Hi! I just adopted my very first cornsnake. I have always wanted a snake, but things were just never right for taking one on. Finally, the stars aligned and I found my girl. I work in a Children's Library and the snake I adopted is one that was at a shelter and has worked children's fairs for several years. She is six years old and absolutely gorgeous. I brought her to her new home on Saturday and she was in blue phase. This morning I came to work to find that she had a perfect shed over night. My question is this, I see many of you saying that your snakes eat weekly. The lady from the shelter said that Cornelia (my snake) eats about every 3 to 4 weeks. I'm guessing the snake knows what she wants and if that's as often as she eats it's fine, but does that seem odd to any of you? At any rate, I am over the moon, she is a perfect fit and such a lovely snake. I'll post pics soon. Also, she only eats live, so maybe that makes a difference?
-
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.
Surprised by feeding habits
- Thread starter wildhag
- Start date
DollysMom
It never gets old!
Your new snake sounds wonderful. Congrats!
I've never heard of 3 to 4 weeks for a corn snake in captivity as a feeding schedule. I have heard of 7 to 14 days. Did the lady mean your snake refused being fed more often?
It may be possible to transition her to frozen thawed. There are a number of reasons it is preferred, and the snake's safety and your convenience are high among them.
I've never heard of 3 to 4 weeks for a corn snake in captivity as a feeding schedule. I have heard of 7 to 14 days. Did the lady mean your snake refused being fed more often?
It may be possible to transition her to frozen thawed. There are a number of reasons it is preferred, and the snake's safety and your convenience are high among them.
I think pictures would be great- She sounds like a beautiful snake.
I'm not an expert, but 3-4 weeks, once a month feedings, sounds a little bit too far apart.
I know my snake is reaching adulthood, and he eats a large mouse every 10 days.
I guess it depends on the snake, as long as she is a health, hefty weight, not thin where you can see her spine or really fat with rolls and her scales space apart, then I would say keep to that schedule of 3-4 weeks.
But pictures would help the more expert people on here determine if once a month is enough for her, I would think.
Welcome to the forum!
I'm not an expert, but 3-4 weeks, once a month feedings, sounds a little bit too far apart.
I know my snake is reaching adulthood, and he eats a large mouse every 10 days.
I guess it depends on the snake, as long as she is a health, hefty weight, not thin where you can see her spine or really fat with rolls and her scales space apart, then I would say keep to that schedule of 3-4 weeks.
But pictures would help the more expert people on here determine if once a month is enough for her, I would think.
Welcome to the forum!
The rescue place that had her for adoption did try to switch her to frozen, but she was not having it. I'm okay with her eating live if she that's what she prefers. She is very healthy, so it just really surprised me how frequently everyone on the forum feeds their snakes. Since I just got her, I may monitor her behavior and see if she acts hungry more often than 3 weeks?
albertagirl
Sharan
Welcome to the forum, and congratulations!! Snakes are awesome and so easy, you'll be wondering why you waited so long.
My snakes act hungry after about 2 or 3 days. Snakes will eat themselves to oblivion if you let them, so judging by her weight is going to be more accurate than judging by how hungry she acts. Mine literally pop their heads out and say "food?" every time I walk into the room. Haha. I don't have adult snakes yet either, but I think feeding every 2 weeks or so is pretty common. As Zeina said, you want to make sure you can't see her spine, but she should not be round in shape either.
Can't wait to see pictures!
My snakes act hungry after about 2 or 3 days. Snakes will eat themselves to oblivion if you let them, so judging by her weight is going to be more accurate than judging by how hungry she acts. Mine literally pop their heads out and say "food?" every time I walk into the room. Haha. I don't have adult snakes yet either, but I think feeding every 2 weeks or so is pretty common. As Zeina said, you want to make sure you can't see her spine, but she should not be round in shape either.
Can't wait to see pictures!
DollysMom
It never gets old!
Hi again wildhag. I can see your pictures just fine.
It is not always easy to make an accurate assessment from a picture, but Cornelia looks underweight by quite a bit to me. Do you have a scale? Can you get a weight on her? We weigh our snakes in grams, but almost any digital postal or food scale will do both.
A length would also be helpful. You can use this tool to get a pretty good ideal http://serpwidgets.com/main/measure2
Finally, if you look at your snake in crossection (imagine it) a triangle is underweight, a loaf of bread (flat bottom flat sides and rounded top) is normal weight, and a circle is overweight. It's a little more nuanced than that, but it's a good start. Cornelia almost looks like a ribbon in the pictures, but it may not look that severe in person.
First thing, don't panic. Second thing, if you are going to increase her feeding frequency, do it very gradually.
I love her name by the way. I have long thought that it would be a perfect name for a corn snake.
I hope more folks here will weigh in. She's a lovely snake. You'll get there.
It is not always easy to make an accurate assessment from a picture, but Cornelia looks underweight by quite a bit to me. Do you have a scale? Can you get a weight on her? We weigh our snakes in grams, but almost any digital postal or food scale will do both.
A length would also be helpful. You can use this tool to get a pretty good ideal http://serpwidgets.com/main/measure2
Finally, if you look at your snake in crossection (imagine it) a triangle is underweight, a loaf of bread (flat bottom flat sides and rounded top) is normal weight, and a circle is overweight. It's a little more nuanced than that, but it's a good start. Cornelia almost looks like a ribbon in the pictures, but it may not look that severe in person.
First thing, don't panic. Second thing, if you are going to increase her feeding frequency, do it very gradually.
I love her name by the way. I have long thought that it would be a perfect name for a corn snake.
I hope more folks here will weigh in. She's a lovely snake. You'll get there.
albertagirl
Sharan
I'm no expert, but I'd agree you're probably pretty safe to feed her a little more often and get a little bit more weight on her, but I've definitely seen skinnier rescues. I don't think this is any kind of panic situation. She's super pretty!
This forum IS awesome! I love having a place to go where I know I can get good advice, and where I know I will be corrected if I give bad advice.
And a place where everyone else loves snakes too is pretty hard to beat!
This forum IS awesome! I love having a place to go where I know I can get good advice, and where I know I will be corrected if I give bad advice.
And a place where everyone else loves snakes too is pretty hard to beat!
Genlisae
New member
Welcome! She is beautiful.
I can't comment on her weight, I am still relatively new to this as well, but back when I joined these forums (and was freaking out trying to make sure absolutely EVERYTHING was perfect) I was given this advice: If the girth of the snake is shaped kind of like a loaf of bread or an upside down U they are good. More of a triangle is too thin (protruding spine, etc), and a circle is too fat. As it turned out mine was way too thin at the time (which I had suspected). Nearly 2 years later she is doing wonderfully and eating a 30g (the shy side of approximately 10% of the weight of the snake) mouse every 10 days.
You might want to look up the Munson Plan. It is a good, general guide of how often and what size to feed corn snakes. Many (myself included) think it is a little aggressive on the size of prey (designed to get snakes to breeding size quickly. For those of us not breeding it is safe to scale the prey size back a bit to the roughly 10% I mentioned earlier), but the timeline seems to work wonderfully.
I can't comment on her weight, I am still relatively new to this as well, but back when I joined these forums (and was freaking out trying to make sure absolutely EVERYTHING was perfect) I was given this advice: If the girth of the snake is shaped kind of like a loaf of bread or an upside down U they are good. More of a triangle is too thin (protruding spine, etc), and a circle is too fat. As it turned out mine was way too thin at the time (which I had suspected). Nearly 2 years later she is doing wonderfully and eating a 30g (the shy side of approximately 10% of the weight of the snake) mouse every 10 days.
You might want to look up the Munson Plan. It is a good, general guide of how often and what size to feed corn snakes. Many (myself included) think it is a little aggressive on the size of prey (designed to get snakes to breeding size quickly. For those of us not breeding it is safe to scale the prey size back a bit to the roughly 10% I mentioned earlier), but the timeline seems to work wonderfully.
Karl_Mcknight
Common Sense Holder
Baby snakes and "Growing Snakes" eat weekly. Your snake is 6 years old so it's considered an adult and is probably full grown. Full grown adult snakes eat every 10 to 14 days unless they are overweight and fat, and yes sometimes that would require feeding every 3 weeks. But I've never heard of waiting 4 weeks to feed. Every snake I've ever owned fed weekly up until they were Adult Size and then I switch to 14 day feeds.
Thanks all! I think I'd better try upping her feeding to two weeks. If she rejects it, that frequently...don't worry? Keep trying? Since I have you all, can I ask how long you wait after a shed to feed again? It's been weeks already. She was due to eat, but started her shed cycle and wouldn't eat. I really appreciate all the help. I do want her to have the best possible (and very long) life with me!
Thanks all! I think I'd better try upping her feeding to two weeks. If she rejects it that frequently...don't worry? Keep trying? Since I have you all, can I ask how long you wait after a shed to feed again? It's been weeks already. She was due to eat, but started her shed cycle and wouldn't eat. I really appreciate all the help. I do want her to have the best possible (and very long) life with me!
albertagirl
Sharan
I don't have a set feeding day, so once they've shed I'm usually offering food within a day or so. You don't have to feed immediately, but I don't think it hurts if you do. However, it's always recommended to give your snake a few days to settle in when you've first moved them to a new home/cage so I would suggest not handling or feeding her for about the first week to let her adjust, and then start offering food.
Genlisae
New member
Some snakes will eat even when in deep "blue". Mine does (as discovered by me loosing my glasses and not noticing right away), my daughter's does not. This being the case mine gets fed every 10 days regardless and is a voracious feeder every time. My daughter's, on the other hand, she holds off until he sheds. As soon as she sees the shed in the tank she is warming a mouse for him. It sounds like Cornelia (awesome name!) would fall into the same category as my daughter's. Experiment and see how soon after she sheds she will take the meal.
axis1
Fuhgeddaboudit!!!!
For some reason and it may just be ME, but that snake just LOOKS like if you offered her a thawed mouse, she would swallow it so fast she probably wouldn't even taste it!
Why not try it? Can't hurt either the snake OR the mouse and it just might help in the long run!
Just sayin.
Why not try it? Can't hurt either the snake OR the mouse and it just might help in the long run!
Just sayin.
DollysMom
It never gets old!
Just to add another data point on the shedding and feeding, I have one who eats right through shed and I maintain her normal schedule.
I have another corn snake I dont feed in shed and I feed her the evening after. So if I find the shed in the morning, she gets fed that evening. If she sheds in the day or evening she gets fed the following evening. Because she's had a fast she's so ready to eat by then.
I agree with Axis1 on trying frozen thawed again. A couple of things to try are to make sure the thawed mouse is warm (use water to do this, I use hot tap water) . Use tongs and drag the mouse by the tail back and forth to entice the snake. If that doesn't work, warm the mouse again, put it near the snake's head and leave the snake alone. You can leave the mouse overnight, but discard in the morning. (This presumes evening feeding)
Also feed in the evening with subdued lighting to mimic the snake's natural hunting time. Corn snakes are active at dusk and dawn, so dawn works as well, but I find evening works better with my life.
I have another corn snake I dont feed in shed and I feed her the evening after. So if I find the shed in the morning, she gets fed that evening. If she sheds in the day or evening she gets fed the following evening. Because she's had a fast she's so ready to eat by then.
I agree with Axis1 on trying frozen thawed again. A couple of things to try are to make sure the thawed mouse is warm (use water to do this, I use hot tap water) . Use tongs and drag the mouse by the tail back and forth to entice the snake. If that doesn't work, warm the mouse again, put it near the snake's head and leave the snake alone. You can leave the mouse overnight, but discard in the morning. (This presumes evening feeding)
Also feed in the evening with subdued lighting to mimic the snake's natural hunting time. Corn snakes are active at dusk and dawn, so dawn works as well, but I find evening works better with my life.
CornySnakeUser
New member
I'd recommend feeding it once every three weeks twice, then once after eighteen days, once more after seventeen days, and then once every two weeks.