my sons baby corn snake eats a pinkie everyother day if we dont give him one he goes mad trying to get out of his tank the woman in the shop where we bought it said you cant overfead a snake they will only eat what they need is this right as I dont want to overfeed it thanks for any help
donnat

you can definitely over feed a snake. Many people power feed their baby snakes to get faster growth rates...i am really against this practice because this can be really damaging to the snakes health in the long run.

How long is the corn? Once fed a pink can you see a distinct bulge where the pink is inside the snake.

i am really glad that you questioned the information given by the pet shop... i am sure others will give more info.

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What kind of a tank setup do you have? How long has the snake been in the tank? Perhaps its activity level is unrelated to hunger... It is normal for a snake to seek a way out of a tank, especially when they are first put in there. Do make sure you have clips on the tank to hold the lid on, or heavy books/bricks to hold it down. A baby corn, once escaped, has a million places to hide, even in the smallest room.

My baby corn eats a pinkie once a week, and he's doing very well. I would suggest that you back off the feeding to once every 6-7 days. Make sure the prey item is appropriately-sized for the snake, and it might help you see his growth if you weigh him once a month or so. Get a digital postal or kitchen scale, and you'll see him add on the grams (and eventually ounces).

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Amy

corney the cornsnake is about 2ft we have never owned a snake before so thanks for the help you think the people who sell reptiles would have to have a bit of knowledge about these animals its disgusting. i hope we havent done him any harm how often should he be fead

I would cut him back to at least every 5 days. When you feed him, can you see a lump? Is the pray big enough?

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

I doubt you've harmed him. As long as he's pooping and all, he's probably just fine. And the more I learn about reptiles (which isn't much yet, but I read this forum every day, and I learn so much!), the more I realize how little those pet store folks know.

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Amy

you can see a lump for a while after he has eaten but not by the next day I dont think his mouth would open any bigger to have a larger rodent as he only has a little head he is in a 2ft tank with hemp bedding on the floor he has branches to climb a stone to hide under and a fake ant hill for his bed so I think his setup is o.k for him plus he has a heat mat and I put a light on in his tank for a couple of hours a day

2ft!!!

he will def take a larger meal than a pink, maybe try a fuzzy once a week. Snakes can swallow prey much larger than their heads.. they can open their jaws upto 150 degrees! Here is a cool link I found for you explaining their jaw structure in an easy to understand explanation...

http://science.howstuffworks.com/snake4.htm

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We currently have 4 corns, 2 that were hatched this summer, one last year and then an adult. The younger two are fed every 5 days (give or take). The second youngest started out on one pinkie, the we increased it to two pinkies and yesterday we switched her to 1 fuzzy. The baby wolfed down a pinkie. I have corn that think they are hungry all times of the day and night. You just have to do what is best for them and feed them once every 5-7 days like people suggested. A picture would be nice to see his size around.

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Colleen

I agree and definitely think two feet is awfully long to still be eating just one pinky at a feeding. I'd move up to a fuzzy once a week and see how he does. Here's a picture of my Jack when he was probably about two feet long with a fuzzy (he was going about eating it from the wrong end, but oh well )...as you can see it's generally larger than his head, and he ate it just fine (he could open his jaw really wide ). You just don't want to offer prey that's more than about as big around as the snake is at the thickest point of its body (some sources say up to one and a half times the girth of the snake is ok).

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