ok so i recently got my first corn thats about 7 months. he is so thin he resembles the body of a garter snake. i plan on power feeding him so he'll bulk up a little. i also plan on breeding him too. i was thinking two pinkies every 5 days, could i get away with every four days? what are the health risks besides obesity and shorter life that i've heard?
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Power feeding, how much is too much?
- Thread starter gekko1
- Start date
Ares
Corn handler
Just an opinion...
I dont think that 2 pinkies every 5 days for a 7 month old corn is considered
powerfeeding. Usually from what I've read a corn should easily take two pinkies at about 4-5 months old. If u were to feed it 2 pinkies every 3 days then I would consider it powerfeeding.
Ok here is a question for everyone....I was talking to a breeder in my area and he told me that it is impossible to powerfeed a snake in the first year cause it grows so fast, after the first year is when it starts to put on more weight and then thats when powerfeeding would cause problems. I dont really agree with powerfeeding so I would like to know if this is true.
Whats the opinions on this???
I dont think that 2 pinkies every 5 days for a 7 month old corn is considered
powerfeeding. Usually from what I've read a corn should easily take two pinkies at about 4-5 months old. If u were to feed it 2 pinkies every 3 days then I would consider it powerfeeding.
Ok here is a question for everyone....I was talking to a breeder in my area and he told me that it is impossible to powerfeed a snake in the first year cause it grows so fast, after the first year is when it starts to put on more weight and then thats when powerfeeding would cause problems. I dont really agree with powerfeeding so I would like to know if this is true.
Whats the opinions on this???
Sorry Ares, I don't really know about that..but gekko, 2 every 5 days as Ares said isn't that bad. Remember, young corns are thin because they are just small in general. Mine is 8 months (approximately) and he is still almost as "thin as a garter snake." I feed him around 2x a week and he still grows bit by bit.
Most likely, your corn won't breed this summer because 7 mos is rather young for a corn to become sexually mature. Next year you would probably have better luck so no need to feed him too much. 2 every 5 days is a good rate for now.
Reading some of your other posts, it seems that you are excited about the possibility of breeding. I was too at first when I first got my snake, but now I realize that patience (and moderation) is the key here. good luck with everything
Most likely, your corn won't breed this summer because 7 mos is rather young for a corn to become sexually mature. Next year you would probably have better luck so no need to feed him too much. 2 every 5 days is a good rate for now.
Reading some of your other posts, it seems that you are excited about the possibility of breeding. I was too at first when I first got my snake, but now I realize that patience (and moderation) is the key here. good luck with everything
yes iris, ever since i bought my corn last sunday all i've thought about is breeding. i have already breed different varieties of fish and scorpions , not into birds. i've never breed snakes so when i heard that corns are very easy to breed, well there you go. plus all the morphs and possible morph varieties with just one species of snake puts me in awe. even though i have a normal phase corn CB, i'm pretty sure its impossible that it isn't het for something.
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I'm new to keeping corn snakes, in fact snakes in general. I've only had a banded kingsnake before this. My daughter had been hounding me for about a year that she wanted a snake, so I as a good daddy granted her wish. We now have a normal male and a ghost female. They are probably 9 to 12 months old.
I started the male, our first corn, on 2 pinkies a week and over the course of a month and a half he went from 2 to 4 pinkies then to 3 fuzzies and now eats 2 hoppers. He has grown about 4 inches in length and at least 1/3 in girth from when we purchased him. The female ate 2 small fuzzies right in her first feeding, so I tried 2 small hoppers the second feeding and she handled those quite easily.
They are still on a once a week schedule and I've had no problems with regurgitation from the larger food items. I'll probably up it to 2 hoppers every 5 days and see how they handle it. I'm hoping to fatten them up to breed in the spring.
Based on what my herp friends tell me, they can usually handle bigger food items than what we would think they can. So far they have been correct. When I first started feeding fuzzies, they suggested 2 in on meal, then an additional 1 a couple days later. This worked well obviously, since they have graduated to hoppers.
I started the male, our first corn, on 2 pinkies a week and over the course of a month and a half he went from 2 to 4 pinkies then to 3 fuzzies and now eats 2 hoppers. He has grown about 4 inches in length and at least 1/3 in girth from when we purchased him. The female ate 2 small fuzzies right in her first feeding, so I tried 2 small hoppers the second feeding and she handled those quite easily.
They are still on a once a week schedule and I've had no problems with regurgitation from the larger food items. I'll probably up it to 2 hoppers every 5 days and see how they handle it. I'm hoping to fatten them up to breed in the spring.
Based on what my herp friends tell me, they can usually handle bigger food items than what we would think they can. So far they have been correct. When I first started feeding fuzzies, they suggested 2 in on meal, then an additional 1 a couple days later. This worked well obviously, since they have graduated to hoppers.
feeding...
some of my 2001's eat 3 fuzzies every 4 days, and some eat 1 pinky a week. let the snake decide how much he/she wants. in the wild a snake doesn't have as ready a supply of food but it will turn down a meal if it doesn't need to eat. i think heavy breeding will shorten their life much more than heavily feeding them during their growth phase will. good luck, jim
some of my 2001's eat 3 fuzzies every 4 days, and some eat 1 pinky a week. let the snake decide how much he/she wants. in the wild a snake doesn't have as ready a supply of food but it will turn down a meal if it doesn't need to eat. i think heavy breeding will shorten their life much more than heavily feeding them during their growth phase will. good luck, jim
Simon
Corn Manic
I too let them eat as much as they want. If they don't want to feed, then I just let them go back home and have fun going through the aspen bedding. One of my candy cane eats on average 3-4 hoppers a meal and a max of 5 hoppers a meal. Her brother (from the same clutch) eats a max of 3 hoppers a meal averaging on 2 hoppers a meal.
Jr Nimeskern
Snake lover for lifer
Well ive heard from alot of people that powerfeeding corns in their first year isnt bad for them at all! they do grow fast and are strong enough to do this... the problem comes after their first year in exsistence... I power feed my young corns... when I bought my snow male corn he was only 7 months old and 18in long, he was skinny... I powerfeed him... I started out with 2 pinkys every monday and friday... then after about 2 weeks I moved him to 1 fuzzy every 3 days... after about 1 month of that I moved him to 1 hopper every friday... this has made him reach 23 in and hes gotten alot thicker then what he was... Im slowing him down on the amount I feed him but I feed him a bigger item... bigger items will make your corn thicker and widder... just a rule of thumb...
Shaky
Ought to know better
Shaky
As with MANY issues regarding snakes feeding and stress levels, not much here is clear. Lots of opinions, though.
Here's mine: If you feed your snake as much as it wants to eat, you probably still wont overload it. Most snakes wont eat unless they are hungry, therefore powerfeeding is somewhat a myth.
As with MANY issues regarding snakes feeding and stress levels, not much here is clear. Lots of opinions, though.
Here's mine: If you feed your snake as much as it wants to eat, you probably still wont overload it. Most snakes wont eat unless they are hungry, therefore powerfeeding is somewhat a myth.
Darin Chappell
Very Senior Hillbilly
I've never been able to force a snake to eat when it's not hungry! I feed my hatchlings first, and whatever pinkies they don't eat get tossed in with my yearlings as they gobble up their hoppers. What hoppers they don't get down, go to the larger snakes, and so on. This way, I have a minimal amount of waste on mice, and my snakes get all they want. My animals are in good flesh with no excess fat on them.
I try to feed more smaller animals rather than fewer larger animals though. It's a little more expensive, but I find that they are able to thrive on such a diet without worrying about regurging or anything else.
Darin
I try to feed more smaller animals rather than fewer larger animals though. It's a little more expensive, but I find that they are able to thrive on such a diet without worrying about regurging or anything else.
Darin
JaketheTick
New member
Ok, I dont know if you would consider this power feeding or not, but I basically feed my corns as big of mice, as often as possible, unless they start looking unhealthy or overweight, which believe it or not is pretty easy to do with snakes. How much i feed varies from snake to snake, but regardless, unless they start looking fat, i give them all they want. If Im wrong, or this seems irresponsible, somebody let me know.
Yeah I recently got my first corn snake, he's about 15 inches long now, and when I first got him the woman who had fed him said he would take two pinkies for her. So when I fed him for the first time a week later I gave him one, let him wait a bit, gave him a second, made him wait about 15 minutes, and he was still looking around for more and not being lethargic like I had heard full snakes should be, so I offered a third pinkie and he took it right away. Is this too much? He seemed to still be hungry, and he's digesting it really well, and hasn't regurgitated for me at all. Should I cut back to just two pinkies when I feed him or let him eat as much as he wants?
toxiclight
Artz and Snakez
Do you have access to scales to weigh your snake? I would suggest searching the forum for the Munson Plan to give an idea of what to feed if you have questions.
(I loosely follow the Munson plan, but mostly for the size of food. My snakes are fed every Friday rather than mess around with every 5-6 days and possibly mess up feeding schedules)
toxiclight
Artz and Snakez
Oops! Almost forgot: none of my snakes are terribly lethargic right after eating. They seem to enjoy cruising around their vivs for a bit before settling in for a nice bit of digesting.
bitsy
Owned by Corns since 1991
Wrong information I'm afraid. Many Corns will switch into "hunting" mode immediately after eating and be very active. This isn't an indicator that they need more food, it's just an instinct from the wild that isn't appropriate in captivity. Don't use this as a prompt to feed more - it's just an automatic reaction that they can't control.
Once this behaviour dies away and they settle down to digest, that's when they become less active for a few days.
bitsy
Owned by Corns since 1991
One pinkie every 5 days is pretty standard for young hatchlings.
If he can take two or three at a time, it's probably worth trying an upgrade to the next food size. Makes sure that as the food size goes up, you leave more time between feeds. If you go to fuzzies, I normally feed these one every 6-7 days.
If he can take two or three at a time, it's probably worth trying an upgrade to the next food size. Makes sure that as the food size goes up, you leave more time between feeds. If you go to fuzzies, I normally feed these one every 6-7 days.