Corn Snake Feeding Patterns

[spullinger]

I have recently purchased a 2 year old corn snake who only seems to eat every 14 days (on fuzzys). Is this normal?

[Simon]

No that is not normal.

For a 2 year old it should be feeding on adult mice every 2 weeks.

How big is your snake?

There are some snakes that grow slower than others and will refuse to eat anything bigger than a fuzzie. I do have a few like that in my collection too but its not usual~

[sapphire_moon]

on fuzzy mice? I wouldn think they would be able to take something bigger. My 9month old is on 2wk old rats (about the size of a retired breeder mouse) Your corn should be able to atleast take adult mice.

How long is the snake and how big around is it?
did it come to you eating fuzzies (as in were you told it ONLY eats fuzzy mice every 14 days?)

[Invictus]

If the previous owner was not feeding the snake correctly, then yes, it's normal. If the snake has become accustomed to 1 fuzzy mouse every 2weeks, I guess that's what it's used to. It's a shame, really. I have corns that are not even 1 year old and they get 2 large hoppers per meal (until I am depleted of my hoppers, then they get adults).

[spullinger]

Flame (as my daughter has called him) is approximately 3.5 ft in length and is his widest girth is slightly larger than a £2 British coin.
I had tried to initially feed him on adult mice however he seemed completed disinterested in eating them for 10 days. That is when I switched to fuzzies and even then he will only eat every 2 weeks.

Any advice on trying to up the size of mice would be most gratefully received?

[vanderkm]

Not typical but not too suprising either - I have a couple 2-3 year old corns that still only feed on hoppers and are reluctant feeders overall. They have been raised and managed the same as the rest of my guys and in some cases are half the size of their siblings.

I don't have an explanation for it - they just seem to not care for food much - could be individual variation. They remain in good, fit condition and one male was a very vigorous breeder this year - so doesn't seem to be a problem for some.

Certainly, I would encourage you to try increasing food size. Some things we have tried are varying whether it is fresh killed or thawed, left overnight (some seem to prefer prey a bit ripe) or even refrozen and thawed. We have also found that they may accept a larger size if it is wet instead of dry - but make sure not to feed on bedding that can stick to the mouse.

I have also stimulated growth in some that will take gerbils or rats instead of mice. More activity (handling) may also increase appetite and keeping a good high range temp available with a hide area in it can also increase metabolic rate.

good luck with your little guy,

mary v.

[Auskan]

Another thing you can try is putting him in a small container (eg, a deli cup for a hatchling - something appropriate for the size of your snake), along with the food item, putting the lid on, and leaving him undisturbed for several hours, on the heat. Sometimes when every time they turn around its right there in their face, they will eat it.

Also, how many fuzzies is he eating per meal? Its ok to offer more than one food item at a time, to increase the size of the meal.

And, you didn't say anything about your current husbandry. What are your temps? Hides? etc.

[spullinger]

Flame is handled by my daughter daily for over an hour at a time (except for two days after feeding - on advice from other snake keepers)
At present I am feeding one fuzzy at a time (thawed from frozen stock) and left in a plastic bag in warm weater to ensure insides are not chilled). I have also been removing the fuzzy if Flame has not eaten the fuzzy overnight.

The husbandry is a 20 gallon glass tank with heating pad and small hide at one one end (temp +25 degrees centigrade) and a larger hide at the cooler end (temp 20 degrees centigrade)

Based on your advice I will attempt to up the number of fuzzys to 2 at a time (maybe dampen slightly) and leave in the tank for longer than 12 hours...what do you think?

[marisa]

I think the handling must stop for now. If he is a picky feeder, handling is doing nothing but making it worse.

Marisa

[Auskan]

I agree with Marisa, that that is too much handling. 15 minutes at a time is a more generally accepted amount of handling, but as Marisa said, until you have him settled in and eating appropriately, it would be best to stop handling altogether.

Now that I know he was only being offered one fuzzy per feeding, I have another suggestion. The best time to get them to eat something they might not otherwise eat, is when their feeding response is the strongest, which is right after eating. So you could initially try feeding 2 fuzzies for a couple of meals, and if he eats those, then on the next feeding, feed one fuzzy, and then offer a hopper. Hopefully his feeding response will be strong enough that he will also eat the hopper. The next meal you could offer 2 hoppers instead of 1 fuzzy, 1 hopper. When he is consistently eating 2 hoppers, you might find that he will accept a small adult mouse, and go from there.

Also, while every 2 weeks is not unheard of, you could try to shorten the time between meals, very slowly, to try to get down to once a week. For example, try offering the next meal 13 days after this one, and the following one 12 days later and so on.

[spullinger]

Cheers for the advice...I'll start adopting your best praxtice and repory back progress/issues over the next few weeks

Simon