..i knew she was due for a shed..I did not dig her out of her burrow as I did not want to scare her, so I waited for a day...however the next day she was still burrowing...I left her be that night, and when I woke up she was out but in blue. I am aware that I am not supposed to try and touch her during this time as she can become a bit aggressive..She was in blue two days ago, and still has not shed her skin. I am starting to feel a tad guilty because I still have no fed her. Is it best to wait until she sheds? I know she is headed to that stage, it just hasn't happened yet..how long do I wait? Her scales are dull and I can see that she doesn't look as vivid as she normally does.

Perhaps im having the first time owner jitters and am worrying to much, but I could really use some guidance on these two things. I never want to hurt my girl, and I am worried that the bad timing of the shed and the feed will harm her in some way.

Thanks so much for listening I cant wait to hear what everyone has to say.

cheers.
 
Some great questions! I cant wait to see how everyone responds because i have many of the same.
 
It takes a little while after going blue for them to actually shed. From what I read expect 2-5 days, possibly longer with some. Don't worry about missing a feeding for it, going a week or two without food isn't a big deal for them. Besides during the shedding process they're not to comfortable with eating. I've got a thread right now because Igneous vomited up his food when I accidentally fed him after he started.
 
You can always just put the container (if you feed in a plastic container) into the cage and sorta tip her out or let her climb out herself. This is what I used to do :)

Don't worry about spooking her if you uncover her. She will get spooked either way; to her you appear to be a predator, until she knows you aren't - which can take a lot of time... or never happen.
That being said, when you uncover her, scoop her up as calmly as you normally would. If you waited for her to come out on her own you'd never be able to feed her!

You can try offering food while she's in her shed process. If she's older than a hatchling this shouldn't be an issue (ie. of regurges). If she refuses, it's not a big deal. If she takes, then great.

Best of luck!
 
When I feed my king he's in attack mode for at least 5 minutes after feeding. Once he calms down he begins to climb out of his feed box. He'll usually come out with just his head the first fewinutes after feeding then dives back in hunting for more mice and adjusting his jaws. Once he climbs out and at least half his body is out its usually safe for me to pick him up and take him back to his viv.
My other corns are very calm after about a minute or two and I put them back with no problem. You can usually tell by their body language when they've had enough and can go back to their homes. At least I can tell :)
 
darci666 said:
I have changed that and have been feeding every two-three weeks. (as per his suggestion, side note, he owned her for 7 years before he decided he did not want her anymore)
Click to expand...
There's no need to go three weeks. 14 days is a pretty good feeding cycle for most adult corn snakes. This will of course vary based on size and amount of food offered.
It has been going great, however, here are my two main concerns. Feeding is fine, she turns from a sweet girl into hunt mode as soon as I put her into her feeding cage..after feed, I struggle with putting her back into her viv. How long should I let her wait in her feeding cage before I put her back into her home? secondly, is there any comfortable ways of replacing her into her home after feeding? This has been my biggest struggle. I don't want to harm her by replacing her back home wrong. She is usually pretty squirly when she is in her feeding cage and is slightly aggressive (as im sure all snakes are considering they are still in hunt mode).
Click to expand...
You could safely leave her in her feeding enclosure for a good while if need be for her to calm down a bit. As for getting her back into her viv after feeding... At her age I'm assuming her feeding enclosure is pretty good size. So you can't easily just "put the feeding enclosure into the viv and let her leave on her own". You're pretty much just gonna have to wait her out, let her calm down a bit, realize she isn't getting more food and curl up to digest. At that point, moving her should be a bit easier. Depending on the snakes personality, she might fight going back into her viv no matter how calm she is to start. Unless you are crazy manhandling, twisting, and forcing her though, there shouldn't be any concern for harm or even regurgitation.
Second issue is new..it was a schedule feeding on New Years Eve, but she was burrowing..i knew she was due for a shed..I did not dig her out of her burrow as I did not want to scare her, so I waited for a day...however the next day she was still burrowing...I left her be that night, and when I woke up she was out but in blue. I am aware that I am not supposed to try and touch her during this time as she can become a bit aggressive..She was in blue two days ago, and still has not shed her skin. I am starting to feel a tad guilty because I still have no fed her. Is it best to wait until she sheds? I know she is headed to that stage, it just hasn't happened yet..how long do I wait? Her scales are dull and I can see that she doesn't look as vivid as she normally does.
Click to expand...
Shedding can take anywhere from days to almost two weeks *after* the eyes clear up. It varies from snake to snake and shed to shed. It's best not to try and feed her until you know she's shed, or you risk a regurge. Many people have fed after the eyes cleared up but before shed, with no problem... but it's always a gamble that's generally better left avoided. Don't worry yourself about postponing her meal. Snakes can go a LONG time without eating, and if she's in the shed process she's not using much energy anyways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top