Feeding try

[Reptile_Reptile]

Well its reaching the 3 month mark of Ghonda not eating, she is still perfectly healthy and a good weight i would say from eyeballin her. but today im going to try to feed her since its been pretty warm in my house and her temps have been a few degrees above what she is used to, and im hoping she will want it. if this doesnt work im going to get her a XL mouse instead of a small rat. see how she does with her old prey item.

[Lankyrob]

There is no problem wopith corns living on mice all their lives, if he likes them then you could stick with them. My adult takes an xl mouse every 14 days.

[Reptile_Reptile]

idk I just feel better feeding a Rat snake rats lol

[Lankyrob]

Shouldnt you feed a corn snake corn?? :yes: ;) :yes:

[mld]

Shouldnt you feed a corn snake corn?? :yes: ;) :yes:

LOL,You are BAD! Just don't try hog noses to hog nose snakes! It could get messy:crazy2:

[Reptile_Reptile]

lol nice .......

[Sapphyr]

Kings to King Snakes? Plenty of milk to Milk Snakes? THIS IS MADNESS.

I'm guessing my Rainbow Boa needs more rainbows in his diet.

[whoaxmary]

This thread me lol - and I needed that today.

[presspirate]

I'm guessing my Rainbow Boa needs more rainbows in his diet.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u12/Lucky-Charms-cereal.jpgORhttp://thefutureofads.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/skittles.jpg

[Sapphyr]

http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/u12/Lucky-Charms-cereal.jpgORhttp://thefutureofads.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/skittles.jpg

I pick Skittles! Time to get some Skittles for my snake. I'd say 5 - 10 would fill his little belly, right? LOL

On a related note, he just nommed his fourth fuzzy~ His first month with me has gone so incredibly smooth. :>

[presspirate]

I pick Skittles! Time to get some Skittles for my snake. I'd say 5 - 10 would fill his little belly, right? LOL

On a related note, he just nommed his fourth fuzzy~ His first month with me has gone so incredibly smooth. :>

It's always a good feeling when they eat right away. I've had a few stress me, including my Nicaraguan who did not eat for over 2 months. She is back on track now.

And speaking of back on track. JR, I'll have to agree with Rob here. Corns can be fed on mice their entire lives. If it makes you feel better to feed rats, maybe you could alternate every other feeding, a rat, a mouse, a rat, a mouse, some corn, some skittles etc. etc. etc.

[Lankyrob]

Hamsters eat ham, gtps eat leaves, Bp eats balls, carpet pythons eat carpets - man this could go on and on!!!

Sorry for initially derailing your thread rep-rep!!

[Reptile_Reptile]

lol its cool ive enjoyed the thread so far. but she eats rats just fine. but they used to be her only food and i still give them to her occasionally and she goes back and forth just fine.

[Lankyrob]

Is she on the 14 day feed rota?

[Reptile_Reptile]

yea. she gets a mouse maybe once ever other month or so. rats all other times.

[Jendee]

assuming she eats frozen thawed, when I have animals that are off there feed Ill wait a long period of time and throw a small live prey maybe a hopper..because that's what they do jump around and it will get your corn excited again about food.

[2006gt]

garter snakes eat garter belts!!

[Dave69]

assuming she eats frozen thawed, when I have animals that are off there feed Ill wait a long period of time and throw a small live prey maybe a hopper..because that's what they do jump around and it will get your corn excited again about food.


I would do the same also, just not rats though!
theres big debates over here about live feeding, people saying you should, the majority saying you shouldnt as its apparently cruel, but thats nonesense.
I have had good results with a lot of my animals feeding them live.

[Sapphyr]

I don't think it's cruel, I just think it's unsafe. That's my personal opinion on live feeding. To say it's cruel is blasphemy. Things like that happen hundreds of times per second. Your snake eating a live prey item is no different than what's going on outside your house.

[belovedboas]

I'm not a fan of live..although I do have snakes that eat only live.....if its closely monitored and your willing to intervene...than ok and its actually healthier for the snake:)

[TeaNinja]

i've always fed live so far, and i've never had an incident. it kills me when i hear people saying things like "i left the rat in with the snake all night and i woke up the next morning and the rat was still there cowering in the corner"
that came from a petco employee. was kind of a facepalm moment for me.
she's lucky it hid in the corner in fear instead of attacking in fear/hunger.

[Lankyrob]

I'm not a fan of live..although I do have snakes that eat only live.....if its closely monitored and your willing to intervene...than ok and its actually healthier for the snake:)


Could you explain why a live item is healthier than a prey item that is killed humanely, frozen immediately and fed off in a short period of time? I understand if something is frozen for like 6months to a year there is a degradation of the nutrients but didnt think that it would be much if any in a short period of time.

[Reptile_Reptile]

Could you explain why a live item is healthier than a prey item that is killed humanely, frozen immediately and fed off in a short period of time? I understand if something is frozen for like 6months to a year there is a degradation of the nutrients but didnt think that it would be much if any in a short period of time.
the only thing would be the blood which looses the vitamins it carries after a period of coldness. but with freezing you rule out 99.9% of parasites and 99.9% of physical damage your snake can take. so to me that sounds a hell of a lot healthier

[Sapphyr]

and there's my 'learn at least one thing' for the day :D .. Didn't know blood gave vitamins and it lost the nutrients in such a short amount of time. Thanks~

Never thought of parasites, it's the potential harm to your snake that bothers me. Good thinking, sometimes I forget that anything can carry parasites. xD

[Reptile_Reptile]

yes blood carries 99% of your bodies salt and iron content. and has many proteins and has its own nutritional properties as well. but after it congeals it starts to loose its nutrition because its not circulating and such i don't know the exact mechanics of it.

[Lankyrob]

Thanks JR :)

[infernalis]

Blood is responsible for delivering the nutrients to all your bodily tissues, muscle, organs and brain.

When you purchase frozen prey from a reputable supplier, the prey is flash frozen, much like flash freezing human food makes for healthier eating, it's also true of snake food.

I never order more than 800 pinks at a time, so the longest I ever have them in my freezer is just under 60 days.

[Lankyrob]

Checked with my supplier today, they never keep the prey in the store longer than a week and we buy a months worth at a time. The oldest prey we feed should be no more than five weeks since it took its last breath.

[candyraver69]

Did you get Ghonda to eat okay or is she still being difficult?

5/6 of mine took their dinner tonight fine, but Oxide just kept striking at it and knocking it away. I've never seen a corn act that way, it was weird, but I guess I don't have a ton of experience with adult corns either.

I go with f/t. If the snake started losing weight, just refusing to eat for a long time I would give a live a try, but I'd be pretty persistent first. I just dont want my gorgeous snakies all scratched up :)

[SnakeyJay]

Live would have to be the last resort for me... Dont get me wrong I dont feel bad for the mouse,its a natural process. But id die if somehow a rat hurt my snake.. Im not a 100% on what the laws on live feeding are in the uk.

[Dave69]

Live feeding should really be a last resort, especially if you dont do it out of habit.
Live feeding laws are very simple, if you dont need to dont, and dont do it for entertainment purposes.
Should the snake require live feeding, such as a fussy royal, baby royals and boas etc. or a snake that hasnt eaten for a long while, then its perfectly legal to do so.
Personally, i feed some of my bigger boas live, either rabbits or guinea pigs, the sole reason i do that is because i cannot guarantee that i will kill it quickly without shooting it, and i am pretty sure i have already had a fatality due to eating shot rabbits.
My little big girl is exceptionally good at killing her food, so i am not worried about it at all.