When feeding,,how do you know...?

[Droptines]

How do you know when you should be feeding 2 pinkies or only 1 ?.Do you go by size,or feed 1 and then try another,,,if he takes it down then thats your answer ?.

 

[Velvet]

Personally, I would go according to the size of the snake and how fast it's digesting one pinkie.

If there's hardly a lump in him 1day after he's fed and he's actively hunting around for another meal, I would say he's about ready to get two at a feeding.

I fed Cornflake 1 fuzzy when I got him, then moved him onto two medium size fuzzies, then onto hoppers. He usually "tells" me when he is hungry though! Slithers up to the glass and has a real "Where's my food whench" look on his face! :grin01: Fed him a big hopper on Saturday and he hunted around for more food, looked at me as if to say "Okay, that was the starter, now where's the main meal?" so I think its time to up his food abit again!

 

[sbourget]

Corn snakes will eat just about any food item tehy can in the 10-15 minutes after there first bit. This doesn't mean they need it, or that they will even keep it down. The best way to tell is to look at the widest girth of the snake and choose a food item that is approximately 1.5X that width. If you don't have something quite that large, feeding two smaller items is alright, seeing as their easier to digest due to larger surface area. By breeding my own feeders I've never had to feed two items, I simply picked a mouse that was a couple days older then last time and it was fine. Usually with frozen orders there's a variation in the sizes which will help with picking the perfect food item.

 

[Briman2021]

I have just been going by judging the lump method. My snake is still relatively new, so he doesn't come out much during the day, but he had no lump after about 18 hours with 1 pinkie, so I bumped him up to 2 pinkies, and he had a lump for about 48 hours, no regurg, no hassles, so that is probably about perfect for him.

According to what I read, the 2 pinkies thing is great for 5 or 6 feedings before moving to fuzzies, and by then you should have a pretty good feel for your snake, and be more able to tell when he is hungry, or needs bigger prey.

 

[Droptines]

:crazy02: YES,,I had a successful feeding tonight.No hesitation at all.I put my snake in the plastic container I brought him home in.I dangled the pinkie in front of him,and he grabbed it VERY fast.I only went with one pinkie this time,but I will try 2 next time.I put him back in the tank and with in :02 min.he went into his warm hide. :grin01:
So far,SO GOOD

 

[jjspirko]

What I have gone to doing is feeding twice a week vs two items once a week during growth phase (0-24 months)

I have compared feeding one correct sized item once a week, two per feeding once a week and one item two times in one week.

Of the three the two items spread out in the week has produced the best growth curve for me without resulting in a "fat snake". Around 20-24 months I switch to one item once a week. I also feed all my young snakes stait though their first winter and hold off breeding till their third year.

I get really big babies that way,

 

[diamondlil]

Thanks Jack. I'm still new to this but since going to a 3-5 day schedule with my hatchlings they're growing like weeds!

 

[jjspirko]

I have a theory about why this works better but no proof I am right.

My guess is that by spreading the same ammount of calories spread out over more days has a different effect metabolicly then a larger meal in a shorter time frame.

So over 28 days you get the same gross caloric imput (8 food items) but the caloric availiablity is spread out resulting in increased metabolic activity and at a young age that metobalism goes to growth. In the wild it might not as the snake may have to do a lot more moving around to burn off those calories but a captive just cruises to the water dish, to the hide, etc and never does a lot of "hunting" because each few days in comes new food.

The other way the massive caloric intake creates a letharigic response and incomplete digestion/absorbtion. Because there is so much food in one shot the animal lays around with not real metabolic boost and the meal is not fully digetested. Think about how you feel when you have a feast and stuff yourself before a ball game and then fall asleep on the couch watching it.

Again I have no proof that this is why I get the results that I do but it seems to be a quite logical hypothisis,

 

[diamondlil]

From looking at my hatchlings its also obvious that they have completely digested their meal by day 3, and they take the next item eagerly. Giving bigger items or 2 pinks spaced further apart at this age seems to me would risk more chance of regurge through incomplete digestion?

 

[jjspirko]

I also push my animals to "move up" in size as swiftly as I can do responsibily. For instance when I buy a few hundered pinks they are always of varying sizes and I sort them by size. Even when I buy "small pinkies" or "large pinkies" this is the case. Same with fuzzies, hoppers, smalls, etc.

I take them and sorth them in to subsets and use the smallest ones for my baby house snkes, the next for baby corns and keep moving up. So perhaps a snake is not ready for fuzzies yet but may be ready to move to the biggest pinks I have, same with the next step, perhaps not ready for hoppers but he is ready for the biggest fuzzies.

This is only practical if you buy mice and rats in bulk but over all if you have more then a few snakes that is best anyway.

Glad to hear your little blighters are growing fast it is so cool to watch them grow up,

 

[jjspirko]

From looking at my hatchlings its also obvious that they have completely digested their meal by day 3, and they take the next item eagerly. Giving bigger items or 2 pinks spaced further apart at this age seems to me would risk more chance of regurge through incomplete digestion?

I have been keeping my snakes on the largest (with in reason as in max would be 1.5 times snake body with) for years. Not just corns but my Africans, Taiwans, black rats, etc. I have NEVER had even one regurge and I have a petty big colony of snakes.

 

[diamondlil]

Yep, I too am found sorting the mousicles into the size groups, much to the disgust of my kids. Now both colonies are producing pinks it's easy to take 3-day, 5-day and so on to get the size range, and they must be well-fed because my peaches are bigger than the store-bought fuzzies!

 

[jjspirko]

Diamond,

So you are making your own feeders. I have thought about that but if I did my wife would be holding them all back as "breeders" and "to cute to feed" and other nonsense like "he has interesting traits we should prove out with breeding".

Call me a jerk but I just have NO SYMPATHY for mice when it comes to making them snake food. I am not mean or crule to them or anything like that but to me a mouse is meant to be reptile food.

Not my wife though, to here mice are "cute little things" awe well that love for all things is part of why I love her so much

 

[Droptines]

Thanks jjspirko,,Your theory on keeping the metabolic rate at an even flow,by smaller,more frequent meals,makes makes perfect sense.
That theory humans so it has to be somewhat applyable here.
I will offer another meal in 4 or 5 days,as long as he looks done with digesting.Is a "movement" necessary between feedings ?.

 

[jjspirko]

During growth phase I feed on Saturday and Wednesday each week. I don't really pay attention to when they poop unless they go a long time with out it that would be a concern. But no if on Wed feeding they have yet to go, I still feed them.

I figure some feed two items in one day and if that is ok then poop or no poop feeding spread out must me fine. In any even across many species this has never caused me a problem,

 

[Droptines]

Got it