power feeding

[hightower]

marty my corn is 3 months old, and i was wondering if any one else has tried power feeding their corn at this age and how did you go about it?

at the minute i'm feeding him a pinkie every 5 days and he is taking the food straight away. do i go for two pinkies every week or upgrade to a larger pinkie?

[BoidKeeper]

Power feeding is a bad thing and can kill snakes.
Every 5 days is good but to still be on pinkies after 3 months is too long. I feed every 5 days and move from pinkies to fuzzies after 20 meals and the same for fuzzies to hoppers. Once they are on hoppers their growing slows a bit.
I feed every 5 days for the first year and then every 7 days after that and they grow fast enough, some are ready to breed by their second winter no problem.
As far as size goes I go with 1 to 1.5 time larger than the snake larest girth.
Can you post a pic of your snake?
Cheers,
Trevor

[hightower]

i am just a bit wary i suppose about increasing the size of the meal, over protective i guess :) if i do up the size and it is too big for him will he still try to eat it?? and will it harm him?

[vanderkm]

A pinky every 5 days is nowhere near powerfeeding for a 3 month old corn. You could easily increase to 2-3 pinks per meal and when he has taken that for a couple meals, increase to a fuzzy. We feed pinkies from the first shed til after the second shed, then offer peach fuzzies til the next shed, then move up to fuzzies. Strive for something that is making a decent sized bulge in his stomach that is down to normal within 3 days.

They will typically refuse the food if they think it is too big, but baby corns can take amazingly large meals for such small snakes.

Powerfeeding to really push the growth of snakes is not recommended, but many people underfeed their snakes out of concern. They are individuals - we feed on a weekly schedule, but try to pay attention to who seems to be hunting and wants to feed vs those that are slower growing and not seeking food. We have yearling corns that are about 2.5 feet and eating hoppers and some that are well over 3.5 feet and eating adult mice - a lot will depend on your individual corn.

mary v.