• 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.

Feeding problem... with me, that is

HermesMom

HermesMom

New member
My snow Nessie is a healthy, active corn weighing in at 73 grams. Our largest fuzzies no longer leave a good size lump in her. I KNOW she's ready for hoppers, heck I bought 12 of them for her. I opened the package the other week and was like "holy balonies, they're huge"... and I put it back and pulled her out one of our biggest fuzzies, sigh. I guess what I'm getting at and am shamelessly admitting is I'm a bit nervous/scared to feed her one :uhoh: WTH is wrong with me? I promised myself tomorrow she'll get a hopper, I'm going to be a wreck when I cover her feeding bin up. I just needed to get that out to folks who hold a similar interest/love of snakes. Here's hoping I survive this first hopper feeding and don't chicken sh** out :eek1:
 
I switch to HOPPERS at 75 grams, fuzzies way sooner.
While most people find this a bit aggressive, here's the Munson plan, which most corn snakes can handle:
The Munson Plan (Sample Feeding Chart)
-When they're on single pinks (2-3g), I feed every 4-5 days. (Snake = 4-15g)
-Double pinks (3g x 2) every 4-5 days. (Snake = 16-23g)
-Small fuzzies (5-7g) every 5-6 days. (Snake = 24-30g)
-Regular fuzzies (7-9g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 30-50g)
-Hoppers (9-12g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 51-90g)
-Weaned (14-20g) every 7 days (Snake = 91-170g)
-Adult (24-30g) every 7-x days (Snake = 170+)
-Jumbo Adults (40-50g) every 7-x days (Snake = 400g+)
Click to expand...
Your snake would have been on fuzzies at half his current size according to this. Granted, it's a bit much for some corns, but I'm posting it as an assurance that your snake is well past being ready for fuzzies!
 
Not that I do this a lot, but I gave a pretty decent sized crawler (mouse with eyes just opening) to an August hatchling last week and she seemed quite content with that! Nessie will do just fine!!! I know how stressful the thought can be!
 
I love the Munson Plan, it helps this first time snake owner out a lot. Well, I've had corns for almost a year now, but these next size feeding milestones for *me* get to me lol. I put Nessie on fuzzies right when I got her back in March and luckily had/have a good size bag of them to pick and choose sizes. According to the Munson Plan with her weight, she's in the middle range of being on hoppers. Tomorrow night will be like a grusome car accident for me, I won't want to peek at it but know I will lol. I hope with 12 hoppers there's clearly one smaller than the others to help put my mind at rest, lol. It doesn't particularly help that last week when she ate her fuzzy popped and it's blood got everywhere. Hermes will be moving up to hoppers soon too, good grief ;)
 
I misread the original post, apologies! At 73 grams, you are right where I make the switch. And yeah, I fish around for the biggest fuzzies/smallest hoppers for a while. Best of luck, she'll handle it just fine!
 
Weigh the hoppers you have and see how they compare to the 9-12 gram range of hoppers in the Munson plan. If she's about 70 grams, she should do fine. Slit the hopper if you are worried.
 
I hear ya. It's nerve wracking moving up feeder for me too. I'm quite certain that my girl is ready for hoppers. She has two more fuzzies. I'm still debating whether to get more fuzzies or make the jump. I haven't weighed her, have just been going by the 1-1.5 her width thing. Maybe if I weigh her, that will help me decide and feel better about it.
 
When I switched Kiyo up to fuzzies I almost couldn't watch her eat...I was POSITIVE she was going to choke and die...low and behold she got it down no issues and is my little eating machine! I am sure when I bump her up to hoppers it will be the same lol.
 
It's the fact that they always take soooo long to eat the first few larger feeds. I always feel certain that they'll never get it down - but they always do in the end!
 
I've been lucky with my 3 scalebabies.

All of them are solid eaters that strike straight from the tongs and just nom, nom, nom.....so I've never needed to do the "cover up and wait/hope" thing.

That being said, I follow the Munson plan, but stick to the lower end of each category. I also go by total prey weight rather than category size, and actually tend to feed a bit on the small size (ie feeding 2 fuzzies that equal the weight of a hopper for several feedings first).

Best of luck on the size move, but I'm sure Nessie will be just fine :)
 
I've one that should be on hoppers. He won't eat them though. So I tried two smaller fuzzies. Regurge. I've had him regurge twice on me now. I got him to eat 3 or 4 times between regurges, so I'm not too worried, but I really wish he would eat the hoppers. Back to one large fuzzy and I'll try to move him up in a few months.
 
Soulwind said:
I've been lucky with my 3 scalebabies.

All of them are solid eaters that strike straight from the tongs and just nom, nom, nom.....so I've never needed to do the "cover up and wait/hope" thing.

That being said, I follow the Munson plan, but stick to the lower end of each category. I also go by total prey weight rather than category size, and actually tend to feed a bit on the small size (ie feeding 2 fuzzies that equal the weight of a hopper for several feedings first).

Best of luck on the size move, but I'm sure Nessie will be just fine :)
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have a couple that grab them right from the tongs, one quite aggressively but I still cover them up and give them their privacy ;) I'll let ya all know how it goes tonight for my beautiful girl... and me, lol.
 
Pugsley said:
I've one that should be on hoppers. He won't eat them though. So I tried two smaller fuzzies. Regurge. I've had him regurge twice on me now. I got him to eat 3 or 4 times between regurges, so I'm not too worried, but I really wish he would eat the hoppers. Back to one large fuzzy and I'll try to move him up in a few months.
Click to expand...

I've found that if a snake is prone to regurging, that is the stage it's going to happen. I'd suggest just feeding the larger fuzzies, one at a time, and letting him gain weight gradually. You lose so much ground doing the regurge protocol, especially two or three times. Eventually they _do_ grow out of it. I'd also recommend slitting and Nutribac for him.
 
Thanks Nanci! I'll try those suggestions.

Sorry, wasn't trying to hijack the thread. Just getting out there that there can be lots of different reasons for different problems and you've got to learn your snake's quirks.
 
Wow, I'm way off the Munson plan. Ala weighed in at 100 grams today. Now, she just ate Thursday, but I'm really surprised that I'm off that much. I guess we will move up to hoppers.
 
FWIW, the hopper transition is the hardest. I find the 51 gram point is too small for some corns to start on 9+ gram hoppers. Some handle it no prob, but I usually wait until closer to 70 grams. Or more accurately, start picking big fuzzies/tiny hoppers when the snake is near the cut off point until I see how they do. My scaleless is just over 50 grams and regurged the only 9 gram hopper I ever tried. She went blue a couple days later so that might have had an effect, but I am going to try slitting the next big meal.
She's probably my thousandth corn snake in decades as a keeper and I bet I will be just as nervous as Hermes Mom was, too!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top