These things ARE non poisonous, aren't they??

[Dennis Cada]

The reason I'm asking that is that I got bitten by mine 2-3 hours ago!

He has two things in his terrarium resembling rough igloos. He can hide inside them as well as sleep on top of them, sort of like how Snoopy slept on top of his doghouse. I've been feeding him by putting the mouse on one of them so he doesn't ingest flakes of the aspen bedding along with the mouse. This time, his head was rather close to where I put the mouse and the mouse fell off the igloo thing into the aspen. I picked up the mouse to put it back on top and in a split second he bit me twice, leaving six puncture wounds in my middle finger which immediately started to bleed! I guess he thought that I was going to take the mouse away, as if I suddenly changed my mind about feeding him.

Is this normal behaviour? Does it mean that he was agitated or stressed out at the time? Or that he dislikes or distrusts me? Or that he was extremely hungry at the time?

His previous owner told me that he was feeding him a medium mouse every week or two. I have been giving him a large mouse every five days after a few of you said he was very thin.

 

[sdavis2]

Sounds like your hand smelled of the mouse you were picking up so he struck at what he thought was the mouse. And yes corns are non venomous

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

........ I've been feeding him by putting the mouse on one of them so he doesn't ingest flakes of the aspen bedding along with the mouse. This time, his head was rather close to where I put the mouse and the mouse fell off the igloo thing into the aspen. I picked up the mouse to put it back on top and in a split second he bit me twice, leaving six puncture wounds in my middle finger which immediately started to bleed!.....

Maybe you should invest 2 bucks for some feeding tongs

........ I guess he thought that I was going to take the mouse away, as if I suddenly changed my mind about feeding him.

Is this normal behaviour? Does it mean that he was agitated or stressed out at the time? Or that he dislikes or distrusts me? Or that he was extremely hungry at the time?

He just wanted the mouse.

...... His previous owner told me that he was feeding him a medium mouse every week or two. I have been giving him a large mouse every five days after a few of you said he was very thin.....

You probably should weigh the snake. Is the snake a baby? Is it 2 years old or 10 years old? Feeding every 5 days is ok for a hatchling, but if you have a grown snake, that's a bit much. And exactly what is a "Medium Mouse" or a "Large Mouse?" How do you know you are feeding correctly?

 

[Dennis Cada]

Strange, I did get tongs today, the kind used to remove cobs of corn from boiling water, and they did cost $1.99 too, but I was intending using them for my tarantulas, a Poecilotheria vittata in particular. Usually the mouse just slides out of the plastic bag and stays where I put it, and the snake is nowhere near at the time.

The sizes of the mice go by grams, large is significantly more that medium but they appear to be longer not much bigger in diameter so he has no trouble swallowing them. He appears to be a bit thicker than he was when I got him so I must be doing something right as a few here said he was underweight when I first got him.

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

It is possible to over feed. A "Fat Snake" or over fed snake is just as problematic as a thin snake.

Your corn snake should be eating about 10% to 13% of its body weight weekly until it's about 300 grams. At that time you should feed a 30 gram mouse every 10 days to 14 days to maintain a healthy weight.

It's probably not a good idea to adjust a feeding schedule just because somebody on a message forum commented on your snake photos and told you "It Looked thin."

It would make more sense to actually weigh the snake, and then feed accordingly.

 

[axis1]

The reason I'm asking that is that I got bitten by mine 2-3 hours ago!

He has two things in his terrarium resembling rough igloos. He can hide inside them as well as sleep on top of them, sort of like how Snoopy slept on top of his doghouse. I've been feeding him by putting the mouse on one of them so he doesn't ingest flakes of the aspen bedding along with the mouse. This time, his head was rather close to where I put the mouse and the mouse fell off the igloo thing into the aspen. I picked up the mouse to put it back on top and in a split second he bit me twice, leaving six puncture wounds in my middle finger which immediately started to bleed! I guess he thought that I was going to take the mouse away, as if I suddenly changed my mind about feeding him.

Is this normal behaviour? Does it mean that he was agitated or stressed out at the time? Or that he dislikes or distrusts me? Or that he was extremely hungry at the time?

His previous owner told me that he was feeding him a medium mouse every week or two. I have been giving him a large mouse every five days after a few of you said he was very thin.

Since Karl & sdavis answered your questions about why you got tagged by your corn and that they are non-venomous (though I hesitated to answer since I initially thought you were either kidding or one sandwich short of a picnic!), I gotta tell ya that feeding f/t mice on top of plastic, ceramic, or wooden hides inside of your snake's enclosure needs to be sanitized ASAP, due to the residual mess a rodent can leave behind uke01which you probably already know and if you DON'T, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there!). Mice and the stuff they leave behind can carry salmonella and/or other creepy-crawlers! oke: That is one of the MAIN reasons I believe it is WAY better to feed a snake in an external container and not in the enclosure where it lives, though there are many others!! Just an FYI and a couple of suggestions.

Just sayin' dude!

BTW, are ya sure it was your snake that made ya bleed, because I hear tarantulas can leave a nasty bite!! (Only kidding! If you really didn't know the difference, that would mean that the wheel is spinning, but the hamster is dead!!! LOL!!).

It's all good!! :crazy02:

 

[Dennis Cada]

Hmmm... The previous owner did feed him in a plastic box but didn't tell me why. Would a shallow dish work? The mouse doesn't stay around long enough for creepy crawly things to start hanging around unless that happens before it is frozen.

I was going to do a few new pictures of him but he is hiding. After what happened I don't want to disturb him. I've never tried to handle him since getting him home but I did just before I bought him.

If I want to get my ears pierced I know what to do! :-D

 

[axis1]

Hmmm... The previous owner did feed him in a plastic box but didn't tell me why. Would a shallow dish work? The mouse doesn't stay around long enough for creepy crawly things to start hanging around unless that happens before it is frozen.

I was going to do a few new pictures of him but he is hiding. After what happened I don't want to disturb him. I've never tried to handle him since getting him home but I did just before I bought him.

If I want to get my ears pierced I know what to do! :-D

A plastic box is GREAT! Or if you want him to get adjusted before removing him and you HAVE to feed him in his enclosure again, a newspaper, paper towels, or even a paper plate might suffice though snakes tend to drag rodents towards wherever they CAN to make it convenient enough for them to swallow them. Many folks feed IN the snake's enclosure, mostly those who have too many snakes to even THINK about moving them all to separate containers. It was just a suggestion. And much more sanitary, in my opinion!

I hope you and your little sneaky one get along OK!

 

[albertagirl]

I was always taught to start with recommended food quantities and then adjust by body shape, so if my animal (horses and dogs) was thin, feed a little more, and if fat, feed a little less. I would assume the same to be true for snakes, and we know what their body shape should be. Flat on bottom and sides and rounded on top, like a bread loaf. If the spine is sticking out, your snake is thin. If it's round all the way around, your snake is fat. As long as you stop feeding more once your snake regains normal shape, I don't see the harm in feeding more to an underweight snake. However, by increasing both the size AND the frequency of what he was eating, you may be increasing more than necessary? I don't really know, but a large mouse every 5 days sounds like a lot. It may be healthier to gain weight a little more slowly.

Then again, I have NOT done research on what has been advised in the past for underweight snakes. This might be totally normal. If you haven't already, doing a search on gaining weight safely might be an idea.

 

[sdavis2]

From what I've always read an underweight snake should be gradually increased in food size until normal weight or size is achieved. Kind of like people recovering from eating disorders. Otherwise the body could "hold" onto its meal not knowing when it'll get another, digesting way too slowly while at the same time making it overweight. I'm no expert though and would certainly get more advise on the weight part.

 

[Dennis Cada]

OK, how does he look now?

Does he look as if he is a proper weight now? I would enjoy being able to feed him less often considering how expensive the mice are.

Note that the stone thing is what I was feeding him on when the mouse fell off and he bit me as I put it back on.