Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Now that it is October, I am turning my attention to cooling my adult female normal corn. This will be my first attempt at breeding as I will breed my normal female with my brother's Okeetee male. Should I be feeding her a little more this month? currently she is eating two f/t hoppers or sub adults every 5-6 days. I plan on stopping her feeding on November 1 and cooling her by November 15, once her gut is empty. What is the best temp to cool corns? Thanks for any help you can give.

Corns can be cooled at a fairly wide range of temperatures - from 45-65 degrees. Somewhere in the middle of that would work well. Most people I know cool their corns in the basement, so brumation temperatures can and do fluctuate. There's no "ultimate brumation temperature" when it comes to cooling corns.

At this point trying to get extra food into a female with only one month of feeding left probably won't make much of a difference when it comes to achieveing a good breeding weight. If she is of good weight now, she'll be ready in the spring.

Tim

Third Eye

How big is she? Hoopers and sub adults make her sound small?

If this is a repost sorry, my pc just rebooted on its own.
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

She is about 40 inches, not sure of the weight as I have no scale. She is very healthy looking. I have snakes that are a little smaller than her and to save money I bought 100 frozen sub adults. I just give her an extra one or two.

I would feed her like rat pups.

I agree. at 40" she "should" be able to handle rat pups. But hoppers are like filling up on pop corn shrimp.

At 40" I'm guessing she should be about as thick as a quarter.
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

That's about right, thick as a quarter. Do the rat pups provide more nutrition than the smaller mice? Would adult mice be OK? Aren't smaller, more frequent meals better than one real large one? Thanks for the input.

Let's say you've got a rat pup and an adult mouse that are about the same size. A rat pup would have more fat, while an adult mouse - having fur and well-developed bones - would have more "roughage." Rat pups are a good way to increase weight on a snake, but a corn can live it's entire life (and successfully breed) when fed nothing but appropriately-sized mice.

Generally speaking, corn snakes should be fed a food item the same width as the thickest part of the snake. Two smaller food items can serve the same purpose.

Tim

Third Eye

Tim I'm not one to handle my snakes a lot. But while reading this thread I was thinking of some of the fat snakes we've had at the shop. Of course cut down on feeds, but "exercise" should be applied. I don't see handling doing a lot? (I am probably wrong) And crawling on the floor does not seem lot a lot?

So I thought of a tree branch (or similar item) for it to climb on outside the cage. Like a play area for a parrot. Maybe 2-3 times a week would help? Or do you have any other ideas for those with over weight snakes.
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.herpzilla.com

You would be surprised at how much a good handling session can help. I don't handle mine quite as much as I should but they are all puppy dog tame so i don't have any issues with them. When I notice one of them gets a little chubby I handle them for about 30 minutes. I would usually notice an extreme difference within a week......
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-David Harrison-
.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Striped Anery Corn "V" or "5".....Has two names
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
.1 Ball Python "Rocky Ballboa" (Didn't name her!)
0.0.1 Crested Gecko "The Crested Gecko"

"Have you ever tried simply turning off the T.V., sitting down with your kids... and hitting them?"