Pinkies are VERY small meals for that particular snake, but seeing if it eats anything at all is the thing you want to see. If it eats one, offer another one or two of the same type it accepted. You optimumly want to see a slight visual BULGE in the mid-section, as it looked like just prior to you owning it.

Remember,...DO NOT mess with it after it has eaten. Not even a couple days after it has eaten. You want to get it eating on a consistent basis. That is what matters here. Everything else like being handled and "watching" TV can gradually come much later on when it is feeding well and settled in much better. More importantly, you don't want the snake regurgitating from stress, because they easily can when they have a full belly of food. They regurge to lighten the load and to make the predator (you) attracted to the expelled meal as they slither off. This is what they do in nature.

Here are examples of what sized prey works well in comparison to the snake's body size once it has accepted any of the smaller meals you have to offer it. This is a hatchling Everglades Ratsnake, but it still applies to corns just the same. Note the very visible bulge at mid-belly. If the prey is not large enough to see an obvious slight bulge similar to that, then it is too small and a couple should be given to help accomodate for the lack of size.



Here is a kingsnake eating a very easily-managed meal.



Thin snakes should never be given large meals, but should gradually be worked up over a period of several smaller meals to make sure their system can process them. It is like giving a very thin, malnutritioned child in Somalia a huge 4 course meal and expect it to be okay afterwards.. Please remember what was said earlier about the warmer temps on ONE SIDE only of the cage in the mid-80's that helps the snake to digest, and the cooler ambient end of the cage in the mid-70's so it can escape the warmth for digesting meals to conserve it's energy and body mass. This is extremely important for you to keep in mind. Without proper warmth to digest when needed, the meals will literally putrify (rot) in their gut and they will regurgitate. This literally poisons their system from the rancid bacteria and then the snake's health is immediately going in complete reverse. They can easily die if the proper measures are not taken immediately to prevent further regurges.

Here is another meal that is easily managed. Now I gave these king two or three of these at a time, but they have a faster metabolism and I am very experienced and made absolutely sure their environment would support those sized meals to prevent any regurge issues. Your corn would do fine on just one in comparison to it's size every 4 or five days once it gets eating reliably and it's internal organs are used to processing food with some slightly smaller meals.



Don't give it any meals nearly this large in comparison. This was a big female and I know what her outer limits were as to what she was capable of handling. This retired breeder mouse was HUGE and she could just barely get it down.



Stick to something like this for a few meals to make sure all is well.




~Doug
-----
"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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