Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 14" corn who seems to want food every other day or two. Is it OK to feed 3 pinkies in one week, or is that too much? I know most corns will eat twice weekly, but mine readily takes as much food as I'll give him. What could be the consequences of over-feeding?
-----
gav, owned by:
1 Beardie (Lujan)
2 Fire-bellied Toads (Bill & Ben)
1 African Clawed Frog (Xenopus)
1 Giant Land Snail (Bert)
1 Turkish Gecko (Gordon)
2 Madigascan Hissing Cockroaches (Rosie & Jim)
19 Rats (too numerous to name)
3 Cats (Felix, Sami, & Willow)
1 Bunny (Sophia)
14 assorted fish

Hi

Try moving that snake up to a fuzzie and see what happens.

TLB

You need to bear in mind that in the wild, Corns are opportunistic feeders. They'll eat anything suitable they find as they won't know when the next meal will come along.

In captivity, keepers have to fight the urge to feed whenever their Corn seems to be hunting for food. In the wild, this behaviour will be constant so it can be the same in captivity.

I agree that a fuzzy might be a good idea - try one every five days if he takes them. I feed my hatchlings one pinky every 3-4 days, but slow them down to every five days as they grow on and gradually start taking two or three at a time.

The consequences of overfeeding are an obese snake with a shortened lifespan and health problems. It's really a good idea if you can take control of the rate of feeding now.

Thanks, I'll try that. I don't want to cause any kind of harm to my snake by misfeeding, so I will heed your warning. It is so awesome seeing him strike and take food, it's too easy to keep doing it more often than really necessary I guess. What about feeding two pinkies in one go? I am not sure if he is big enough yet to take a fuzzie.
-----
gav, owned by:
1 Beardie (Lujan)
2 Fire-bellied Toads (Bill & Ben)
1 African Clawed Frog (Xenopus)
1 Giant Land Snail (Bert)
1 Turkish Gecko (Gordon)
2 Madigascan Hissing Cockroaches (Rosie & Jim)
19 Rats (too numerous to name)
3 Cats (Felix, Sami, & Willow)
1 Bunny (Sophia)
14 assorted fish

Yep, it should be fine to try two pinkies at a time. In my experience, if they can't cope with more than one food item, they generally refuse to eat the second so you'll know after a couple of attempts if he isn't ready yet.

I heard somewhere that it is better to feed 2 smaller meals a week than 1 large meal a week... Not sure if that is justified or not. But either way I feed hope 2 pinkies a week! 1 monday 1 friday
-----
0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Road Hog"

When you say your snake is looking for food, is he/she striking at anything that moves? If so, it could be that you're not handling it enough, so it thinks anytime you open the cage that it's feeding time. I had this problem w/ one of my boas once. Increased handling fixed it. But tell me if that's not what you're seeing...
-----
www.geocities.com/squippyscritters
2.1 Corn snakes Snake Plissken, Jack Skellington & Abby
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake Jasmine
1.3 leos, Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1 Pacman frog Buffy the Cricket Slayer
0.0.1 Sulawesi Red Toad Mr. Toad
1.1.3 firebelly newts Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Olivia Newton John & Thandie Newton
1.1 cats Gus & Mena

He doesn't strike at anything that moves, she just becomes very active in her viv, as though she is looking for something. I handle her for at least half an hour each day, she's very friendly and has never gone to strike at me. She is a great pet
-----
gav, owned by:
1 Beardie (Lujan)
2 Fire-bellied Toads (Bill & Ben)
1 African Clawed Frog (Xenopus)
1 Giant Land Snail (Bert)
1 Turkish Gecko (Gordon)
2 Madigascan Hissing Cockroaches (Rosie & Jim)
19 Rats (too numerous to name)
3 Cats (Felix, Sami, & Willow)
1 Bunny (Sophia)
14 assorted fish

Great! Not the problem I was thinking of then.
-----
www.geocities.com/squippyscritters
2.1 Corn snakes Snake Plissken, Jack Skellington & Abby
1.1 Hog Island Boas Harley & Isaboa
0.1 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snake Jasmine
1.3 Leopard Geckos:Yoda, Geo, Tang, Ginger
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink Indigo (Indy)
0.1 Pacman Frog Buffy the Cricket Slayer
0.0.1 Sulawesi Red Toad Mr. Toad
1.1.3 Firebelly Newts:Wayne Newton, Isaac Newton, Fig Newton, Olivia Newton John & Thandie Newton
1.0 Tiger Salamander Tiger
1.1 Cats Gus & Mena