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My first feeding

S

ssssnake_lover

New member
Hi all

I got my Miami Cornsnake last thursday and i was told that he was fed on the monday and that i should give him till tomorrow to feed him which will be 10 days (the pet shop owner said it would give him time to settle in.

Anyway he seems to be doing fine and i just recently ordered some aspen as the stuff i got is no good for burrowing and i also got some new hides for him.Now they should be here either today or thursday or friday.

My question is do you think it would be ok to feed him tonight and give him a few days to digest his food before i change all his home around or do you think i should change all his home around and then feed him :shrugs:

Sorry if this sounds stupid but i know you should not disturb them for a few days after they have eaten and i thought it might take him a few days to settle in to a new environent again so basically i just don't want to stress him out.

Once again sorry for newbie threads guys and girls but you are all so great and experienced it's nice to know that i am doing my best for my Miami Cornsnake that is possible:)

Thanks all love ya :D

Jamie
 
I take my cornsnakes out to feed them anyways, so if it were me, I would put them in their deli cups to eat and then change the viv around while they were in there. They go right to their hides after eating anyways....
 
So do you think it would be ok to feed him tonight then instead of tomorrow:)

And i have just called up the reptile place and i get all my stuff delivered friday so would it be ok to maybe pick him up saturday or sunday? will his food have gone down by then?

Thanks All:D
 
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy:D

He just ate his first pinkie since me owning him:)

He seemed to struggle at first but he was trying to eat it sideways on lol

He eventually managed it and i left him to relax on the bed after eating it with his hide for comfort,i left him for say 10 mins and then put him back in his home.

But i just have a few questions i hope you don't mind.

1.I defrosted the pinkie for 15 mins in warm water but noticed at the end of the 15 minutes the pinkies tail was slightly out so i gave it another few mins and another few mins after that.The body felt fine but the tail still felt abit cold and hard not frozen but hear is this just due to the fact it's a tail and is different texture?

2.when i went to pick him up he was quickly looking at my hand which ever way i moved it as if he wanted to bite it and when i grabbed him i grabbed his bottom end near his tail so i wouldn't touch where i could see the pinkie was but as i was putting him back he swang back up to my arm like he was going to bite me but i didn't feel anything so maybe he just didn't like being held by his bottom half and wanted to rebalance on my arm.my question is do they usually act a bit funny after feeding as i thought they might due to feeling abit vunerable just hoping i didn't do anything wrong:(

Anyway thanks guys and girls and i hope i am just worrying because it's my first feeding:)

many thanks

Jamie
 
I think as long as the tail wasn't frozen through, it'll be ok.

As for picking him up, he may have still been in hunting mode and was looking hard at everything that moved. I
 
No it weren't frozen through:)

SO happy to see him eat as first he turned his nose up and then he went straight for it,then he looked like he was gonna spit it out but in the end he ate it and i am well happy:D
 
Yay, i had my first feeding today too :) And mine tried to eat it sideways too :eatpointe, now its time to let him settle for a few days in his new home.
 
feed first

um id feed him before you change his home. if you change his home first he might get stressed and wont eat. I am always worried that my corn wont eat because i stress him out.
 
well i always just let my mice sit out on the counter for an hour to de freeze them so i dont know.and my corn doesent want to bite me, he wants to get away. mine is a siko snake, or he's just new. sorry i couldent be of more help.
 
I put the pinkies in small zip loc snack size bags and defrost them in hot tap water. I try not to touch the pinkies, just so they smell like mice and not like me...and vice versa. I put the pinkies in the deli cup first then the snake.

I just got an male Okeetee (Angus) on Saturday and after I fed him a pinkie Monday night he was looking at my hand like it was a T-Bone, so I think he is ready to move up a size or get two pinkies.

I don't bother mine for 2 days after I feed them, by the second evening they are usually out at dusk cruising around the viv.

I'm only about 2 months ahead of you, I got my first corn 2 1/2 months ago, a creamsicle. Wait until yours is ready to shed and won't eat. That still worries me some, but we've had 2 sheds in 2 1/2 months with the Creamsicle, she eats right after she sheds.
 
Thanks all and yeah i might just do that next time leave them to defrost for an hour for the first time.Think it was probably just me worrying as it was my first feed and i think the tail was just colder due to it feeling a different texture to the body :shrugs:

So now i fed him last night would you say it's ok to let him digest the pinkie thursday and friday and change his home saturday or would you all leave it till sunday just to give him that extra day?

Thanks all

Jamie
 
ssssnake_lover said:
Thanks all and yeah i might just do that next time leave them to defrost for an hour for the first time.
Click to expand...

I don't think an hour is really long enough if you are just letting room temp warm them up. I also use the pinkie-in-a-baggie method. I put the pinkie in a small ziplock, use a spoon to weigh it down in a coffee mug, then fill the mug with hot water, straight from the tap. My water averages 130F to 135F, and the mouse is nicely warm within five to ten minutes. I also feed in a seperate bin, one with no substrate save for white paper towels. I use pine shavings in my habitats and wouldn't want the snakes to ingest them with their meal. Also, I want them to get used to the idea that this is the chow hall, this is where you eat, and then you go back home and sleep it off, like Thanksgiving meal at Mum's.

So now i fed him last night would you say it's ok to let him digest the pinkie thursday and friday and change his home saturday or would you all leave it till sunday just to give him that extra day?
Click to expand...

There's really no need to wait. As long as you are gentle with him, moving him shouldn't be a problem. Whenever you have the new digs ready, show him about the place. In all likelihood, he'll find the closest hide and disappear for two days, no matter when you move him.
 
Personally I would leave the snake alone until the next feeding day, to reduce the chances of any stress-related regurges. Having made the mistake of disturbing my snow in her early days and setting up a whole cycle of misery for the pair of us, I'm a great fan of a hands-off approach with hatchlings. To establish good feeding routines makes a whole difference in the growth and health of the snake.
So, I M O, leave the snake where it is until feeding day, take it into it's feeding tub, feed, then put into the new habitat. Just a suggestion, hope it helps
 
And yeah jaxom1957 maybe an hour is long enough,i think i might just leav eit defrosting for an hour on the side and then do my 10-15 mins in warm water and then it should be fine surely :shrugs:

Yeah i see where you are coming from diamondlil and i defo do not want a regurge so i will leave him until his next feed.

Will he be ok being in a new environment after he has just finished eating though and needs to digest it?

And Jaxom1957 i see you put that you use pine shavings is that ok as i am sure i read that pine can give Snakes respiratory problems.Not trying to be funny or nick pick was just saying incase you didn't know :shrugs:
 
I prefer to move the snakes on a feeding day, so they wil just find a spot to digest and then settle, it seems to work well for me. My latest hatchlings were bought on their feeding day, so I prepared their set ups, fed them then put them in their new homes. I've got bigger snakes on longer feeding schedules which makes my 'hands off the babies' approach easier, with Annie my ghost mot this worked so well she has grown from 9g on the 12th of july to 27g on the 3rd of sept!
 
ssssnake_lover said:
And yeah jaxom1957 maybe an hour is long enough,i think i might just leav eit defrosting for an hour on the side and then do my 10-15 mins in warm water and then it should be fine surely :shrugs:
Click to expand...

My routine is: move it from the freezer to the fridge the day before, pinkie-in-a-baggie in hot water for 10 minutes, feed. Seems to be working.

Will he be ok being in a new environment after he has just finished eating though and needs to digest it?
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be a problem, so long as his new home is warm and he has a hide to scurry off to.

And Jaxom1957 i see you put that you use pine shavings is that ok as i am sure i read that pine can give Snakes respiratory problems.Not trying to be funny or nick pick was just saying incase you didn't know
Click to expand...

The warnings against using pine shavings are due to a theoretical danger that doesn't have much evidence to back it up. Pine is related to cedar, and cedar releases aromatic volatiles that are harmful. Pine contains similar chemicals, but the concentrations are minute in comparison. I used it for years when raising cockatiels. They use a wooden nest box, and cedar shavings in it would kill the chicks. Pine shavings never hurt them in the least, and is the standard material used by every breeder I knew. I've yet to find a snake breeder that actually had a problem with pine shavings, other than sometimes getting a batch with a lot of dust. So, yes, I am aware of the "danger" of pine shavings, and think it's much ado about not much at all.
 
There is no need to do all that. I just plunk the pinky in a cup of hot tap water for about 10 minutes. That is enough to thaw it completely. Of course, bigger mice take longer, but it never takes more than 20 or so minutes to thaw even the biggest mice.

Moving your snake--get the new tank all set up and ready. When you feed your snake next, put him from the feeding tub directly into his new tank. Leave him for the 48 hours to digest and another day or two to get used to his new home. He'll be fine.

Housing on pine shavings is iffy at best. I've read that it irritates the respiratory system, and I've also read that it is harmless. This I do know, though--I do not know of any reputable snake breeder that advocates using pine. So I say, why take chances? Stick with what is known to work--aspen, newspaper, paper towels, etc.
 
Thanks all:)

I have some sort of weird wood chippings and i am not sure if they are pine or not but to be on the safe side i have got aspen coming out to me tomorrow.
 
If they're a pale colour I'd be prepared to bet they're beech chippings, which are pretty standard over here in reptile shops :) If so they are perfectly safe but I didn't think they were really absorbent enough when I used them
 
Yeah they are quite like although they do have a few dark shades but beech sounds quite likely.I have still ordered my aspen as like you say they not very absorbent and my Snake struggles burrowing through it.

Here's a pic it looks quite light to me not sure if yours looked similar.It come in just a clear plastic bag so it didn't have any information on it as to whether it was pine or not.

31-08-06_1700.jpg


Many thanks

Jamie
 
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