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Hello and I'm concerned :(

R

Riftcloud

New member
Hi guys I'm new here and it will be very nice to meet all of you. I happened upon this site as I was researching a sudden change in behavior with my beautiful baby corn Jacob. My girlfriend and I bought him at the end of December and set him up in a ten gallon terrarium with a hiding place and a fake tree along with moss for his hide and aspen for bedding. He's now approx. 13-15 in. long and about as big around as an adult human pinky. He is very active and is always exploring and trying to find a way out of the terrarium, so last weekend we upgraded his home :).
We bought the Exo-Terra 18x18x24" terrarium...which is very nice I must say! We got a new tree with an excellent hiding place and hung vines all around the terrarium (fake ones) and did the moss under the tree and aspen bedding and of course got a larger heat pad placed under the right side of the tank.
Sorry this is so lengthy just trying to give all the facts.
Now to the food. I've been feeding him two pinkies a week (about 3 days apart each) and he seemed to not get enough to eat, it would take maybe a minute for him to get the pinky all the way down. I thought it might be time to start with fuzzies. So I picked up a container of frozen fuzzies when we got the terrarium, and I was planning on feeding him one the following day to allow him to adjust to his new surroundings.
About 3 hours after Jacob was in his new home, I reached in the terrarium to adjust a vine, and he came out of his hide stretched out like he thought my fingers were food and I thought oh he's hungry. So I fed him a fuzzy, This is where I need the help and I'm very concerned.
It took him about ten minutes to get it down...He struggled bad and I felt horrible....It made my girlfriend sick cause he looked like he was in pain. But he finally got it down all the way after what seemed like Eons. I cannot find any evidence of regurgitation so I think he kept it down....but he now hides all the time under the tree and burrowed in the moss. Did I hurt the poor guy? is he just scared of his new surroundings? Like I said before, he was extremely active in the smaller terrarium eating pinkies. Thank you for your help and advice in advance, and nice to make acquaintance with all of you!
 
Hi :wavey: welcome to the forum.

First, after moving a cornsnake, it is generally recommended that you give it a few days to adjust before handling or feeding. However, since he ate it seems he is ok.

If he regurged you would smell it. It smells like meat that is decomposing. So it is doubtful that he regurged.

When you move a snake up to a bigger size of food, it generally takes longer for them to eat. The amount of time yours took to eat may suggest he is not ready for that size yet. I would keep feeding him pinks for a few more weeks.

Also, with bigger food, it means longer digesting time. That is why he is laying around more. I would give him a week from when you last fed him then offer him a pink again.

Keep us updated.
 
I agree with Rich in KY and like to add..
First so you know an adult snake need a mim size tank of a 20L. I forget the true size but the new one sounds small. Trying to save you some $$. When they are move to a new enclosure they will alway seek an escape route.

Corn are known to be opportunist eaters so the will eat most any time but that not alway best for them. Try to spread you feeding days farther apart to say five days, that vary with each owner.
The moss I think is not need until shed cycle begin. And you use that for a moist hide. if needed.

Feeding .. as rich stated it will take longer and with you feeding to pinks which is the proper thing to do when you want to bump up to the next size, he should. If you have extra pinks now just feed one pink that a fuzzy until gone. also apply the 48 hour rule of no handling after feeding especially during bumping up period.

Good Luck
 
Hi and welcome, agree with above and while those exo terras are very pretty it is very small for a corn yearling on. The tank is literally 18x18 where a 20L is 30" long. Corn snakes need the length and width and not height.
 
Hi!
First of all, don't worry too much about the size of prey you gave your snake. One of my hatchlings of this year was so small it it had to fight down even thawed pinkies I previously cut in halves!
Just let him take all the time he needs, don't touch him until he swallowed it down properly - then he will be fine even with larger prey. :eats02: But perhaps next time you get a smaller fuzzy? ;)

If you think about increasing the surface your snake can use, you could consider building some lying area on the sides and back wall of the terra (perhaps in your later terrarium because it takes some efforts :) ). Usually these areas are made from wood or styrofoam and attached to the walls, they give some structures that help your corn to climb and to use the full height of your terra.
I attached an image of one of my smaller (wooden) terrariums where you can (hopefully) see what I mean: Later on the styrofoam was covered with tile adhesive, painted and sealed, so my hatchlings can climb around an I have a nice, wood-like colored backround to look at :)
 

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Thank you for all the replies.... I went with a taller terrarium versus longer cuz my little buddy is a climber. He loves to climb! We draped the fake vines so that he can climb all over them and use the full heighth of the terrarium. I will attach a picture soon. Maybe he feels insecure due to all the space?
 
If his girth is about the size of an adult human pinky finger, he could easily eat fuzzies with little hair, also called peach fuzzies. It is not an easy size to obtain cause they are the big ones in pinky bags and the small ones in fuzzy bags.... but should it be too large, the snakey will regurge. Wait for about 10 days to offer another pinky then and follow with a peach fuzzy a week later, then the single regurge won't give a problem. A peach fuzzie every 6-7 days for a couple of weeks would be great, before trying 2 peach fuzzie at a time for 3-4 weeks as a bridge to larger fuzzies.
 
My biggest concern is that I might have hurt him. I dont think he would've taken it all the way down if he could've hurt himself but his lucidity concerns me. He was very active with pinkies and very hidden in the new terrarium and I havent fed him since the fuzzy 8 days ago. I do remove the tree once a day to check on him and make sure he's still alive
 
If hes that size, it is possible that he was moving around alot after being fed a pinkie because he was still hungry.

Corns eat at different rates so 10mins may not be that long...if he was swallowing down pinks alot faster its probably because they were too small for him. :)

Feeding a pink every three days is a bit "aggressive". A small fuzzy a week or every 5days should do him just fine. If he hasn't regurged, I'm sure the prey size was fine, just maybe feed him a smaller fuzzy next time if you feel uncomfortable. Remember prey size must not exceed 1.5x his width at the widest part. :)
 
Ya i agree with everyone but i would suggest you feed him in a tub because he might swallow substrate but other than that hes probably just digesting his food!

:)Hunter:)
 
Ah dont worry. When I first switched my snake to fuzzies I thought I would die. He was such a slow eater. But now hes fat and healthy. Just find a good balance. he might have attacked your fingers because he was afraid. But with time he will probably be just as active. If you are still concerned take him to a vet though!! Its always good to be safe! But good luck and have fun with Jacob!
 
Update on "concerned"

I came home from work today to discover he had shed, however there is now a smell I've never smelled before....Its not a pleasant smell but Im afraid to handle him this soon after a shed to discover the source of the smell. Does shedding have an associated smell?

All in all I appreciate all the replies and I'm taking this as a good sign that he shed again although he just shed about 2-3 weeks ago. Not sure if the rapid shedding is normal....
 
There is no smell associated with shedding.

You should search the viv for a possible regurge.
 
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Some regurges smell "sweet"...like sickly sweet, it's a very unusual but very noticeable smell.
 
LOL I think it was just a "poo" LOL!
Yeah he's ok I fed him a pinky last night and he took it very fast.... I'll keep with the pinkies every 2-3 days for another couple of weeks and then try the fuzzie again. He just loves to eat
 
Well honestly, I'm pretty sure I speak for most of us when I say that we'd still prefer you not feed the snake every 2-3 days. You're asking for a powerfed and obese corn at that rate. Of course they love to eat, they're oppurtunistic feeders.
 
Ok... well I'll wait till at least 4 days between feeding. He just seems to search for more food with just one pinky
 
If the pinks are small, I'd rather give him two a meal every 5-6days, if he can handle a fuzzy without problems, which it seems he can, he'll be more than capable of handling more than two small pinks.

Feeding every 2-3days is powerfeeding (even if the prey is small) and is not recommended. Besides that, when would you ever handle your corn? If you have to wait at LEAST 2days after feeding to handle and you are feeding every 2-3 days, when do you handle him?
 
He just seems to search for more food with just one pinky
Click to expand...

Yep, that's natural behaviour. In the wild, they'l scoff anything they can find, as they find it, because they won't know when they'll next find food.

Yours is just following his instinct - baby mice usually come in multiples in a nest and he's just wondering where the rest of the brood are. He doesn't realise that his next meal is guaranteed in a few days' time.

In captivity, we have to control the Corn's food intake, as he won't know to do it for himself.
 
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