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Small Pinkies or Pinkies?

A

Andry

New member
Our new snake ate 2 pinkies on Monday and yesterday there was no bulge at all in his tummy. Does this mean he needs a bigger size? He had just ate on Thurdsay 4 days before, just one pinky. He's supposedly approx 8 months old. Is it necessary to know his exact weight to know what to feed him? I don't have a scale.

There is a Repticon in town next weekend and they will be selling Mice form Mice Direct and I can pre-order. I just don't know what size to order for our snake. There are available...Small Pinkies, Pinkies, Peach Fuzzies and everything above that.

Let me know what you think. If it helps, here is a video of his last feeding. Doesn't look to good at the beginning but it gets a little better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwYNG9ThVRk

Thank you.
 
Also, one more question. How long do they last in the freezer? Should I go ahead and buy 200 or just buy 100? If they will go bad or my snake will outgrow them I'd rather go with the lesser amount. Let me know what you think. Thanks!
 
They will last a long time. A year, even, if packaged correctly. I wouldn't buy more than 25 of any size, though- your snake is going to grow faster than you can use up that many. Maybe 25 pinks, and 25 fuzzies? Then sort the fuzzies into three piles- small, medium and large. After you've been feeding double pinks for a while, and the snake looks like the smallest fuzzy is 1-1.5 times as big as the widest part of the snake, then switch to fuzzies. That should last you several months, even feeding every 5 days.
 
Okay, thanks! Well, we've only had him for a week so all I know is he took 2 pinkies just fine the last feeding and he ate them both in probably less than 5 minutes. I hear the right size mouse for a snake takes them up to 10 minutes. So maybe he needs larger? I need to weigh him somehow to be sure, I guess. It's hard to know. I've never seen a fuzzy before. Our snake is about 3/4 thick at the largest part of it's belly.
 
The best rule of thumb is look at the widest part of the snake, about halfway down its body. Choose a mouse size that is one to one and a half times, in diameter, as the widest part of the snake, in diameter. Start conservatively, and move up prey sizes conservatively, to prevent regurgitation.

I doubt it takes any of my snakes more than a minute or two to swallow, once they make contact and start. _Maybe_ five minutes for an adult who is eating at a leisurely pace.
 
A snake that is eight months old and as big around as you stated, should be eating fuzzies with ease. At the show find a breeder with a similar sized snake as yours and find out what they are feeding it. I would get a bag of 100 fuzzies and a bag of 100 hoppers from MiceDirect. Once the get on fuzzies they will grow much faster. They won't go bad if kept at the proper temperature of 0 degrees. That will cover the feeding of any other '09 snakes you might pick up at the Repticon Show.
 
I thought it should be on fuzzies. I will get 100 fuzzies. That should take me through to the next show in town in October and September where I can buy more. And nooooo, I don't want any more snakes. I have enough with all my frogs and I plan on getting more darts, so no more snakes for me. This snake is just one we bought for my daughter. I'm enjoying it as well of course, but I don't know where I would put another snake.
 
100 fuzzies will last you over a year. A typical snake goes from pink to weanling in a year. That is too many. In my opinion.
 
They only come by the bag of 100 each. Or I can get rats for a bag of 50. But do people feed rats? What's the difference? Is one preferred over the other for a corn snake?
 
Then get a bag of 100 fuzzies, and when 1 fuzzy doesn't leave a lump and is smaller in diameter than the widest part of the snake, move up to double fuzzies. You might be able skip weanling mice altogether & move straight to small adults when the double fuzzies are done.

Edit: The experts seem to think rats have too much body fat to be the main food for corn snakes, unless you are breeding and want to offer them to the girls to build them up for egg laying. But if you have easy access to, say, rat pinks, they are the size of fuzzies, so if you can get a bag of 50 rat pinks, that would do until your snake is ready for bigger food. The risk is that your snake might get "stuck" on rats, the way little kids only eat Kraft macaroni & cheese for months on end.
 
small pinkies or pinkies

hi I'm new to snakes myself and kind of the same dilemma as you . I fed my corn a fizzie and it took her ten minutes to swallow it so was advised to try her on two rat pup pinkies and her swallowed them with no problem. So I'm keeping with the rat pup pinkies for the next few feeding until I can't see a bump after she feeds .
 
james said:
I fed my corn a fizzie and it took her ten minutes to swallow it
Click to expand...

I don't want to be mean about the misspelling, but feeding a snake a "fizzie" just led to lots of amusing mental images. Reminds me of the time I put coke in my ferret's water dish. He couldn't decide whether to drink it, kill it or run from it. :)

My snake just jumped from double pinkies to fuzzies. I got mine from rodentpro. Again, I couldn't get fewer than 100 per bag, and any place I saw that sold them in smaller lots charged so much more that I saved no money. At least we have an omnivorous lizard to help eat up the extras.
 
Yeah, I don't have anything but the one snake. I don't think my dart frogs nor my red eye tree frogs will be too excited over a fuzzie. I don't know. Maybe I can find someone to go 50/50 with me on some mice.

Anyone?
 
Andry said:
Yeah, I don't have anything but the one snake. I don't think my dart frogs nor my red eye tree frogs will be too excited over a fuzzie. I don't know. Maybe I can find someone to go 50/50 with me on some mice.

Anyone?
Click to expand...

Well, if you were closet than Texas.. :)

Maybe try craigslist for your area? My first thought would be fliers in a pet store, but I bet most pet stores wouldn't want you advertising buying pet food from someplace else.
 
GothPixel said:
Well, if you were closet than Texas.. :)

Maybe try craigslist for your area? My first thought would be fliers in a pet store, but I bet most pet stores wouldn't want you advertising buying pet food from someplace else.
Click to expand...

I'll post an add in the South texas reptile thread. Thanks.
 
small pinkies or pinkies

lol, :laugh01:sorry about the spelling was in a hurry. Don't worry it was a fuzzie not a fizzie.
 
small pinkies or pinkies

hi , I could see a small bulge but my experience with snakes is new too, but saying that I would go for larger pinkies to see how he handles them . If he finds them as easy as those pinkies I would then move him on to fuzzies . If your going to buy in bulk I would get different sizes from pinkies to fuzzies . that's just my opinion.I hope this helps.
 
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