Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any advise appreciated!!!
Corns are addicting!!! Yesterday I went to the feed store to get a package of f/t pinkies for my new corn- Frost, I was approached by the cute sales guy and he asked me if I really liked snakes because he was trying to get rid of one he had handed to him about a year ago. He told me it was in a nice hexagon tank. A young student said he would take it, but he also said he wanted a snake he could throw at his friends when they were drinking!!! (It's just fascinating how ignorant humans can be sometimes!!!) My heart kicked me and I said I'd give him a loving home. Tonight I went to see the set up and the snake; I beheld a thin

It was fed a mouse a month! Naturally I am nervous about this undertaking, but I know with words of wisdom and support from this wonderful forum I can take this one into my family. Any support and advise will be taken to heart and GREATLY appreciated!

That is no good. I recently rescued a 5 year old snow that had been fed pinkies its entire life. She is only around 3ft if that.

Best advice I could offer is to make sure she is hydrated, and feed her. HOWEVER....do not feed her much just yet. You want to slowly get to a regular feeding schedule. I would do a small prey item every 12-14 days to start. After that, slowly feed more often and/or larger food items...eventually getting to a weekly feeding of the appropriate sized mouse.

Good luck
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Chris Foley

Thanks Chris for the feeding advise! It looks like it's alittle short of 4 ft. I'll make sure to feed slowly the first couple months- perhaps a pinkie a week for 4 weeks, then a small fuzzy every ten days for a while then a small adult every two weeks once spring starts to kick in towards mid-May. How about handling tips? I was told that it was virtually NEVER handled. Im going to wear gloves for the first few introductions. Hummm... I am nervous but I really like the challenge to help it thrive!

While I agree you should take it easy with the feeding I don't think you will need to go as slow as you think. I recently adopted a corn that was found in an apartment building because it bit a teenagers toe! The story made it on to the local news and another board I frequent! I had no idea what he had been eating before or how long he was roaming around the apartment building. The vet that I got him from had fed him a few pinkies when he got to them. He digested those easily and I moved him up each feeding to a larger prey item. He is now taking an adult mouse a week. I think if you know that this snake was eating a mouse a month then you could easily feed him a mouse a week. I see no need for you to go down in mouse size since you know that he was able to handle a mouse. If he eats a mouse a digests it in less than a week you could give him a mouse a week.

Good Luck with your new snake.

Joanna

n/m

I agree with Joanna.

When we rescued Spike and Buffy (when you have kids, everything gets assigned a name) they were fed one large mouse every 3 to 4 weeks. Both were pretty skinny with nasty scars from being fed live. Their first feeding was a large mouse and we watched closely. They both digested their mice within 4 days. From then on we have stuck with one large mouse every 7 days. They are still steadily growing and gaining weight after being rescued in November.

Ryan

As was previously said there shouldn't really be any need to decrease it's food size. Feed it whatever it was eating previously but increase the frequency and if needed size(depending on size of mouse it was being fed) as the snake seems ready for it. If temps are good then you can probably feed it a new meals a few days after it finishes digesting the last meal.

As far as handling do not worry. Just don't back away or flinch. Biggest thing is to show it confidence and gentle handling regardless of what it does so that it learns the handling is inevitable and safe.

I wouldn't even bother with the gloves because most likely the most it would do is bump it's head against you faking a bite but even if it did bite you it can't do any damage.

We recently adopted a 3-year old Hypo. He was thin also and had scars on him from live feedings (every 3-4 weeks!). He is about 3 1/2 feet and very gentle - we named him Doug. The first few times I went to pick him up I used a snake tong and after that my hands. He rattled his tail at me the first few times with my hands, but never struck, and now enjoys being picked up and exploring.

A couple points of advice (from a long-time reptile owner, but by no means an expert). Let him get settled in his tank before you attempt to handle or feed him. Give him at least 3-5 days to settle in.

Then you can try to feed him. I would not go as small as a pinkie, but a hopper might work okay. I went straight to mice because I knew he had eaten a live one in the past few weeks. He relished it! I would also go to frozen, but it sounds like you are going to anyway.

In terms of handling tips - be assertive and not scared. Pick him up, don't play around in the tank deciding should I or shouldn’t I. That's his territory and fear on your part will only make him more scared.

I have encountered corn snakes at shows that are not handled often and they generally dart around and rattle their tail sometimes, but rarely strike. Corn bites are not that bad first of all, and second of all - they rarely do it -especially once they get used to human contact and are fed regularly.

Here's Doug and Doug with my Fiance. We also have a lot of fish, an 06 Lavender corn, and a 06 Bearded Dragon (Orange/Red/Snow color morph).

I decided to name it "7" since it's over seven yrs old. Gonna see him @ 1;30pm 2/25. & im pick'n him up too... lil'nervous...

Keep us up to date and post some pictures if you can!

Best of luck.

David