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Feeding a new Corn

A

Anazazia

New member
I just got my first snake. He (i'm guessing) seems to be in good health, no obvious mites or illness. My only problem is that he seems to be too skinny. He's about 14 inches long, by our estimation, which could be off, we're thinking he's 5 or 6 months old. Whether or not I'm right the pet store was feeding him one pinkie a week. It was always my understanding that being so young he should be eatting twice a week. I was wondering if this was the case and if it is, is he going to react badly (throwing up) if I jump right into giving him two pinkies a week.

He doesn't really bury himself unless I put him on the open end of his tank. If I put him in near his hide he goes straight in there, or hangs out on the outside. He doesn't mind being picked up, and usually gets pretty active after being held, I'm assuming because he's getting more heat from whomever is holding him. I have a heat lamp because that was readily availble, and one hide house on the cooler side. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to get an under tank heater that i could keep on at night when the light isn't on. Also a second hide house on the warm side of the cage as well, as opposed to only one on the cool side.

I appreciate the advice!
 
Under tank heaters are your best best, as they don't dry the air so much, and you won't want a white light on at night. They also provide great belly heat for good digestion, although there are plenty on here that use side heat, or keep the temps in their snake rooms in the 80's. Hatchlings that small can be fed every 5 days until they're on fuzzies, then go to every 7. Cutting 3 or 4 slits in the back of the pinky (provided it's dead, i.e. frozen/thawed) will help the hatchling digest the mouse more easily. If you're feeding live, you might consider transitioning to frozen/thawed when you can, to make it safer when your snake gets up to mice that have teeth. Freezing also kills parasites and bacteria. Anyway, 14" sounds like a small 6 month old, but if it wasn't fed well, it could be that old.
 
You should have 2 hide boxes...

Maybe I misread, but do you currently have only 1 hide box?

You should have two; one on the warm side, one on the cool. :)
 
I'd buy an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer before determining what to do about adding heat. Likewise, I wouldn't feed twice a week, at least not right off. If the meal is large enough (and temps are in the 77-84 range) you're looking at five days or so to pass a meal. It's better to have a snake on the hungry side than to have to nurse back one with a regurge issue.

I house my hatchlings in a shoebox rack system heated in the back. The snakes can go under the paper towel wherever the temps suit them.
 
Ignore the snake and finger!

While this photo was taken to show an agressive hatchling, it is the only thing I have handy to show a homemade rack system that holds 50 larger hatchlings (between four and ten months for colubrids before they are too large).

You can see the heat tape running along the back. This gives only a mild gradient, but does the job.
 

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haha look at his other finger. You stole that baby from his loving mom and she bit you trying to defend her baby!!! J/K

HaHa I ccan picyure it now :puke01:
 
I got him a second hide house, at the time I posted I'd only had him a day. The pet store he was in hadn't been feedding him nearly often enough, when I bought him it had been at least two weeks since he ate last and I just wanted to get him out of there. I got an undertank heating pad for at night when the lights are off. He's in a big tank right now so there's always a discernable warm side and cool side. My room is really dry so I keep a heat lamp on during the day with a bowl of water near the basking spot so that it evaporates to add a little humidity. I fed him on Monday and he has little to no visible signs of the mouse left in his system. Will it really hurt him that much if I fed him tomorrow or thursday? I know he can get hungry, but i'd rather keep him fed (not overfed, jsut fed) since he was underfed, if fed at all, for at least a month.
 
First, the band-aid came from a construction injury. No band-aid needed from a corn bite, usually.
Ana, give your snake at least five days if not a week. If you were going to feed two, it would've best been done at the time of the first feeding. Then they would be digesting together.
 
elrojo said:
First, the band-aid came from a construction injury. No band-aid needed from a corn bite, usually.
Ana, give your snake at least five days if not a week. If you were going to feed two, it would've best been done at the time of the first feeding. Then they would be digesting together.
Click to expand...


Agreed, I don't even need a band-aid for my bites from my 2 foot blood python.
 
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