Anorexic Corn

[HerpAm85]

Hi, this is a bit of a follow on from my last thread, 'Houdini Corn'.
I adopted a Corn snake off a friend because he didnt have the time or money to spend on him, when i had the corn' Zep' he was in a bad way with an R.I, but managed to escape within 24 hours of me having him.
Since then he's returned, ive taken him the vets and they say he's seriously underweight, he hadnt eaten for 2 months previous to me having him, and was missing for 2 months, so around 4 months in total of not eating, since then ive give Zep a course of injections off the vet, and bought a brand new heat lamp for his viv. Yesterday he started to feed again, which is obviously a really good sign! But with him been so underweight, the vet called him 'anorexic', it really is that bad, i was wondering if there is anything else i could be feeding him except F/T mice? sorry for the huge explanation, i suppose the simple question is, what varieties of things can i fed my Corns, and what is (if anything) better than F/T mice? thanks, matt
p.s With him not eating for so long, ive started him back off on 4 pinkies every other day, he is a 4 foot corn, but i didnt want to over do it

[dragunov.762]

it is better to feed one larger prey item (if he is severly underweight i would say a size smaller than what a heathly one should eat) pinkies dont really have a very good nutritional value because they are mostly skin and bones a larger prey would be more nutritious and therefore better. 4 months is not that long without eating either i had a 2 and a half foot king who refused to eat all winter with no change to the cage temps or anything. in ohio all winter is about 5 months lol ok maybe not that long but if it is severly underweight after only 4 months i would say that it wasnt getting the right sized prey to begin with

[citysnakes]

p.s With him not eating for so long, ive started him back off on 4 pinkies every other day, he is a 4 foot corn, but i didnt want to over do it

digesting 4 pinkies every other day is not only pointless but its also taxing on the snake in itself.

get this badboy on one appropriately sized rodent, once weekly for now and you'll see improvements within no time.

corn people out there: what should a footer be feeding on? adult mice, small rats?

[HerpAm85]

Thanks, ill start him back on the bigger stuff then, cheers

[Lankyrob]

Ours are just over a foot, about 8 months old (educated guess) and eat a pinky every 7 days - this gives tehm the nice stomach bulge that people seem to talk about.

[infernalis]

my fellow is about 2 years old and I give him either 3 fuzzy hopper mice or one thawed adult mouse about once sometimes twice a week.

about every 6 weeks he goes into a shed cycle and refuses food for almost one and a half weeks.

[Feebo]

Larger prey = much much higher nutrient content. As Julian says, it really is a pointless exercise to feed a snake of that size four pinkies. You want a rodent whose body is about the same thickness as the snakes thickest part, a little thicker even. Every seventh day. If he eats for you, he`ll put the weight on over a month or two ;D

[HerpAm85]

Yes, i have an 8 month-ish old corn my self, he eats F/T mice just a bit thicker than the thickest part of his body, he seems fine off them. yeh, and doesnt eat whilst in 'blue', before shedding. The larger Corn i have, the one that hasnt eat until recently, i just fed him the small mice because of him not eating, now i know he's eating again, i'll put him back on normal stuff. Does anybody feed their snakes a variety of things or just stick to mice and rats?? ive read about using F/T day old chicks?

[dragunov.762]

I use mice for my king snake but i dont really see the harm in a chick. i would make sure they are just as nutritious as a mouse or a rat before i fed them a chick and the price might be more.

[HerpAm85]

yeh i'll look into the nutrition difference's, are rats better for them than mice, or is that just a matter of choice?

[Will0W783]

Mice have a higher fat content, while rats are leaner and a healthier source if you can get them on appropriately sized rats.

[Lankyrob]

Will corns get big enough to eat small rats generally? Our large corn is on large mice - would it be worth trying a "small" rat? Not sure how the sizes compare tbh

[infernalis]

One time I got a deal on some small rat pups, $14 for a bag of 100, my corn ate them up just fine.

a rat that is really young can be about the same size as an adult mouse.

[Lankyrob]

Cool - cheers wayne

[HerpAm85]

I fed him a small rat this morning, no problem