Hello from Philly

[DonC]

Hey everyone. First post.

I'm a long time tropical fish and finch keeper/breeder. Always loved reptiles so when I found a baby Albino Corn being starved to death at a local pet store I decided to do a rescue.

I set up a 10 gallon tank with an under tank heater, a digital thermometer, about two inches of reptile bark, a coconut hide and a few deer antlers. I let everything warm up then returned to the pet store and convinced the manager to sell me the poor thing for $10. I had to go to another store for frozen pinkies as they did not sell them where I found the Corn. Great fish store, but not so much when it comes to reptiles.

As soon as I had him/her in it's new home it became very active. It spent an hour or so searching every corner of the tank. It really looked like hunting behavior so I decided to try a feeding.

I thawed the smallest pinkie for about 15 minutes in a cup of warm water and offered it using a tweezers. He struck it within seconds and had it down within minutes. It then retired to the hide (warm side of tank) and I have not seen it since.

From the research I've done I guess I fed it too soon after moving, but it seemed to go well. But being new to snakes I thought I should seek out some options on nursing my new pet. It is about 14 inches but very thin, not much thicker than airline tubing. It's sides look a little caved in. But he was very active until the feeding. My overall impression, based on no experience what so ever with Corns, is that it is healthy but malnourished.

How often should a young snake in this condition be fed? Is there anything else I can do to help him along the road to recovery?

Thanks for any advice.

Don

 

[Jdog3131]

I would do 5-6 days and your like 40 min away from me.I love fish too

 

[Tavia]

Hello & welcome! Congrats on the rescue & the successful feeding! What kind of finches do you keep? I used to breed Zebra finches, started when I was 9 & did it for about 6 years. They are neat birds.

Snakes tend to coil up & not move for around 48 to even 72 hours after being fed while the meal in digesting, so that's normal. They shouldn't be handled during that time as it can sometimes cause them to throw up their meal. If it hasn't been eating, I personally would feed it 2 or 3 more times at a 7 day interval, before going to every 5 or 6 days just to make sure it's digesting well. If you do a search for the Munson plan on here, it should come up. It is a guide for feeding snakes based on weight & the weight of the prey item. It's just a guide & can be tweaked for different situations but would give you a basis.

 

[DonC]

Thanks to both of you for the advice.

I recently moved and had to give up my birds and fish. Still have a pet parrot, but the finches are gone. I was breeding Gouldian and Owl finches. And Pleco catfish. Several species. Albino Bristlenose, Zebras, L236 and L333 were my bread and butter. I may get back into the bird hobby, getting too old to lug around buckets of water to maintain the catfish.

Thanks again

Don

 

[Jdog3131]

yea you one of the people like mewho really enjoy fish

 

[carnivorouszoo]

Wish I could have gotten some of those Gouldians from you. I love those birds, but the shops around here only carry pairs and half are always sick looking. One day though I hope to have a pair, they are so lovely.

Poor hatchling. My first snake was a year old when I got him, was marked a female and was only 13 inches and 12 grams. The guy was giving a pink a MONTH. He said snakes don't eat much and he was getting rid of the snake because it was runty. I felt really stupid trading a ferret for him but the guys wife really knew what she was talking about with ferrets and appologized that her DH was an idiot when it came to animals. She would have taken care of it but she has an unreasonable fear of snakes, a phobia of sorts. I had to have the snake in my car before she would get out of theirs to talk to me. She was hyperventilating into a paper bag because she had had to hold the snake during the drive!

Anywho, I'd do like the one person suggested and feed every 7 days for at least 3 feeds so it gets used to eating on a schedule then move to every 6 for a few feeds, then decide if it needs to go to every 5 days or if its doing well on the 6 day feed schedule.

My first was also an Amel (red albino)

 

[DonC]

Wish I could have gotten some of those Gouldians from you.

And I would have loved to sell you some! I was in partnership with someone so we could easily provide unrelated pairs. She had all the marketing contacts. When she made a sale I'd just show up with half the order and she'd pay me off. When she suddenly left the hobby I was left with about 60 chicks and no sales contacts. This was before I was on the 'net, so I ended up almost giving them away to local pet shops. Things became more of a hassle than a joy, so I downsized and kept only a few select morphs. I later traded most of them for my first Zebra Plecos.

But when I moved I was forced to give up the last few Gouldians and my Plecs. So until I found this little Corn it was just me and Skooch, my Blue Headed Pionus.

Now I'm thinking of trying my hand at raising a few Corns. I'll never learn.

 

[Caryl]

Welcome to the forum, and to the hobby. As you like learning, you'll want to pick up Kathy Love's book (from www.cornutopia.com) as a cornerstone.

It does sound like your new baby needed a meal. With one who's essentially healthy but underweight it's a good idea to slit the mouse a few times. This has been shown to improve weight gain. If I were in your place, I'd feed it every 5 days. I generally feed hatchlings every 6, but if the poor thing's as thin as you say it could use a boost.

Again, welcome!

 

[Caryl]

Welcome to the forum, and to the hobby. As you like learning, you'll want to pick up Kathy Love's book (from www.cornutopia.com) as a cornerstone.

It does sound like your new baby needed a meal. With one who's essentially healthy but underweight it's a good idea to slit the mouse a few times. This has been shown to improve weight gain. If I were in your place, I'd feed it every 5 days. I generally feed hatchlings every 6, but if the poor thing's as thin as you say it could use a boost.

Again, welcome!

 

[wstphal]

Welcome to your newest pet addiction! Cornsnakes are easy to care for so... Just look at my signature, that was starting with 1 snake late last summer!! LOL. It sounds like you are off to a great start as a cornsnake owner, good job rescuing this little guy & feeding him. Kathy Love's book is excellent, not just for beginners because it has a wealth of useful information of all sorts. Plus great pictures.

Where in Philly are you? I lived in Drexel Hill for about 10 years, and went to school on the Main Line before that so I know Philly pretty well.

 

[DonC]

I'm just outside of Philly. Also from Delaware county.

I ended up feeding him twice the first week. Wednesday and Sunday. Of course he's no bigger yet, but his sides seem a little less pinched. Or maybe it's just me hoping he's improved.

Since he had two good meals this week I think I'll hold off for a week as suggested above. After a couple of 7 day cycles I'll up it to 5 or 6.

He seems to be digesting everything alright. The pinky makes a very noticeable bulge when he first feeds. Both times he went into his warm-side hide for about 2 days. When he comes out the bulge is gone and he leaves me a present to clean up. Then he moves to the cool-side hide.

So everything seems to be going well with him. Fingers crossed.