Strangles' First Feeding

[JeffDenver]

First time feeding my new baby Corn Snake Strangles. I was kinda nervous about it because I wasn't sure I was doing it right, but as soon as the novelty of the new feeding cage wore off, he dived in and just did it. I guess thats a good sign.

I had left the frozen fetal rat in the cage for about 4 or 5 hours, to thaw it to room temperature.

The last pictures are bad quality because my camera is not great in low light, and it is a plastic cage, so there is a lot more distortion than with glass.

The top picture is a full view of the feeding cage I bought for him. Its about a foot in diameter (I think). I got a circular one because I figured it would be harder for him to burrow under the Zilla Terrarium liner I bought if there were no corners.

The feeding went great. After a few minutes of exploring, he got bored or finally smelled the fetal rat and just opened his mouth and ate it. It was kind of an anti-climax. I was expecting him to wrap coils around it and have a big production. But I guess its a good thing that he didnt take forever to eat it.

 

[atmox]

Most baby corn snakes don't strangle, some never will, others will when they get a bit older

 

[JeffDenver]

I figured maybe it was because the food was already dead.

 

[atmox]

I figured maybe it was because the food was already dead.

Mine strangles his dead food

 

[Daniel]

I find that the closer they are to Normals, genetically, the more they like to constrict. Hunger is a factor too, with mine. My multiple homozys never constrict.

 

[JeffDenver]

Had his first weighing today. 12 grams. It is lighter than I was expecting.

 

[gelshark]

I find that the closer they are to Normals, genetically, the more they like to constrict. Hunger is a factor too, with mine. My multiple homozys never constrict.

really????????????
I haven't seen that correlation in my snakes.

 

[alpine]

really????????????
I haven't seen that correlation in my snakes.

Yah I wouldn't really say that constricting is a trait in the genes either. Constricting is all instinct. Babies usually don't constrict as said earlier. If snakes feel the need to constrict they will. For instance, last feeding with my ghost bloodred, she was just going to bite the mouse and start swallowing, but one quick little flick of the mouse and she was all around it. Snakes are smarter than you think; if it's dead and they know it they might not constrict. I wouldn't say there's a correlation between morphs and constricting.

 

[Lolo]

Mine strangles his dead food

A few of mine do, and a few of them don't... usually they only "strangle" if I dangle the mouse (rather than laying it down), which is the preferred feeding method for some of my corns.

Cute little snake, and congrats on the first feeding! He'll be on adult mice before you know it, hehe.

 

[JeffDenver]

He had his second feeding last night. I filmed it this time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HykGwpfvp7k

I am going to try double pinks next week. In another thread someone said pinks should be 2-3 grams, but I weighed one of the pinks I fed him and it is only a gram.

 

[dannylill1981]

my 2 never constricted till they started getting food with hair on(fuzzies)