Is this a good weight for my corn snake?

Question

I bought my corn snake from a local petstore on December 5th, 2006. His age and weight at purchase are unknown. Since purchase he eats one fuzzy about every 7-10 days and has shed twice, once on December 17th, 2006, and once on February 1st, 2007. I guesstimated his length today and came to 2ft, give or take an inch or two. His weight came to 50g even. Does this sound like a healthy snake to you, or is he a little off?

I was thinking of upping his prey size. The guy at the petstore told me a few weeks ago that my snake could move up to hoppers now. My corn has one more frozen fuzzy to go through, and then its up to hoppers. Do corn snakes ever eat full grown mice?

50 grams is .11 lbs. So about 1.76 ounces. That does sound a little off. Of course, he's not full grown.

My snake is not full grown and could not eat a full grown mouse even if he tried. Last night I fed him a f/t baby mouse that was about hopper size. It took him a few minutes to get it down but it created a slight bulge in his body, which means it was a good sized prey item. I am now switching him to hoppers and will moniter his weight.

Here are some links to Zim. These were taken withing the past 3 months.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r197/Zim_Snake/Zim005.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r197/Zim_Snake/Zim003.jpg

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r197/Zim_Snake/Zim011.jpg

The last picture is the first time he shed after I bought him. The marker is a standard crayola marker to compare length. That shed was dated 12/17/06.

Answer 1

A healthy snake will be round and full looking, but will not have white lines (fat) visible between the scales. If yours is round and you do not see white lines, you are ok. If there is a huge skin depression (wrinkly and narrow) by his "neck" and you can see his spine sticking out- way too skinny. If your snake is 2ft, you might want to up the prey size, depending on his body type. You want to do it a little smaller than the widest part of his body.
My guy, now 2 1/2 or 3 ft eats small adult mice. I feed him once a month (I was doing every two weeks but he grew very fat)

Answer 2

I have a 4 year old milk snake. Similar to the corn snake. He's a big guy now (6 feet big guy) but I remember when he was little. My rule of thumb for feeding is when my snake remains active after a feeding he'd like some more mice. 50 grams. Sorry, can't perceive that weight. 50 paperclips? Let's see, that's really light. Too thin. I understand diameter and proportion of the snake compared to length. Build that muscle. He needs the protein. Keep him active. He's growing. Give him whatever he'll eat. Sometimes he won't want to eat, it's ok try him once every 7 days. You'll have a pet mouse for while (Don't forget to feed your mice if your snake doesn't eat him right away or they will eat each other). Handle your snake before feeding to warm him up. He looks good. A little thin though. I would give him more fuzzies. Try 3. Snakes digestion seems to prefer smaller size meals.

Good luck,

Give him a kissss for me Jen

Answer 3

standard prey size is that the head of the prey is one and a half times the head of the snake. unless the animal is intimidated by larger prey.

I feed my two year old corns hopper rats which are larger than adult mice, my corns are not quite four foot and as big around as a kielbasa! I feed frozen thawed or prekill so I don't have to worry about intimidation.

try and see if your corn will accept larger prey and if not try feeding two smaller. Corns are usually good eaters and will often eat more than they need. Even if he is a little small now he should pick up as he eats more. If not perhaps it is time for a fecal and parasite treatment.

Answer 4

Your 2 foot long corn snake can eat mice that are as big around as it's middle or even twice that diameter.. Your corn snake ( if kept at 80* F ) can and will eat 3 or 4 adult mice a week. Your corn snake should look something like this one:

http://coloherp.org/geo/species/SpePics/PicElgu.jpg