Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've gotten what seems to be contradictory information from what seem to be good sources, and I was hoping that someone would clear things up for me. To put this in context, I just bought my first snake, a normal corn, on Monday.

So, I was told that I shouldn't touch the snake for a few days (advice ranged from four days to a week). However, I was also told that I shouldn't feed the snake in it's cage - that I should take it out of the cage and put it back in the deli cup in came in, with the pinkie, let it eat there, then put it back. But there's more. I was told not to stress the snake before or after eating, or it'll regurgutate, which would be bad.
Now, the snake was fed two days before I got it (i.e., last Saturday) and I was told that it should be fed a pinkie a week, so it's roughly feeding time.

Now here's where the questions start: the snake isn't used to being touched, so wouldn't both taking it out, and putting it back in its cage stress it, causing it to reguritate? Even if I just let it climb out of the deli cup into its cage, it would still be kind of weirded out by being handled, would't it? Should I stop being so cautious and just feed the guy already?

Also, I was told that he'd fed for the fourth time in his life last Saturday, and that he was used to live pinkies. Should it be a problem to switch it to defrosted?

It's fine to feed the snake in the deli cup and simply place the cup back in the cage, allowing it to crawl out on its own. You just don't want to take it out and mess with it for a couple of days after feeding. Hopefully it will take right to frozen/thawed, but that may or may not be the case. I feed some of my snakes in their cage and some in deli cups or larger containers. When feeding in the cage, I hold the prey item up off the aspen with hemostats until the snake has it most of the way down, thus preventing any ingestion of aspen. If you do feed in the cage, you will want to make sure that you open the cage to HANDLE the snake more often than you open it to FEED it. That way you don't get the accidental bite from an over-zealous feeding response (well, you still might). Enjoy your new snake. Duffy

You are probably overly worried about it (understandable). In general you don't want to handle a snake for a few days after it eats (to prevent it from chucking up the new meal). The minor handling it takes to remove a snake to put in a container for feeding should not be a problem. Just don't "play" with it. If the snake has been eating, you probably won't have a problem getting it to take dead pinkies (make sure it is totally defrosted). Once you get it in the container just leave it alone and sort of secluded (I used to put mine in a paper lunch size bag-which worked great for reluctant feeders, I would secure the bag by folding it over a few times and then putting several paper clips at the top-then put the whole bag in a secure container in case the snake got out of the bag). Anyway after the snake eats you can put the container back in the cage and just let the little gut crawl out on his own if you are worried about handling it too much. Good luck.

>>I've gotten what seems to be contradictory information from what seem to be good sources, and I was hoping that someone would clear things up for me. To put this in context, I just bought my first snake, a normal corn, on Monday.
>>
>>So, I was told that I shouldn't touch the snake for a few days (advice ranged from four days to a week). However, I was also told that I shouldn't feed the snake in it's cage - that I should take it out of the cage and put it back in the deli cup in came in, with the pinkie, let it eat there, then put it back. But there's more. I was told not to stress the snake before or after eating, or it'll regurgutate, which would be bad.
>>Now, the snake was fed two days before I got it (i.e., last Saturday) and I was told that it should be fed a pinkie a week, so it's roughly feeding time.
>>
>>Now here's where the questions start: the snake isn't used to being touched, so wouldn't both taking it out, and putting it back in its cage stress it, causing it to reguritate? Even if I just let it climb out of the deli cup into its cage, it would still be kind of weirded out by being handled, would't it? Should I stop being so cautious and just feed the guy already?
>>
>>Also, I was told that he'd fed for the fourth time in his life last Saturday, and that he was used to live pinkies. Should it be a problem to switch it to defrosted?

Good questions.
No big surprise to get conflicting information, either.
There are almost as many "rules" as there are people keeping corns. And beleive it or not mopst of them are right.
Yes, most of them are right. I say this because they work for the person using them. The only hard fast rule I can think of is...be flexible..let your snake set the rules. As you get to know your snake this will become a lot easier.
What you need to do is find the general information that seems like it will work for you and work from there.
If something doesn't seem right or doesn't work change it.
Corn snakes are tough little buggers and adabt quite well.
Now
It is best to put off handling or feeding a new snake for a few days to allow it to get used to it's surroundings.
It is best to feed your snake in a separate container...unless you are using paper towels or some other non-ingestible substrate.
Use something small so the snake can't help but find the food item.
After it has had a few days of acclimating to it's new home and you are ready to feed it, take it out of it's home place it with its food item in a deli dish and place this back in the habitat.
Depending on the snake and its feeding habits you may only have to wait a few minutes to check it or a few hours. The first couple of feedings should determine this.
To begin with, give it about 15 minutes and gently check to see if it has eaten. If it has, good. If not give it a few hours and check again. If it has eaten, good. If not leave it over night.
Yes, it will slightly stress the snake when you place it in the deli cup but this won't last very long. They will calm down quicker then you think.
If it has eaten three or four times I would suggest giving it a live pinkie, for its first meal, in it's new environment.
If this feeding is successful, which I'm sure it will be, then the next time try a f/t. Once they are eating regularily it usually isn't very difficult to switch them over.
don't worry it will be fine.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Jimmy- excellent advice and well said. I especially liked the point about letting the snake set the rules. You are very wise.

>>Jimmy- excellent advice and well said. I especially liked the point about letting the snake set the rules. You are very wise.

I have been called a lot of things but wise wasn't usually one of them....LOL
Thanks
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Very well put...that kind of advice can really do a lot for someone with their first snake...That was always my problem.
Too much input usually contradictory..very confusing.
Well done Jim.
Nancy
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Some of my best friends are snakes
Snakes Rule

Well, I got the little guy to eat. He started sucking on that pinkie the second he saw it, and I'm stoked. Thanks everyone.

By the way, I was wondering: I saw a post a little before this one, where some guy was trying to figure out the gender of his snake by looking at the tail. Now, I know that doesn't empirically prove anything, but I'd like to know how that works exactly. I just don't want to get the little guy probed because the woman who sold me the snake said she had dealt with some klutzes around here (Delaware) who punctured a snake of hers about the same size, so I decided not to bother. It isn't that important - I'm sure the snake won't have gender orientation issues if I give it a name from the opposite gender - I just want to have some method of determining the sex before I name it.

LOL
I worried about that very same issue when I named a trio of young ackies (yellow Ridge Tail Monitors) So I chose names that could be changed according to sex. Patty/Pat Maxine/Max & Laverne/Lamar(maybe).
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Joe

>>
Congrats
It is always a great relief when they take their first meal at your home.
Some people are pretty good at determining sex by looking at the tail.
I'm not very good at it.
If you could post pics I'm sure someone could help you out.
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)