Hi, I have had this snake since it was 6 months, I am wondering if I am not feeding it enough because when compared to other 2 year olds it is pretty small. The tank has a heating pad that at the bare surface is 90F and there is like an inch or two of substrate over it so I figure that keeps the ground warm enough- but there is no lamp. I feed him pretty dang big meals but only once every 14 days. I am wondering if I am only feeding him enough to grow very slow- but not at a normal rate. My vet said I should feed him 2X a week!!!!!!!!!!! He said make sure they are big too- either my vet is nuts, I am nuts- or we should probably meet somewhere in the middle. Any ideas?
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Snake almost 2 years and still very small...
- Thread starter vertigofm
- Start date
hayley13
New member
I have been told every seven days when they very young and every 10 to 14 days when they bigger ,the prey is supposed to be up to 1.5 the snakes width at the larger part of him, and from what i gather most seem to only feed one to two prey each time the snake eats. My 16 week corn eats two medium pinkies each seven days (takes a while for the stomach acid to build up in the snake)
dionythicus
Kiss My Hearse
Not all snakes grow at the same rate. I have some small adults that are half the size of others of the same age. Some snakes just won't get big. That said, feeding smaller meals more often can help jump start growth. Drop down to a hopper or two every 4-5 days. What can happen when feeding larger meals less often is that snakes can store too much fat in their liver. It would be like a human only eating a huge meal every three or four days and nothing in between. That's the way my vet put it when he did a liver biopsy on my boa and found him to have a fatty liver. Smaller meals more frequently can help.
Double het
If i'm gonna eat somebody
Hmm why do you see it like that? I thought large meals less often was better then small meals often.
I do this to mimmick conditions in the wild. They go hunting when their hungry, eat a prey and do nothing till their hungry again. With small meals there less likely to get of their lazy tails and go get some exersize.
btw, you cannot compare warm-blooded mammals to reptiles. 2 entirely different things. A mammal normally tries to eat every day. A reptile that eats every day would get fat and die.
I do this to mimmick conditions in the wild. They go hunting when their hungry, eat a prey and do nothing till their hungry again. With small meals there less likely to get of their lazy tails and go get some exersize.
btw, you cannot compare warm-blooded mammals to reptiles. 2 entirely different things. A mammal normally tries to eat every day. A reptile that eats every day would get fat and die.
dionythicus
Kiss My Hearse
There are some mammal/reptile comparisons that can be made. They have a slower metalobism, but their bodies/organs still function the same way as ours. They are not competely different in everything.
Larger meals less often don't digest as quickly, meaning the nutrition isn't getting where it needs to go in a timely manner. A small meal digests quickly so that the nutrition is spread throughout the system more rapidly. Smaller meals more often usually mean quicker growth. That's why many people feed hatchlings every 3-5 days then go to bigger meals less often once they are growing steadily.
Larger meals less often don't digest as quickly, meaning the nutrition isn't getting where it needs to go in a timely manner. A small meal digests quickly so that the nutrition is spread throughout the system more rapidly. Smaller meals more often usually mean quicker growth. That's why many people feed hatchlings every 3-5 days then go to bigger meals less often once they are growing steadily.
bitsy
Owned by Corns since 1991
Firstly look at the size of the food - it should be about one and a half times the girth of the snake, and leave a visible bulge immediately after swallowing. If you feed something too big, you're at risk of a regurge, so immediately swapping to lareg mice (if you're not already on them) would be risky. Work up to them gradually.
I judge frequency of feeding by the size of the food as follows:
Pinkies - 1 every 5 days
Fuzzies - 1 every 5-7 days
Small mice - 1 every week
Medium mice - 1 every 10 days
Large mice - 1 every 14 days
They grow at different rates, so you can't really judge yours by comparing them to others.
For example, some of my Corns have finally moved to adult mice aged 3 years, 4 years, 2 years and 2 and a half years. I've certainly had 2 year olds not capable of taking anything larger than a small mouse and they're perfectly healthy a few years on.
You can get them to an adult size sooner than the average three years, but a fast rate of growth isn't a measure of how fit a Corn is.
In my view, anyone advising you to feed a Corn an adult mouse twice a week, is recommending power feeding. This can actually shorten a Corn's life.
I judge frequency of feeding by the size of the food as follows:
Pinkies - 1 every 5 days
Fuzzies - 1 every 5-7 days
Small mice - 1 every week
Medium mice - 1 every 10 days
Large mice - 1 every 14 days
They grow at different rates, so you can't really judge yours by comparing them to others.
For example, some of my Corns have finally moved to adult mice aged 3 years, 4 years, 2 years and 2 and a half years. I've certainly had 2 year olds not capable of taking anything larger than a small mouse and they're perfectly healthy a few years on.
You can get them to an adult size sooner than the average three years, but a fast rate of growth isn't a measure of how fit a Corn is.
In my view, anyone advising you to feed a Corn an adult mouse twice a week, is recommending power feeding. This can actually shorten a Corn's life.
Double het
If i'm gonna eat somebody
What do you mean with 'timely manner'?
I see the relation that smaller meals digest quicker and you can feed more often for quicker growth. But that only goes for small snakes. I don't think getting them to grow faster then their ment to grow has any benifits. Other then getting a bigger snake faster. But what do you do when the snake is mature? Feed small meals regulair or big meals longer apart? I'd say encourage movement. Even a wild snake doesn't hide under the same log all it's life waiting till food hops by.
DogStar5988
Up all night
I feed my guy one adult every 7-10 days depending on how busy I am. When he was smaller I fed him 1 pinkie/fuzzy/hopper every 3-5 days. He just weighed in at 168g and I am pretty happy with that, his body is still slender and he is still gaining weight. You should pretty much try to judge your snake on your own standards rather than comparing them to other snakes because they are all so different. As long as he/she is healthy its fine. 
---Kenny
---Kenny
wax32
ALL YOUR BASE
First, weigh your snake. If you don't have a small digital scale, buy one.
http://www.reptilebasics.com/My-Weigh-7001DX-Precision-Digital-Scale-with-Weighing-Bowl-p-16191.html
Then refer to the "Munson Plan":
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50106&highlight=munson+plan
My three year old corns were very undersized, I was feeding them too little too far apart. Now that I have switched to the Munson Plan my snakes are catching up to where most average snakes their age are.
DogStar5988
Up all night
..........oke:
...oke:
DogStar5988
Up all night
Oops, that was meant for the reply before yours
Drizzt80
Dakota Corns
No, you should be feeding him 2 regular ones, but every 7 days.
In my experience, a 7 day feeding regimen will instigate growth and a 14 day feeding regimen will instigate maintenance. Younger snakes need more food/energy for growth, you're currently not providing it with that. I personally move my males to a 14 day feeding regimen after they have passed 300 grams. My breeding females and younger snakes are all on a 7 day feeding regimen. The younger snakes so they grow, the females because they are breeding and need to either replace lost reserves from the breeding cycle, or store reserves for the brumation cycle.
D80