Prey Size Increase?

I got Zim on December 5th, 2006. He's been on Fuzzies since I got him. He is at 50g and is around 2ft long now. Should i increase his prey size to hoppers? He's about as big around as a crayola marker, maybe a little less.

A hopper would be a good size IMO. With corns an other coloubrids, you can safely feed prey items up to 150% of the snake's girth at its widest point.

What sized prey does a fully grown corn snake eat? I've never seen a full grown corn so I don't know how large in girth they get. I know they can get up to 5ft long but thats about it.

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Originally Posted by Rapture

A hopper would be a good size IMO. With corns an other coloubrids, you can safely feed prey items up to 150% of the snake's girth at its widest point.

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I disagree with your last sentence here.You can cause a young corn snake to regurge or to choke(death) if the prey item is to large.They are not as bad as ball pythons though.

I normally feed a prey item that causes a slight buldge at the thickest point of the snake. Of course, I have no hopper here at the house to check to see if it would be an ok size. And a 30min drive to the petstore just to buy one hopper is kind of silly.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

What sized prey does a fully grown corn snake eat? I've never seen a full grown corn so I don't know how large in girth they get. I know they can get up to 5ft long but thats about it.

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I have a large male corn(eats small rats) and my 2 adult females(eat weaned rats) that i will show you some pics as soon as i go take a few.Be right back

Ok here is Prince my largest corn snake.They do get larger then he is now though.I will also post a pic of his food size and what my females eat also. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...ns/prince2.jpg

Now here is a pic of the sizes of food items my adults eat.Now the females are capable of eating larger meals but i reduce the size of the prey item during breeding time.The rats on the right is for prince,the left is mera and sylvias. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...nsfoodsize.jpg

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I normally feed a prey item that causes a slight buldge at the thickest point of the snake. Of course, I have no hopper here at the house to check to see if it would be an ok size. And a 30min drive to the petstore just to buy one hopper is kind of silly.

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Have you tried switching him over to frozen thawed? I have never had a problem getting mine to switch over. This way you could buy in bulk and save money and time.

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Originally Posted by joepythons

I disagree with your last sentence here.You can cause a young corn snake to regurge or to choke(death) if the prey item is to large.They are not as bad as ball pythons though.

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Just quoting something I read about corns a pretty good while ago. :)

I do feed f/t, but its quite a hassle.(I did try live once and he loved it, but since people on here insist f/t is the best way to go, I use f/t.) I just bought a neat little thing that might speed up the process and make it less of a chore. Normally I have to get the frozen fuzzy, stick it in a bowl of warm water. Wait forever for it to thaw, then run it under really hot water to make it 'live' temp, then dry it off so Zim doesn't eat a wet mouse, but by the time I do all that and get it to his cage to feed him, its cooled down and hardly grabs his attention.

This thing thaws the mice without getting them wet. Its a cylinder that you fill with water up to a certain point then you microwave the water. Then when the water is nice and warm/hot, you place a landing disk ontop of the ridges, right over the water and place the frozen mouse on it. Put the top on and wait around 10 min. The only problem is how to get the mouse 'live' temperature. Zim will take forever to 'attack' his food. With a live mouse, I just toss in a fuzzy, immediatly he goes for it, no problem.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I do feed f/t, but its quite a hassle.(I did try live once and he loved it, but since people on here insist f/t is the best way to go, I use f/t.) I just bought a neat little thing that might speed up the process and make it less of a chore. Normally I have to get the frozen fuzzy, stick it in a bowl of warm water. Wait forever for it to thaw, then run it under really hot water to make it 'live' temp, then dry it off so Zim doesn't eat a wet mouse, but by the time I do all that and get it to his cage to feed him, its cooled down and hardly grabs his attention.

This thing thaws the mice without getting them wet. Its a cylinder that you fill with water up to a certain point then you microwave the water. Then when the water is nice and warm/hot, you place a landing disk ontop of the ridges, right over the water and place the frozen mouse on it. Put the top on and wait around 10 min. The only problem is how to get the mouse 'live' temperature. Zim will take forever to 'attack' his food. With a live mouse, I just toss in a fuzzy, immediatly he goes for it, no problem.

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Ok i have never heard of this device you bought.I just take my rodents out of the freezer and later that evening i drop them in the enclosures.Once in a great while i have to use a stick to move the rodent but nothing else. I dont think we insist on feeding frozen thawed its just less danger to the snakes.

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Originally Posted by Rapture

Just quoting something I read about corns a pretty good while ago. :)

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I am sorry i was talking about feeding her young "small" corn to large of a meal. I should have been more clearer :)

Are you feeding mice or rats?

When I had snakes as a kid, we always fed them live, except when Sheena, our Red-tailed Boa was very little and we fed her f/t till she got bigger. Aries always ate live and never had a problem.

I'll feed Zim f/t as long as he'll take it.

I feed him mice fuzzies.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I feed him mice fuzzies.

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Ok,try a rat pinky and see how it goes. To be honest mice are more hair then meat.

Ok, I'll stop by the store Friday and pick one up and see how it goes. I have to go anyway cause I just used my last fuzzie the other day.

Well the petstore is carrying rat pinkies right now, but they said they are not always available. I stopped by there today but I'm not going back home till late tonight, after the store closes. I'm just going to get some frozen hoppers and some fuzzies and see if the hoppers are an ok size.

I'll take some pictures when I get the mice and take some updated pictures of Zim.