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few questions about corn snakes

Pepper

Pepper

New member
Hi my name is miichelle and my dad and i are new at this whole thing about how to care for corn snakes.. so i have a couple of questions if thats okay :]
(our corn snake is named Pepper)

My first question is can you feed your corn snake a quail egg ? I know that it shouldn't be a meal you should feed them all the time but i would like to know if it is okay to feed them that once and awhile.

My second question is sort of random...but is it true that corn snakes can fart ? just asking... :] i read that it is possible soo...

My third question is, is it okay to let ur snake swim around? Like if i were to fill a nice large bowl of water for Pepper would he/she be okay with that or would that cause him/her to be all stressed out? Our lil pepper is atleast 2 or 3 months old is he to young to swim around for a few minutes ?

and my LAST question is my dad and i have been keeping track on when we feeding our snake...
jan. 20th he ate a pinky...
21st he ate
25th he at two pinkes
28th he ate (that was yesterday night)
and now he seems to be hungry again... :/ he's crawling all over his cage and is smelling everything and is hunting...so my question is should we move on to fuzzies.. we think he's to small but he's eating alot lol... and is defently getting bigger.. which is good he is over 12 inches.. :] we decided to wait a for 3 days till we feed him...but i feel bad knowing ur lil pet is wanting food.
 
If a cornsnake is large enough, like a young adult, it can eat a quail egg. If it feels like it!

Yes, when snakes poop, they can fart.

And you are feeding your snake too frequently. A five day schedule would be more appropriate. The snake will be out hunting as early as the next day after feeding, but that doesn't mean you should feed it. The snake needs at least 48 hours to digest before you handle it, or it has a very good chance of regurgitating its meal. Did you know that? So you should feed your snake, not handle for two or even three days, and then handle after any trace of a bulge from the meal is gone. Even if the snake poops, if it still has a bulge, do not handle it. Then, five days after the meal, you can feed again. Lots of people feed hatchlings weekly, and they grow just fine.
 
lol okay thankyou and yes i new they could puke up their food if you handle it right after it eats but by the next day is bulge isn't there... well the foods probably just blended in with the rest of his/her body but yea thankyou :]
i never expected snakes can fart...i think thats cool :]
thankyou.
 
I agree that you need to slow the feeding down a bit. When the Corn hunts round, that doesn't mean it needs more food. Nature has just given it the instinct to always be on the lookout for food. If you interpret that as "hunger" and feed on demand, then you could end up with a tubby snake that will have a shorter life.

When the bulge left by two pinkies is gone within a day, then he could be ready to eat the next size of food - a fuzzy. Remember that as food gets bigger, you need to space feeding out even more to allow them to digest properly. One fuzzy every 5-7 days would be about right. By the time they're on adult mice, you need to only feed them once every 10-14 days (sometimes less than that).
 
bitsy said:
By the time they're on adult mice, you need to only feed them once every 10-14 days (sometimes less than that).
Click to expand...

I suppose I should change my feeding times then, my guy is on adults and I have been feeding him every 7 days.
 
To the OP: why would you want the snake to swim around? Its recommended if you want to tone your snake if its an adult and a little tubby, but not really necessary for young snakes. IMO its stressful to take them from their environment and put them in another for a short period of time. What you could do is offer Pepper a large water bowl and put that in his/her cage and see if s/he uses it. It will also boost up your humidity levels, though.
 
I suppose I should change my feeding times then, my guy is on adults and I have been feeding him every 7 days.
Click to expand...
Not necessarily. If yours don't run to fat on 7 day feeds, then that must work for you. I just find that my gang put on too much weight if I feed them more often. I don't brumate but I take the healthy adults down to once every 3 weeks during the winter - breeding females only if they're back to pre-laying weight.

I've had a couple on three weekly feeds all year because they ran to fat on fortnightly feeds. They seemed to be ones that were power-fed as hatchlings before I got them - my theory is that their metabolism ramped up to cope with excess feeding when young and just never geared back down again.
 
Well to me he seems kind of skinny, and He has only been on adult mice for a few weeks. When I got him they were feeding him 3 hoppers and I went to a weinling then to an adult for the last 3 feedings so maby in a month or so if he starts getting a littlt fat I may back him off to 10 days.
 
Great idea - just be led by the snake's shape/weight and tweak the feeding regime to suit him as you go along.
 
okay thanks guys.. we are going to feed him every 5 days :] the only reason why i wanted to know if it was okay to let pepper swim is b4 shedding and stuff and keep his humidity high.. but i got some tips to keep his habitat nice and moist :] so its all good. I was just curious if corns like to swim :] but i don't think they do ...thanks for the help
 
Well, it kind of depends on the individual Corn. Some of them seem OK with swims, some hate it.

I've never done it with mine and they generally shed without any problems, so I don't think it's necessary if you don't want to.
 
well last time pepper shed.. only part of it came off. it was his first shed... his head and half of his body was 100 percent great but the other half of his body wasn't off yet.. and plus he escaped (escape artists) my dad and i totally freaked out.. but then i found him under the carpet... (we have 4 locks now) and yes he was having trouble shedding...I gave him a day to settle down back in his home then i got a wet cloth and helped him shed the rest of his skin off.. :] so thats why i was curious if they didn't mind water.. its wierd because we had the humidity pretty good 40 to 50 % up high..
Is it sometimes okay to have a snake have problems shedding for the first time ??? I can't wait till he sheds next though... but he never uses his water dish :/
 
I soak my snakes when they have trouble shedding.

I take a small plastic container that has air holes in it. Like this:
box.jpg

(I use one of my feeding containers.)

Then I put a paper towel and a little bit of water in the bottom (half as tall as the snake).
Use water that is no warmer than what you would put a newborn baby in.

Then I take a UTH (Under tank heater), put a towel on top of it, then put the box on the towel. This keeps the water warm.

Put the snake in and set the timer for 30 minutes.

This should help dislodge the retained shed.
Also, it usually makes my snakes poo!
 
Congrats on the new baby & :cool: you're very lucky that you found your little escapee. Always make sure that you secure their tank whenever they're in there & you turn away...it doesn't take long for them to escape.
You could wait for another shed to see if he has problems again. Or you could replace one of his/her hidey in a container w/some damp spagnum moss when you notice him "blue". I've done that w/mine & it always works.
I totally agree w/bitsy. As much as Slither hates water, Squiggle loves his pool. He can frequently be found snuggled in his cup that he just loves to push into his pool. It used to really worry me, but there is no other reason for him to be in there other than the fact that he loves his pool. Maybe he was a water snake in a previous life. :rofl:
 
Pepper said:
Hi my name is miichelle and my dad and i are new at this whole thing about how to care for corn snakes.. so i have a couple of questions if thats okay :]
(our corn snake is named Pepper)

My first question is can you feed your corn snake a quail egg ? I know that it shouldn't be a meal you should feed them all the time but i would like to know if it is okay to feed them that once and awhile.

My second question is sort of random...but is it true that corn snakes can fart ? just asking... :] i read that it is possible soo...

My third question is, is it okay to let ur snake swim around? Like if i were to fill a nice large bowl of water for Pepper would he/she be okay with that or would that cause him/her to be all stressed out? Our lil pepper is atleast 2 or 3 months old is he to young to swim around for a few minutes ?

and my LAST question is my dad and i have been keeping track on when we feeding our snake...
jan. 20th he ate a pinky...
21st he ate
25th he at two pinkes
28th he ate (that was yesterday night)
and now he seems to be hungry again... :/ he's crawling all over his cage and is smelling everything and is hunting...so my question is should we move on to fuzzies.. we think he's to small but he's eating alot lol... and is defently getting bigger.. which is good he is over 12 inches.. :] we decided to wait a for 3 days till we feed him...but i feel bad knowing ur lil pet is wanting food.
Click to expand...

I've seen videos of corn snakes eating eggs. I'm not sure if that's good for them, though. As long as he eats it and it comes out the other end, it should be all right. Otherwise, is there any reason why you're not sticking with mice?

I don't think snakes fart, but they do something called "musking", which is a defensive behavior. It's kind of like what a skunk does if it feels threatened.

Corn snakes are land-dwelling snakes... they can swim, but they usually don't. In captivity, they do need a water dish and you will see yours cooling off in there every now and then... he might also poop in it. It's important to check every day to make sure there is clean water in the dish.

Lastly, I think you're feeding him way too often. Yes, he's young and he might have a big appetite, but snakes can be quite gluttonous. My corn would eat himself to death if I let him! And if you do overfeed yours, you will have to deal with regurgitation... which means you will have to clean out his tank a little and give him a week or two before you feed again.

You should feed him only once every week. I would say start out with one or two pinkies every week, and move up to three when he gets to be about 18 inches long.
 
okay so i will do the little moist container thinger.. thats a great idea and yes we have been feeding a bit to much :( but we are new at this so we no now :] atleast he's not hungry :/ but anywho thankyou guys for all ur tips and pepper is now.. well is hiding and we cannot get him out of his hiding place.. he slitthered under his rock and he is well hidden in his rock mold.. we tried to get him out but.. he's well in there :eek:
corn snakes can sumtimes be a pain in the butt... but thats normal .. he feels well protected.. :/ i just hope he doesn't suffocate or get stuck.. but then again there is tons of holes in his rock mold.. we laid it on its side.. i hope he gets out... he's deffently being a dork.. but i love my baby perpper :]

he likes humans now :p and is totally calm when handled ..
 
oh and just curious do corns need a feeding container ? we usually just feed him in his home... we do have another small aqaurium that we can start feeding him in but why do some people use feeding containers... ?
 
Reasons to use feeding containers:
-The snake doesn't think your hand is food when you get him out of his tank, because he doesn't get fed in his tank.
- your snake won't get substrate on his food
- you can clean out his tank while he is eating
- it is easier to monitor your snake's eating when they are in a confined space
- some snakes who are finicky eaters eat better in a feeding container covered with a towel.

I don't think it is wrong to feed your guy in his home, but you might find that it is easier to feed him in a separate container, especially as he gets bigger.
 
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