Feeding snakes once a month?

[Iseitaku]

Usually I feed Red and Ruby every second week. I researched that snakes can live for 3 months without food. With the pandemic going on I had a thought of feeding them once every 3 weeks so their food I stockpiled just incase lasts longer therefore less need to go out when we need to be isolating to be safe.

Anyone know if this would create issues?

[chairman]

Based on your prior posts, I believe that you have cornsnakes. Corns have relatively high metabolisms, they should be fed weekly.

I'm not sure about Canada, but in the states it is pretty easy to order frozen rodents online and have them shipped to your door. I would recommend looking in to something like that. A bag of 50 mice should easily keep in the freezer for as long as it would take two cornsnakes to eat them.

A healthy adult cornsnake is capable of going a long time without eating. You should allow the snake to choose when to fast, though. The guidance about snakes being able to skip multiple meals without being harmed is more to help people's peace of mind when their snakes decide not to eat due to winter, breeding season, being in shed, etc.

[Iseitaku]

Originally Posted by chairman

Based on your prior posts, I believe that you have cornsnakes. Corns have relatively high metabolisms, they should be fed weekly.

I'm not sure about Canada, but in the states it is pretty easy to order frozen rodents online and have them shipped to your door. I would recommend looking in to something like that. A bag of 50 mice should easily keep in the freezer for as long as it would take two cornsnakes to eat them.

A healthy adult cornsnake is capable of going a long time without eating. You should allow the snake to choose when to fast, though. The guidance about snakes being able to skip multiple meals without being harmed is more to help people's peace of mind when their snakes decide not to eat due to winter, breeding season, being in shed, etc.

From what i've heard from Emily from snake discovery who is an active snake breeder she has said that while young snakes are to be fed once a week adult snakes are to be fed every second week otherwise your power feeding them and shortening their life span. Hence why I feed them every second week since they at this point are adults.

Otherwise thanks will look into the online possibility.

[chairman]

I don't know Emily from Snake Discovery, nor am I aware of what advice may have been offered by her. I will say that feeding snakes is significantly more nuanced than, "weekly feedings will reduce the life expectancy of your pet snake."

My cornsnakes weigh in at 730 g and 920 g. A single adult mouse weighs approximately 25 g. The "rule" for feeding snakes is to offer a meal to a snake that is 10% of a snake's body weight. That would be three mice for my smaller snake and alternating three mice one feeding, four the next for the larger snake.

My snakes do not eat three or four mice a week. Some weeks, especially during summer, they sure do. Most weeks they only get one or two. As they've matured in to adulthood, my snakes skip feedings when shedding. For the past couple weeks neither of my snakes have been eating due to seasonal changes triggering breeding behavior. (I don't breed my snakes, but they instinctively change their behavior to accommodate it anyway.) Twenty years ago I had a breeding female that would fast up to six months out of a year but make up for it by eating four-six mice weekly during the other six months. The male I paired her with never took more than two mice in a sitting and usually only wanted one.

If you average it out then I am probably only feeding my snakes a meal that is 10% of their body weight every two weeks or so; in that respect, I am following the advice that you were offered. That said, I do my best to feed my snakes something on a weekly basis, if they'll take it. My snakes have had slow and steady growth to get where they are and have a healthy body tone. I would have a hard time believing that my snakes' health is being harmed as a result of weekly feedings.

I realize that my approach isn't the kind of cookie cutter thing that you could slap on a care sheet, but given how frequently snakes choose to skip meals on their own accord, I think it is more reasonable than only offering a meal every fortnight.

[EL Ziggy]

Your snakes can definitely survive being fed a once a month but adult corns should be fed every 10-14 days imho. That's the schedule I use for my adult colubrids.

[craigafrechette]

Originally Posted by Iseitaku

From what i've heard from Emily from snake discovery who is an active snake breeder she has said that while young snakes are to be fed once a week adult snakes are to be fed every second week otherwise your power feeding them and shortening their life span. Hence why I feed them every second week since they at this point are adults.

Otherwise thanks will look into the online possibility.

If you're feeding an appropriately sized prey item weekly you're not powerfeeding. I mean, it's theoretically possible to feed a snake weekly and UNDER feed the snake as well.

I got out of corns long ago, but kept them for a handful of years. I've also kept Kings for many years. I would feed my adults an adult mouse every 10-14 days and they always maintained healthy body weight and structure.

On the flip side of that, spacing feedings out a little with adults won't cause any harm as long as it's temporary.

Also, I'm not doubting your source, I'm not familiar with Emily. However, it's very important to cross reference information you get and learn from multiple sources.

[Veronica]

Hmm I feed mine every two weeks. I personally think that once a week is far too much for an adult corn snake.