young corn question

[Racerh]

heres the story,
my 3 month old corn (gluttony 22") ate a fuzzy mouse and a pink last friday. after that he pooped sunday and monday. he usually eat 2-3 days after he last ate (thats why i named him gluttony). after 3 days i offered him a mouse pink, he refused. 4th day he refused again so i gave it to my leo. 5th day he refused the rat pink i gave him. then yesterday i gave him a fuzzy mouse he excitedly strike and constricted it. i tried offering him another pink(as always) but he refused. i offered him an undersized fuz and he ate it again.

heres the question:
will he ever eat a pink again? since i have so many stock of live rat pinks and frozen mouse pinks

is his sized good for his age?

should i become strict and starve him until he have no choice but to eat the pinks?

i know someone here that feed all of his adult corns rat pinks and it is cost, time effective for him. because he didnt have to feed an adult mouse feeds because the rat pinks rely only on milk, and the pinks needs less space in the fridge than an adult mouse/rat.
thanks

[mainbutter]

It sounds to me like you're feeding too frequently.

Corns are easy to overfeed and from my experience chow down on any mouse/rat they can fit inside themselves. If he's refusing food it's either you're feeding too much, too often, or he's just stressed from something.

You should have no problem feeding pinks to any corn snake as long as they are healthy and husbandry is good.

[Jenn]

Yeah you're feeding too often. Frozen or live doesn't matter. Shoot for a prey item that is about one to one and a half times as wide as your snake and feed every 7 to 10 days.

[Racerh]

oh i see. thanks for the inputs. another question.

what will happen to him if he is overfed? will he die or develop any kind if disorder?

what will happen if i fed him a not properly thawed pink/still cold?

is the story of ruptured stomach of a snake true or just an urban legend?

thanks again

[kc261]

There is no need to feed every 2-3 days. Feed one appropriately sized item (or multiple smaller items that add up to the correct size) once every 5-7 days for young corns, and once every 7-10 days for older corns.

Corns are usually not picky eaters, so I would expect that if you want to, you'll be able to get him eating pinks again. I would not advise getting so "strict" that it could be called starving him, though. If you happen to have a picky corn, just feed it what works.

As far as your friend that feeds rat pinks, if it works for him & his snakes are healthy, that's great. You should be aware, however, that many people feel that the nutrition in a pink is less than optimal. It is easy to understand that they have more cartilage than bone, less muscle, etc, and so would have somewhat different nutritional values compared to adults. I am not aware of any scientific studies on the exact nutritional requirements of snakes, but I do know that many people have observed anecdotal evidence that the growth of corns seems to take off once they are big enough and get switched over to fuzzy mice.

I'm also confused as to how they take up less space in the freezer. If they are the same size, they would take up the same amount of space. If they are smaller, than either they are too small of a meal, or the adult mice are too large of a meal.

[Jyson]

oh i see. thanks for the inputs. another question.

what will happen to him if he is overfed? will he die or develop any king if disorder?

what will happen if i fed him a not properly thawed pink/still cold?

thanks again

He'll become overweight and eventually stop eating. If your temps aren't accurate he could end up having digestion problems which could be very bad. What are you temps?

You need to make sure that the pink is thawed properly first, check twice, offer once.

[kc261]

You posted your most recent questions while I was posting.

If your snake is overfed, it will become obese. Obesity is not any healthier in snakes than it is in humans. It is not a good idea. In extreme examples, it also looks gross, just as it does in extremely obese humans.

A human can easily eat an ice cube with no issues. The same is not true for a snake. For one thing, an ice cube is only a tiny percentage of the human's body weight. But a meal for a snake is often 10% or so of their body weight. That's pretty significant. Also, since snakes are ectothermic (they don't make their own heat, they take heat from the environment), getting cold is much more serious for a snake than a human.

Worse case scenario if you feed a not fully thawed food item is that the snake would suffer frostbite-like damage to its stomach and other internal organs, causing them to stop functioning properly and it would die. A partially thawed item might not be fatal, but why risk it? Always make sure all food items are thoroughly thawed.

[Racerh]

thank you very much for your answers. very much appreciated, i learned so much tonight. how about the ruptured stomach issue?

[kc261]

What do you mean by "the ruptured stomach issue"?

[Racerh]

some people told me and ive read some that overfeeding your snake can kill it via ruptured stomach. they said that they fed their snake a large prey and in the morning the snake and its stomach is over stretched? is this only a rumor or can this really happen? thanks