Ok you all know we adopted a new corn two weeks ago on Sunday. The previous owner had him 2 ½ years and got him from a pet store. He is somewhere between 5-6’ long. The previous owner had been feeding him 3 mice or rat pups a week. I got him small rats, as they seemed the same size. Each week he eats the small rat like he hasn’t been fed in weeks. Once it is down about 3” you cannot tell that he has been fed at all (no bumps etc). Should I increase his food to two small rats a week? Should I switch to medium rats and give him one? Is he eating too much and maybe be fed only every other week? Suggestions please, I want to do what is best for this guy.

If there is no noticeable lump I would increase the size of the feeder. Go for something that is a bit bigger than the snakes body at the widest part. It is preferable to feed one prey item as opposed to multiples since there are parts of each one that is indigestible. Multiples increase the amount of undigested material and increase waste.
As for the feeding gusto,... thats a cornsnake for you.
I have some that will leisurely amble over and feed and others that you would swear were starving to death!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I agree with merlin if there is no lump up the feed item mayb try and get a rat that is about 7 weeks old or a few mice. Some people feed 6foot corns one day old chicks you could think about that.

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Live for today Not tomorrow.

they said it....

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The small rat that I fed him/her is about 4-5" long not including the tail. I checked on Rodentpro and that size is 28-32 days old.

So then I should feed him/her a medium rat instead of the small one? The only problem I see is when he swallows you can really see the scales separate around the neck (if snakes have necks).

try upping the size to the next one and see hoe s/he takes it if you think the lump is to big tehn go back to several small rats a feeding untill its ready for one medium rat every 10-14 days.

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Live for today Not tomorrow.

I would just go up to the medium size. A corn that size should be well able to handle it. Don't let the stretching of the neck concern you. Its the way they are built. They are capable of swallowing much larger than you would think.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I'm not a cornsnake owner but I made the mistake of assuming that because my BPs head and neck were so much smaller than his waist that I'd have to feed him a lot of smaller rats instead of big ones.
Well, I finally upped the size and I was sure I'd gone too far:








In the end it didn't make much of a lump, but the swallowing process had me worried there for a while. He digested that rat without any problems at all. And the swallowing process didn't even take longer than he had to swallow a smaller rat.
The rule of thumb is a feeder that is about the size around as the widest part of the snake or a little bigger.
I weigh all the frozen rats I buy and then I know exactly how much they ate and, if that went well, I can continue to feed that approximate size for a while (or two smaller ones adding up to that weight) before going bigger.
I hope this helps put your mind at rest a bit about the stretched neck thing!

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Andrea

HI Colleen....I would move up to the medium rat like we discussed on the IM and cut the feeding down to every 2 weeks instead of every week. He sounds like a really large corn snake...you dont want him to be obese...its not healthy....good luck with him.....

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Warmest Regards from Lyn