Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, so my mom's friend bought me a snake a while back. Im not sure how long. I didn't really ask for it, he just was really into snakes so he bought me a baby. I did kind of fall in love with Cupid (he has a heart shaped design on his head), i will admit, but I'm more of a turtle person myself. How do I know when to move him up to bigger food? i've had him over a year and last I measured he was almost 2 feet long, but still a bit thinner than a sharpie marker. I've been feeding him f/t fuzzies and it takes him about a minute to get it down. I feed him about every 2 weeks-as soon as he comes out looking for food. The guy that bought him was supposed to help me with everything but he moved back to Michigan and I can't get ahold of him. The people at the pet store dont really know what they're talking about since most stores here don't really deal with snakes. I don't want to do anything wrong to Cupid though, so maybe you guys can help? I thought about giving him to someone who was more experianced, but I don't know anyone that deals with snakes well enough to feel comfortable with that, and I'd miss him

can you see a well defined lump in its stomach from the fuzzy? If there is barely a bulge or no bulge at all i would move up to fuzzies with hair. then you can go to hoppers, weanlings and then mice. But an easy way to tell... feed 2 fuzzies and it should leave a nice little bulge... maybe take a pic of it after you feed it!?!? and we can help
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, A pair of Leucistic Black Rat X Leucistic Texas Rat Intergrades, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn, A pair of Ball Pythons, A pair of Candoia, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping Turtle, a White Cheeked Mud Turtle, an Adult Rescue Iguana, and A Baby Iguana

Yea i would feed two hoppers or small mouse. Feed him Bout every 7 days. You should see a change in size within the first month or two. I feed mine every 7 or so days and they are healthy but not over weight. Except for my bloodred adult female shes lil over weight but puts out 20 or more healthy eggs every season.

feed every week...
~kin
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~Sober Serpents~
www.freewebs.com/soberserpents
Corns, Creamsicles, A Black Rat, A pair of Leucistic Black Rat X Leucistic Texas Rat Intergrades, Thayeri, Cal Kings, A Jungle Corn, A pair of Ball Pythons, A pair of Candoia, Leopard Geckos, Green Anoles, a Snapping Turtle, a White Cheeked Mud Turtle, an Adult Rescue Iguana, and A Baby Iguana

my corn is almost 2 feet long and he eats 3 fuzzies twice a week. A young snake should eat often. Feed him 2 or 3 fuzzies and after 4 days, offer him more. A 2 footer can easily put away 6-8 fuzzies a week.

the rule of thumb for the girth of a meal is that the rodent should be about the same diameter as the widest part of the snake. But you don't have to feed one at a time. Their stomachs are long and can hold several.

My black rat is a 2 footer and she eats 5 at a time.
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1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

As an example of how much they can eat: I recently thawed 7 fuzzies for my two yearling cornsnakes. The female always eats like there's no tomorrow, and isn't fat, so I put her in a rubbermaid box, with all 7 fuzzies. I figured she would eat 3 or 4, and then I'd give the rest to my male. She ate all of them, and was ready to eat again a week later!

I read somewhere that they would do that in the wild, eat a whole litter of babies if they had the opportunity.
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Kent

he should have no problems with older fuzzies or hopper mice by now. Basically, if the girth of the mouse is about 1.5 times the girth of the largest part of the snakes body (before feeding) or a little smaller (remember fur packs down nicely) that is what you should be feeding your corn snake.

I will also feed every 5-7 days for the next two years, then space it to once a week or 7-10 days. Feeding once every two weeks is a very minimal feeding schedule for snakes under two years of age.
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PHLdyPayne

>> "I feed him about every 2 weeks-as soon as he comes out looking for food."

*** That isn't a very optimum feeding schedule,...as mentioned before, a meal that is "slightly" bigger than the snake's diameter at mid-body and leaves a slightly visible lump is a good general rule of thumb. At good temps(low 80's), a snake that age/size should be fed a substantial meal at LEAST once every week.

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"