Did I become afraid of my own pet?

[desertanimal]

If he's 45g, he should be eating a fuzzy at each feeding. Use his weight as a guide with the Munson plan from here on out. Also, if you cut the skin of the f/t prey items with a razor (I just put a small slit in the back, because if you do it in the belly, the guts come out and it's messy), it will help him with his growth.

As others have said, he's following your hand because he's starving.

 

[Brooklynyte]

Got it, I'll start with fuzzies, and had no idea he was so small for his age. I get the whole "animal first" thing in a corn snake forum but if you start them off with a good ol fashion razzin then that person may not come back so frequently with any other questions they may have. Correct, theres no excuse for this, I always fed him on time, I was just an idiot regarding the size and how much time had passed, not because I didnt have time or money to buy fuzzies, the only thing I neglect him of is attention and from what I read these snakes aren't all about attention, but still, I feel bad for not handling him more, which was my original concern. So everyone saying I should sell/donate my snake if I don't have time need to reread it all and notice how I said there was only a FEW times I fed him off time, it's obvious I was blind and dumb to the amount of time that had passed and his feeding need, I must have overlooked something and yes, that was wrong of me. I hardly believe that each and every one of you got things right the very first with your first snake.
I thank you for your help and am flattered to have people care that much about my snake (Casper), thanks for the advice, and all that good stuff. I highly doubt I'm screwing up anything else but I'll be doing some re-reading to be sure. Thank you all again.

 

[desertanimal]

To give you a better idea of why people reacted to strongly to your story, here is a picture of one of the 06s I received straight out of the egg on 8/13/06 (meaning that they were just born and had never been fed). She is the middle-weight of the three I got at the same time, but they are all pretty close in weight. I missed quite a few of their feedings when I had things going on in life (surgery, niece and nephew went into foster care when sister went to jail), but they were usually fed once a week. She was actually my slowest grower of the three, not reaching 45g until the end of January 2007.

Here she is today in one of those square disposable sandwich containers. She weighs 340g, and that's AFTER she laid a beautiful clutch of eggs for me at the end of May.

Edited to add: Turns out I lied. She's my smallest 06. I just weighed the other two and they're 383 and 391g.

 

[Corny Noob]

Beautiful snake. And my girl is still small, she was 8 months old when I get her and only 24g so it took a bit to recover from that
She's almost 250 despite going on hunger strike for most of winter/spring.

 

[kimbyra]

I didn't mean to be "mean". You said you have thought about selling him. I was trying to suggest that if you don't have time for him, then you should.

So, to be more constructive since you're keeping him...

From what I remember, the "Munson Plan" is a little overzealous with the feeding, unless Dean has updated it. (Dean knows I'm not dissing him, he has said this himself. Love ya Dean.) People are giving you good advice about upping his feeding size.

Also, find time to handle him regularly a few days after he has fed, so he doesn't just relate you to feeding. Feed in a feeding bin, so that everytime you open his cage he will stop assuming its food time.

I have a checkered garter that I don't regularly handle, because those snakes are skittish and don't like to be handled. He gets all fast and wiggly (his name is Zoomer), and his scales are thicker than corns, but slick, so he gets away easily. So everytime I open his cage he goes after my hand. Or maybe he just likes to give me guff. And lets face it, fingers look like pinkies.

 

[kimbyra]

Sorry for the double post.
Actually, after looking at the chart you posted, the Plan looks pretty good.

 

[Cam5]

Casper is a beautiful boy there
Sounds like he has a nice place to hang out too...he will be so excited when room service ups his meals

It would be fun to follow his progress... if you were interested in posting pictures every so often to help out other snake owners in the future***************

FYI- If you are ordering your mice from The Mouse factory or Rodent Pro etc. or even from the pet store...I have found that in a bag of fuzzies (or any size) there are always a few that are smaller and a few that are bigger than the rest.

{I worry about everything (just ask around) So I would tend to offer the smallest fuzzy in the bag and perhaps even slit it as was mentioned before (apparently it helps them absorb the food item faster/better).}
********************

Also, do NOT be surprised that Casper will take a bit longer to get the fuzzy in than the pinkies. I remember when we first bumped up our 1st corn...my heart was racing...I thought he was never gonna get it in his mouth, but he did

If you do decide to feed in a separate container, be careful when/how you transfer him back...he will be in food mode and may strike instinctively at anything.

**When I feed in a separate container I put the snake in the feeding container....put the covered container IN his regular house, then drop the thawed mouse in the feeding container. Then when he's done eating I take the lid off and he can come out when he's ready.

**When we feed in the snake's regular enclosure I thaw the mouse, put it in a shallow gladware container, and set it in with a pair of tongs. I only feed at night (9-10pm) and we only handle during the day.

Everyone has different ways/theories of feeding.
Find what works best for you and your snake and stick with it...
*******************************************************

The other food item guideline is that is should leave a bump for 24-48 hours. If you see no bump they can most likely handle a bigger food item, if the bump is clearly visable much past 48 hours then they might be digesting too slow and need a smaller food item.
*******************************************************

I wish you smoother days ahead...I hate when crap falls from the sky and no one even offers an umbrella:headbang:

 

[desertanimal]

Also, if you're going to feed him on a paper towel, I would watch him the whole time. I fed a small snake on a paper towel once and didn't watch (had just had knee surgery and got up only to feed the snakes). A bit later, I discovered the snake had eaten the paper towel, too. Required a vet visit. Actually, that was the snake I posted a picture of in this thread . . .

 

[kimbyra]

Good advice! I pulled a bunch of paper towel out of a snakes mouth before. Wet mice stick to the paper towel, so it can get dragged in as well. I always feed in a plain bottomed bin now.

 

[Brooklynyte]

Wow, thanks for all the advice, will do! I always keep an eye on my snake while he's eating. I'll keep trying to post photo's in another thread when I get him a fuzzy wuzzy.

 

[tom e]

I'll bet he's going to grow like a weed now. The good news is that snakes don't always need to grow at any particular rate in order to be healthy. The picture you showed us, while small looks very healthy.
As for being afraid, I know what it feels like when a pet hones in on your fingers and you can just feel like a mouse frozen in his tracks lol. Our beautiful little pets are also tough little predators, and there's nothing in the human psyche that's as powerful as that feeling that you're being honed in on by a hungry mouth full of teeth.
I guarantee you that when he's getting his belly full, you'll notice a big difference in his demeanor..
Going through tough times, think of caring for him as an escape from the daily troubles, and less an extra responsibility. I've had times where I get super busy and think to myself, "Dang, I've got to clean out all the cages tonight and feed too on top of everything else!" But then when I get to doing it, it feels really good. It's so EASY to make a big difference in your pets life, even when it's harder to do for yourself.. But somehow you might find it works on you too!

 

[Ceridwen]

I recently took over care of my roommate's california king snake that is *at least* two years old. Like your snake she was still eating pinkies even after all that time. At least you stayed regular with the feedings (and provided an adequate viv), my roommate did not. I'm pretty sure the snake was fed a single pinky every 2-3 weeks for the entire time my roommate owned her. She also did not have any type of heating and her viv had not been cleaned in at LEAST 2 months.

Three months ago when I took her she weighed in at 23 grams. She was also stalking my hand outside the viv and would strike at the viv wall when I got within a couple feet of it.

Despite that, she has never bitten me, and not even really ever struck at me. I fed her double pinks every 6 days until she hit 30 grams and then moved her to fuzzies. Even though the fuzzies I had available were HUGE in comparison to the pinks she downed them fine. She's 40 grams now, has filled out nicely and is growing well. She's in blue for the third time since I took over her care. The move up to fuzzies has really helped her growth rate but it took her less than 5 minutes to down two pinks and still takes her 10-15 minutes to get a fuzzy down, which was a little bit scary at first. I always feed in a different container and when she is done (but still in feed mode) I just tip her carefully into her viv so that she has no chance to strike at me.

It took two weeks of regular feeding for my king to settle down a bit but she's already much calmer, even though I only handle her about twice a week. Try to remember that even if your snake did manage to tag you it's very unlikely to hurt you at all. Even bites from adult corns are only mildly painful at worst.

 

[susang]

Like others I'm just going to give you a comparison my 4/06 laid a clutch of 12 gorgeous healthy eggs in May of 08 she was 360 grams. Those eggs are pipping as I wirte.
I do understand outside stuff really I do. My first snake now weighs a kilo he's an 03', I don't think I fed him hoppers until he was two, I just didn't think that little head could open that big. I didn't know about this forum until after I got my second snake and couldn't figure out why snake #1 was attacking snake #2 both males but two years age difference.
If you're willing to take a little grief and bitchiness (usually from me) you'll learn so much here. More then I ever imagined.

 

[bekers71]

It's good to see that you knew when you needed help and asked for it. At least you fed consistently and he's not small due to not being fed. As some one else stated, the little guy does look healthy. I am sure that once you get him started on the fuzzies you will see him grow pretty fast.

I have a lavender I got in February that is 2 yrs old and was 46 grams. I started him off on fuzzies and he has grown very fast, 100 grams now, and is eating large hoppers. If you want to see how well he's grown here is his progression thread--
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65311

Here is the same Lav with a female that is only 1 yr old--
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg137/bekers71/P1070202.jpg?t=1215033273

Good luck and keep us posted with new pics of your pretty boy.

 

[v_various]

by saying you "spared no expense" by getting a 20 gallon, well, there's nothing wrong with a 20 gallon but it is pretty much the bare minimum amount of space an adult corn needs, so don't act like you're doing him a huge favor. It's a fine amount of space for you're tiny snake at the moment though. And I don't know if you're planing on upgrading in the future (hey, maybe you are and that's cool), but if you got the next size down (a 15 gallon) for a lifetime home for your corn, you would have been flamed even more.

I'm just sayin'.

And good luck getting him back to health.

 

[Nanci]

That's a beautiful snake! Both my kingsnakes make me a teeny bit nervous the way they follow my hands, especially when they get closer to feeding day. I had a hognose snake that would even just start chewing on me. Feeding him more frequently put a stop to that- he was just really, really hungry.

 

[Brooklynyte]

by saying you "spared no expense" by getting a 20 gallon, well, there's nothing wrong with a 20 gallon but it is pretty much the bare minimum amount of space an adult corn needs, so don't act like you're doing him a huge favor. It's a fine amount of space for you're tiny snake at the moment though. And I don't know if you're planing on upgrading in the future (hey, maybe you are and that's cool), but if you got the next size down (a 15 gallon) for a lifetime home for your corn, you would have been flamed even more.

I'm just sayin'.

And good luck getting him back to health.

I never said the 20 gallon was for life, guess I should have stated that clearer? As a younger snake, 20 long was huge for him, and as not to overwhelm him I gave him tons of hides back then and to this day (as mentioned, due to his current size) the 20 gallon is still appropriate. When it's time he will be upgraded... so yes, he was a pampered snake compared to what I have seen other snake owners vivariums looked like and what the pet stores originally recommended to me. Idiot pet shop employees suggested I use a heat lamp, smaller tank, wrong substrate and so on, so I would like to think I did pretty good in that department.

Thanks to everyone who continues to help me through.

 

[Nanci]

20 gallons is fine. More might be appreciated someday, if you have an active snake, but 20 gallons is perfectly all right.

 

[v_various]

20 gallons is fine. More might be appreciated someday, if you have an active snake, but 20 gallons is perfectly all right.

Yes, i mentioned it was fine it was just the "spared no expense" part, seemed a little...tacky, I wasn't impressed.

 

[ForkedTung]

20 gallons is fine. More might be appreciated someday, if you have an active snake, but 20 gallons is perfectly all right.

I agree...and you did the right thing by asking AND correcting the situation...best of luck! pretty snake too...