Corn snake food size question.

[Argentra]

My new ghost is around 1 1/2-2 years old and a fairly good size (I'll be measuring and weighing him Friday). I fed him his first meal with me last night, a large adult FT mouse, and he downed it like nothing and searched around a bit before retiring to his hide. Even now, he keeps peeking out and flickering from time to time.

My questions is: How do you know what size or amount of rodent to give larger corns, as opposed to BP's? My 14 month old Amel also seemed rather game for more for a bit last night. What's a good guideline for corn snake food items?

[Ladydragon]

did it leave a lump showing? if not then he'd want more. experiment, try 1 lrg with a small. my ghost corn usually averages two large mice a week.

[Blue Apple Herps]

Feed a prey item that is ~1.5 times his girth. He may want more, but corns can become overweight pretty easily if over fed. If you're feeding once a week an item 1.5 times his girth, then there's nothing to worry about.

[wax32]

I've been going by this plan:

-Single pinks (2-3g) every 4-5 days. (Snake = 4-15g)
-Double pinks (3g x 2) every 4-5 days. (Snake = 16-23g)
-Small fuzzies (5-7g) every 5-6 days. (Snake = 24-30g)
-Regular fuzzies (7-9g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 30-50g)
-Hoppers (9-12g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 51-90g)
-Weaned (14-20g) every 7 days (Snake = 91-170g)
-Adult (24-30g) every 7-x days (Snake = 170+)
-Jumbo Adults (40-50g) every 7-x days (Snake = 400g+)

[cassandra]

Corns are pretty hardy when it comes to prey items...1-1.5 x's the width is great...my little guy can down a huge looking mouse, have a nice lump and *still* act hungry. =)

[Argentra]

hmm, cool. So I guess I should be feeding two 'large' mice every week now...

My problem is that I get my FT mice from Petsmart (because the manager now was my closest co-worker when I worked there and she gives me her discount) and the "large" frozen mice are often varying sizes. So my boys can get anything from medium to jumbo in there. Oh well, I guess I'll just try to match up sizes as best I can. Thanks for all the info!

[Argentra]

Ok, just fed the two of them. Mystic nailed both mice as soon as they were offered to him. Aries, however, nailed the first one (and swallowed it after five minutes of searching for it as usual) but refused the second.

It IS alright to re-freeze a thawed mouse once and try again with it next week, right??

[dr del]

Hi,

You can refreeze them - but I would make sure only to do it once and keep an eye on it when defrosting to make sure it hasn't spoiled.

The more often it has been frozen (and they can get partially thawed several times in the delivery chain to the shop you bought it from on occasion) the greater the chance it has started to decay and the cell damage from freezing makes it more likely it will split open ( and dear lord you do not want to smell that).

Basically I let my nose be my guide and if in doubt chuck it out.


dr del