Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all. I have a small albino corn purchased at White Plains for my son. I am used to my BP's, which eat a good sized meal every 5-10 days. Now, this corn snake is MUCH more active than my BPs, and seems to want to eat more than every 5-7 days so I've been experimenting. He is eating either a f/t or f/k pinkie at a sitting, and I feed him 1x every 3 days. Gave him a small fuzzy, he ate it no prob. 2 pinkies last time, no prob. Now, is he just a garbage disposal, or should I be feeding him more, more often? He's about the width of my pinkie finger and maybe 12 to 14". Any input would be appreciated.
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1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband

Sounds like a lot of food. If this is a hatchling (which it appears to be by your description) you might be overdoing it a bit. Too much food isn't good, and the snake will bulk out ahead if its muscular and skelatal development. As a guideline, the snake should be fed about every 4-5 days, and diminishing after 6 months or so until they are on a once a week feeding routine (notice I said guideline - not rule.) The mouse should be no larger than about twice the snake's girth at the largest point- or 1-1/2 times the size of the head. If your snakes can take fuzzies, then stop pinks. Fuzzies have more bone mass, which equals calcium.

For comparison, I have 2 corns which measure about 16-18 inches and eat 2 fuzzies each, every 5-7 days, and a hatchling which eats 1/2 pinkie every 3-4 days. (A whole pink is too big, and she won't take it.) We have had the hatchling only 2 weeks, and didn't feed at all the first week. She is about pencil thin, and after a couple of weeks we will offer whole pinks.

Hope this helps.
MAP

Ok, so what I've been doing seems about right. I may not have been very clear in my post. The fuzzy was 1 meal, then 3-5 days later he ate 2 pinkies. That's 2x as often as my BP, which will eat one sm rat every 7-10 days. I'm going to go with a fuzzie from now on, now that I know he can take it np, and keep with the 3-5 day schedule. Thanks for your input!
Btw, do corns have a higher metabolism?
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1.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 corn snake
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.0.2 fish
1.2 cats
3.1 kids
1.0 husband