Feeding and Soaking questions

[aNi-DiFrAnCo]

I am wondering how many pinks to feed my new snake. Her feeding day is tomorrow, but I am not too sure on the frequency of feeding for a little snake, or how many pinks to feed at once. Also she loves to bathe and nap in her water. In fact she is in a shallow bowl with water and I wonder if she can drown by doing so (falling asleep in the water) its probably a silly question but I just wanted to know :)

[Vengeance]

I don't think it's natural for anysnake that isn't a water snake to be soaking that much. You should check for mites at the bottom of the bowl. They will look like little black specs and when you pop them they will have blood in them. If you snake does have mites, you need to treat them right away. It's not that huge a deal but can cause undue stress to your snake and could cause him/her to go off feed.

[aNi-DiFrAnCo]

Oh, no mites..she doesnt spend ALL her time in the waterdish though. She spends most of her time away from the water, but when I hold her over it, she gets in. I have been handing her enough and have looked at her scales for possible signs of mites, and I see none. I think she just likes to soak :)

[Auskan]

None of my corn snakes soak except for one that the last two shed cycles has soaked for a day or so, approximately 2-3 days before going "blue". If yours is soaking at all, I really would check for mites. The places to look are around the eyes and under the head. The mites can be anywhere but those are the places they most like to congregate. Also, as someone said already, check the bottom of the water bowl for little black specks.

As for your original question, the best idea is to base the meal size on the girth of the snake. Feed a prey item that is approximately 1 1/2 times the size of the snake. You mentioned pinks - the best idea is to move him/her up in prey size as soon as possible, as pinks are not all that nutritious. If this is an '03 hatchling, it should be big enough by now to handle something a little larger than a pinky.

[marisa]

My younger corns have soaked before...sometimes for days before a shed.

EACH snake is an individual. If you see no mites, no sign of them and your snake eats and is healthy, she probably just enjoys a soak. You can also offer a humid hide.

Marisa

[aNi-DiFrAnCo]

She has no mites I am pretty certain as her water is clean. I handle her so often that I see no obvious signs of mites. She just likes the water as Marisa said. Her hidey rock a lot of times gets humid because a lot of the time when I take it off to get her out, it has condensation inside. :) I think she just loves the water at times. I don't know when she was hatched. she is small though. I haven't had a chance to measure her though I should.

[HeatherK]

To answer your first question, it's hard to say how many she should be getting without seeing her size. However, a feeding about every 5-7 days for the little ones is fine. I usually went with 6-7, personal preference. If the snake can warm itself up to 85 or so, you can feed more items per meal. One pinky is fine for a while, but if the snake is looking for more after, you can probably try two and see if it digests fine. Usually once they're taking two pinkies, you can move them to a small fuzzy or rat pup.

You will notice accelerated growth on more food but you don't want to give too much.

[aNi-DiFrAnCo]

TY, cause today is feeding day..first feeding since I have her. I am going out of town for the weekend so she will be able to digest comfortably. I will say that when I am gone I will miss her!