Yes, definitely upgrade the size of the prey. Your snake is gobbling those small pinkies down like they are peanuts, and I knew from looking at it that it should be on larger sized prey in the large fuzzy range. But now that you know it will eat, that's what matters at the present moment. When your snake can't gobble them down in a heart-beat like that and it has to work a bit at it some to get it down and leaves a noticeable bulge in the belly, it's is a good indicator of the prey being the right size. As time goes by, make sure you are always graduating up the prey size every so often to accomodate for the snake's growth too. small pinkies, large pinkies, fuzzies, hoppers, weanlings, adults, and X-large adults. All of these categories can vary in size, so the size is more important than what a particular store or company calls them. You can sometimes get HUGE, FAT fuzzies that are larger than someone else's "hoppers", it just all depends. Yours should be on fuzzies that leave a nice bulge, then go from there as it grows.


Yes, Anywhere from 82-86 on the one end ONLY at the very surface the snake's belly is making contact, and an ambient temp at the opposite end in the mid-upper 70's. As long as there is this needed temp gradient as mentioned, it can go back and forth as needed at any given time. Yes, you definitely cannot guess at the temps, you definitely need to get an accurate thermometer, temp gun, or probe to closely monitor the temps and tweek if necessary. Just make sure the cool end is indeed in the cooler temps of the mid to high 70's (comfortable human room temp) so it can move away from the 82-86 heat after it digests. As long as there is a nice low, dark hide placed on both ends, it will move about and be able to hide and feel good and secure while seeking optimal temps. Also, a little plastic container with a hole cut in it and filled with moist sphagnum moss is good too for a humidity if it chooses as well. This can help greatly with shedding if the humidity isn't high enough otherwise.

Go grab an inexpensive cornsnake book at the store too. They are very inexpensive, but are priceless regarding their basic husbandry needs and many other useful things.

Glad it ate, that is great. Now get a cheap book and read up some. I would suggest something like Kathy Love's book here....


cheers, ~Doug



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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

serpentinespecialties.webs.com

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