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Need help on my ultmate dilemma.

P

Pascalgp

New member
Hi all,

I am about to get my first snake. I have some options about the age of the snake. Now, what is the best age a snake should have to start being held in a cage and easy to handle? I have been reading a lot and baby's and adult or snakes between adult have there negative and positive side.
Can anyone give me a good explained answer on that topic.
Get a baby snake ore more an adult snake?
 
Since this is your first snake, I personally recommend an adult or yearling. Older snake are much more forgiving of husbandry changes. Corns also tend to get more docile as they age.

Hatchling corns are small and cute but are generally big pains and can consume a much larger block of your time. Feeding issues, stress, and temp variation can really disrupt the little guys.
 
Does that means that I can jump over from pinky to more adult mice if I have a tearling or more adult snake ?
 
Not neccessarily. You won't be feeding pinkies for sure, but your snake might still be too small for adult mice. All snakes grow at different rates.

The "rule" of feeding is the mouse should be no larger than 1.5x the thickness of the snakes body (thickest part). You'll want to start off with a meal slightly smaller than what you need though, if you've never fed a snake before. Sometimes a mouse can LOOK like it's the right size, but end up slightly too large... and a regurg is not something you need to deal with after your first feeding. lol
 
Sometimes a mouse can LOOK like it's the right size, but end up slightly too large... and a regurg is not something you need to deal with after your first feeding. lol
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More often than not, the mouse looks to be too big to the keeper but is actually just right, or even too small of a meal, for the snake. ;)
 
CAV said:
More often than not, the mouse looks to be too big to the keeper but is actually just right, or even too small of a meal, for the snake. ;)
Click to expand...

I'm definately guilty of having this happen, especially with hatchlings.

But to answer the original question, I, too, would recommend either a sub-adult or an adult as a newbies first corn. Too many hatchlings die from totally unknown causes. I would hate to have a newbie suffer the pain of a loss and/or become discouraged simply because Fate chose their particular hatchling to die. Getting an older, more established snake would greatly decrease the chance of that happening.
 
Gotta go along with the other's advice, just keep in mind that finding a yearling or sub-adult isn't always that easy these days. They will command a higer price, and you really should buy from a breeder. Pet shops will get older corns from breeders that are either retired or females that won't produce. Of course if you're only interested in a pet, then these types are usually ok.
I think "getting your feet wet" with an older corn will be a more positive experience for you and your snake.
They are truly remarkable animals that respond well to human interaction.
Good luck to you and let us know what you've decided on.
 
Another reason to get an older snake is that you can get a relatively long history of the animal (if you buy from a breeder anyway). When I got mine a couple weeks ago, the breeder was able to tell me all about his health, feeding schedule, any problems he's had with him, and his behavioral tendencies. You could get some of this (the feeding schedule, for example) with a hatchling too, but to me anyway, it's nice knowing that my snake has been feeding without a problem for 2 years and hasn't had any health issues. There's still a learning curve on my part because I have to get to know his routines (let's face it, not every snake is going to live their life based on what a particular care sheet says - every snake is an individual and they do their own thing). It seems a lot easier to learn from an animal that is already well-established.
 
The only thing I might add, is that if you decide to get a hatchling, try to go where you can personally handle them first. I got my amel at a reptile show, and I could tell right away that mine was more mellow than a lot of the ones I checked out. He wasn't trying to get away and jerking around like many that I held. He has turned out to be really easy to handle and mellow, mellow, mellow. There's a definite difference between my three hatchlings that I got from the breeder. My one female is really mellow like my amel was, and she's the largest and easiest to handle. My male is pretty mellow, but I have another female that's really flighty and nervous. She tries to bite and everything. She has been the hardest to get to eat etc.
 
CAV said:
More often than not, the mouse looks to be too big to the keeper but is actually just right, or even too small of a meal, for the snake. ;)
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VERY true, but if you're not sure, feed a slightly smaller mouse for the first meal. Check bump, upsize as needed. Better safe than sorry, imo. ;)
 
Experience is a wonderful teacher

A snake regurging a meal that is too big is extremely rare. It they can swallow it, they will likely keep it down. :)
 
CAV said:
A snake regurging a meal that is too big is extremely rare. It they can swallow it, they will likely keep it down. :)
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I agree with that totally. I fed my 2003's right before X-mas break mice that were too big, hell, I even tried to get it away from my amel after she had part of it down and she was having none of that. The lumps in them were huge---but they both kept it down.
 
Actually....

Keyword 1: extremely
Keyword 2: rare

Translation: Out of the thousands and thousands of feedings I've conducted, I may have seen it happen so infrequently I could complete the count on one hand. How has your observations compared?
 
But I too was a New-B once and the rule still applied then. Trust me I "experimented" just to find out what the result would be. :dancer:
 
CAV said:
But I too was a New-B once and the rule still applied then. Trust me I "experimented" just to find out what the result would be. :dancer:
Click to expand...

Ah, see? You did not mention that! SPE-CI-FY! lol

But I'm still not going to feed my hopper eating corn an adult mouse. Can he handle a juvie? Maybe... But I don't plan on experimenting. ;)
 
Ancient herper secret

If you aren't giving your snake the appropriate sized meals, it is poor husbandry on the keepers part, IMHO. ;)

There is general not a lot of difference between a small adult and a large adult mouse. I only buy pinkies, fuzzies, small adults and large adults. (The individual size variation in each bag allows for cherry picking the right size for each individual snake.) I move up and feed the next larger size for the next 4-10 feeding and repeat. If you aren't afraid to experiment a little, you can get corns onto adult mice much sooner than you'd think. :)

AND NO, I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT POWERFEEDING!
 
Cav is right. I've moved my snake from pinkies to hoppers (at 1 meal every 7 days) in what I believe to be quick (about 6-8 meals of one size, ranging from small to large). I dont have a fear of feeding a meal I think is too big, but I also know what that bump should look like. If someone were to tell me my snake was ready for an adult mouse I would look at them and laugh. In 2 months, maybe he will be... but I still have to remember that he's only 6 months old (and eating med sized hoppers - this week will be his third hopper. A few weeks from now, he'll be on juvies).

I do however, always feed from the smallest size up so when I order my mice, I make sure to specify assorted sizes. My last order ranged from small hopper to large juvie, and a couple small adults thrown in.

I 100% agree the meal should be of appropriate size, but what EXACTLY does that mean (esp to a newbie)? I know what the bump looks like, and so I'm not afraid to up the meal if that bump is a bit small. My ONLY point is that if you THINK a meal is too big, offer one that's a touch smaller. If the bump isn't what it should be, then offer a larger meal next time.

If your temps are correct, you shouldn't experience a regurg.

Now that I have that all typed out... I forget what the original question of this thread was... did I hit it? LOL

Edit: Not really. :/
 
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