What do i feed my baby corn snake

When To Start Feeding Baby Corn Snakes

Knowing when to start feeding a baby corn snake is key in ensuring that it gets a good start in life. Baby corns are usually good eaters and will consume frozen-thawed pinkies. This is not always the case, though.

Baby corn snakes can be fed a pinkie shortly after hatching. It is not uncommon for baby corns to refuse food until they have shed for the first time. This usually happens between 1-2 weeks after hatching. Continuously refusing food is a cause for concern. You can try scenting the pinkie, tub feeding, adjusting the enclosure, and feeding live prey to encourage the corn snake to eat. Force-feeding is an emergency resort tactic. Few reptile vets will recommend force-feeding unless the snake has lost over 10% in mass or has other health issues.

Overfeeding your baby Corn snake may not seem like a bad thing as growing snakes need vitamins and nutrients. However, overfeeding or power feeding can result in an unhealthy snake with a shorter lifespan.

Hatchlings will usually be between 8-12 inches long and can start eating shortly after hatching. In all likelihood, though, a hatchling won’t eat this soon. It’s quite common for a snake hatchling to ignore food until its first shed. This usually happens within 1-2 weeks of hatching.

Still, you can offer food to a baby corn snake shortly after it has hatched. Don’t be concerned if it rejects the food, however. It won’t hurt the baby snake to wait a short while after hatching for its first meal.

If a baby corn snake continues to reject food after its first shed it is a good idea to start recording its weight and growth daily. Breeders will usually track this information post-hatch and keep feeding records. If you bought the snake from a dealer, you’ll be able to request this info from them.

What Do Baby Corn Snakes Eat?

Corn snakes eat mice in the wild and in captivity. In the wild, they also eat birds, frogs, lizards, and other rodents. Baby corn snakes should be fed pinkie mice.

The size of the snake will determine the size of the feeder mouse. Choosing the right sized feeder mouse is important. Too small, and the snake won’t get enough nutrients to grow properly. Too large, and the snake may have trouble eating. It could also suffer internal damage.

The table below details guidelines for feeding snakes by age. This is not set in stone. In fact, it is better to choose a feeder mouse based on the size of your snake rather than its age. Choosing a mouse that is the same thickness, but not thicker, as your snake’s mid-body section is the ideal size.

Snake’s Age	Feeder Mouse Size	Feeding Frequency
Hatchling:	Pinkie	Every 5-7 days
Juvenile:	Fuzzy	Every 7-10 days
Yearling:	Small or Hopper	Every 7-10 days
Adult:	Adult or jumbo	Every 10-14 days

Remember, the larger the feeder animal, the longer to go in between feeds. If your corn snake is particularly large and jumbo mice aren’t cutting it, try small rats. Rats offer more nutritional value. A rat also takes longer for a snake to digest. Be sure to adjust the feeding schedule accordingly.

How To Feed a Baby Corn Snake

Corn snakes are usually good eaters right from the get-go. Using a pair of feeding tongs or tweezers, hold a thawed pinkie by the middle and wiggle it before the snake. A bit of encouragement might be in order. Do this by touching the snake’s mouth with the head of the pinkie. In most cases, this will be enough to earn a feeding response.

Once the corn snake has latched on, release the pinkie. Avoid startling the snake while it eats as it may stop eating.

Should I Use Vitamin Or Calcium Powder?

Studies, such as this one in Copeia, have shown that a snake’s growth is directly related to how much food it ingests. This includes the quality of the nutrients, fats, and minerals in the food.

Sprinkling your snake’s food with vitamin and/or calcium powder is something that you can do for a growing snake. It’s not necessary, but it can be beneficial to their growth, especially hatchlings.

Coating food with these supplements also has the benefit of ensuring that a snake is receiving all the nutrition it needs. This can be good for growing snakes, or snakes that have gone off food and need a nutrient boost.

My Baby Corn snake Won’t Eat

Sometimes, a baby corn snake will reject food even after its first shed. There are a few methods you can try to trick the snake into eating before resorting to force-feeding.

Scenting Food

Scenting the pinkie can be a way to trick a baby corn snake into eating. Corn snakes in the wild will also consume lizards, frogs, and small birds. Occasionally, captive-bred ones will have the same preference.

To scent a pinkie, wash and dry the mouse. Rub it on a frozen-thawed chick so that the scent is transferred. Now offer the scented pinkie to the snake. You can also do this with frogs or lizards.

Training the snake to accept unscented feeder mice is ideal, because, aside from chicks, other feeder prey animals are difficult for many to come by.

Container Feeding

Container feeding can be another useful tactic for convincing picky baby corn snakes to eat. Here’s how:

Find a round container that has a lid.
Place the feeder mouse by the inner wall and seal the snake inside the container. Leave it alone for 10-15 minutes.
Return the snake to its enclosure when done, even if it didn’t eat.

The snake will continuously bump into the feeder mouse as it follows the curve of the container. This can trick the snake into eating. The container’s walls should not be clear. Although placing a towel over the container can work, the lid should be pierced in several places to allow airflow.

Pros for tub feeding:

There’s no bedding, so there is less mess and no chance for the snake to ingest substrate
Tub feeding is good for encouraging picky eaters to consume food

Cons for tub feeding:

Removing a snake from its environment can stress it out and discourage it from eating its meal
Picking up a snake to put it back into its enclosure can cause it to regurgitate its meal because that’s how snakes escape threats

Location

A baby corn snake may reject food if it feels anxious. Consider:

Is the enclosure too large? Snakes can feel exposed and unsafe in too large enclosures.
Are the temperature and humidity levels correct? Corn snakes need a temperature gradient of 75-85°F and humidity levels between 40-50%.
Are there any external factors, such as loud music or scents, making the snake uncomfortable? Place the enclosure in a calm space that doesn’t see an abundance of activity, such as a study or den.

Adjusting the enclosure can be the right move. Once the snake is feeling more secure, it may eat its food.

Live Feeding

Frozen-thawed pinkies are ideal feeders. However, if your baby corn snake refuses frozen-thawed then a live pinkie is an alternative. Place the pinkie near the snake and give it some privacy. Don’t leave the pinkie in there for more than 10 minutes. If the snake doesn’t eat the pinkie, remove it.

Breeders that raise a corn snake to eat only live prey should notify a possible owner about its eating habits. Getting a corn snake raised on live food to take frozen-thawed can be difficult.

Force-Feeding

Only consider force-feeding if the snake has lost over 10% of its weight and a vet agrees that force-feeding is the way forward. Force-feeding a corn snake, at any age, should not be done without first being shown the process by a reptile vet. It should also only be done in emergency situations.

Is Overfeeding My Snake Bad?

Overfeeding a snake can cause it to become overweight. It can also cause a young snake to grow faster than it should. This can shorten its lifespan and cause other health issues.

Is My Snake Overweight?

The signs of an overweight snake are:

Raised fat reserves
Being overly soft to the touch. Snakes are lean and muscular when at their ideal weight and should be firm to the touch
Pronounced fat rolls when coiled
Scale spread
Obvious hips above the tail

How Long Can You Keep Frozen Mice?

Feeder rodents can usually be kept frozen for up to 6 months. Ideally, they should be put deep in the freezer to avoid partial thawing.

If you notice a small amount of freezer burn on a feeder mouse it can still safely be fed to the snake.

Thawing Frozen Mice

Thaw the pinkie in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Do not use boiling water, as this can change the smell and texture of the pinkie. You’ll know the mouse is thawed when you can poke its middle and feel no lumps inside. Do not thaw a mouse in the microwave or offer a partially-thawed mouse.

Baby corn snakes can be fed shortly after hatching. In all likelihood, they won’t eat until after their first shed. Don’t be alarmed if your baby corn snake refuses to eat for the first 1-2 weeks of its life.

Post-shed, if your snake still refuses to eat it might be time to try different feeding methods, such as container feeding or scenting. Force-feeding is a last resort and should only be done in emergency situations.

MLA Style: Carter, Lou. "When To Start Feeding Baby Corn Snakes" Snakes For Pets, (August 11, 2022), https://www. snakesforpets.com/when-to-start-feeding-baby-corn-snakes/.

APA Style: Carter, L. (August 11, 2022). When To Start Feeding Baby Corn Snakes. Snakes For Pets. Retrieved August 11, 2022, from https://www.snakesforpets.com/when-to-start-feeding-baby-corn-snakes/

How To Feed A Corn Snake In 5 Steps

Knowing how to feed your corn snake is vital to the reptile’s overall health.

In addition to feeding the snake the right type and size of prey, the feeding frequency is also important.

A baby corn snake needs to be fed once every 5-7 days, increasing to once every 7-10 days for a juvenile. When the snake is an adult over two years old, decrease feeding to once every 10-14 days. The size of the prey should never be larger than 1 ½ times the size of the corn snake’s midsection.

Not feeding your snake often enough will cause malnutrition, while overfeeding will lead to obesity and digestive issues.

If the size of the prey is too small for the corn snake, the animal will be hungry and possibly malnourished.

When the prey is too large, the snake will regurgitate its food, and the negative experience will cause a loss of appetite.

Read on to learn more about how to feed a corn snake, including diet and feeding guidelines.

Table of Contents

Corn Snake Diet

Corn snakes are strict carnivores, meaning they only eat meats and proteins.

The corn snake in the wild has a diet consisting of almost exclusively small rodents and birds.

In captivity, we want the same thing.

For corn snakes, this means small rodents like mice.

But you don’t have to go hunting for it yourself.

There are many pet stores and online suppliers available to take care of this for you.

With baby corn snakes, you want to look for pinkie mice.

Check out our article on how many pinkie mice to feed baby corn snakes for more info.

These aren’t a special breed of mouse at all, but pinkie mice are baby, hairless mice.

Their small size and lack of mobility make them perfect for the baby corn snake.

Corn snakes should only eat food smaller than its girth or width at mid-length.

For babies, this is tough, but pinkie mice will fit the bill nicely.

Live pinkie mice aren’t very mobile.

This makes them easier to hunt for the young snakes, and it avoids injury.

For all corn snakes, you never want to leave live prey in the tank because they may bite back as they’re hunted.

With pinkies, you won’t have this problem.

Mice are usually fed to a adult corn snake in live form or frozen and the fully thawed form.

While baby corn snakes can eat frozen and thawed pinkies, they’re less likely to.

The baby corn snake is very instinct-driven, and its instinct isn’t to eat food already dead.

It wants to eat something live.

So, the baby corn snake diet consists of pinkie mice (live preferably) fed once every 5 – 7 days.

Read more about how often to feed corn snakes.

Feeding A Corn Snake

This section tells you step-by-step how to feed a corn snake.

It also applies to feeding baby corn snakes.

Baby corn snakes are fed after their first prenatal shed.

Many will eat right away, but sometimes they wait for a little while.

Follow these steps to feed a corn snake.

#1 Choose The Right Prey

As we mentioned in the section above, the best choice for corn snakes is mice.

Make sure they’re smaller than the corn snake’s width at mid-length.

For baby corn snakes, use pinkie mice.

If you’re worried about even a newborn pinky mouse size, use a baby spiny mouse or a baby pygmy mouse.

Live is better than frozen and thawed, but make do with this if it’s all you have.

For maximum safety, look at our guide on picking the right size mice for a corn snake.

#2 Place The Mouse In Front Of The Corn Snake

Take the mouse and put it right in front of the corn snake.

Watch to see if the corn snake notices the mouse.

If you see the snake notice and watch the mouse, keep your hands back.

Corn snakes have a hard time telling the difference between prey and fingers.

Most adult corn snakes will strike the mouse right away and begin to swallow it.

For those whose snakes do this easily, skip to step #5.

Note:

You don’t ordinarily need to feed the corn snake by hand as you do with other reptiles.

These keen carnivores prefer to hunt themselves whenever they can.

If your corn snake seems uninterested, you need to move to step #3.

#3 “Brain” The Corn Snake

When your corn snake isn’t interested in your mouse, what’s happening is the snake’s natural hunting instincts haven’t been triggered yet.

So we need to help those instincts along.

While it may seem gross, one almost-foolproof way to get a snake’s attention is to brain the mouse.

In other words, use a knife to cut into the skull of the mouse and squeeze.

This is done so some brain matter comes out of the cut or nose.

Another way is to cut the mouse in half, so the corn snake won’t have to eat the whole thing in one bite.

The smell and sight of the insides work wonders for triggering the hunting and eating instincts.

#4 Tease The Corn Snake

If braining is too gross or it’s still not pleasing, perhaps tease the corn snake.

When you tease the snake, you take half of the mouse and tap it to the nose of the corn snake.

You may want to do this while holding the snake, so you have more control over its movement.

Once the snake strikes put it down in the tank and let it enjoy its meal.

#5 Remove The Prey Remains

Once your snake has ingested its meal, go in a clean up any remains.

There aren’t usually too many with snakes, but it’s still a good idea to check.

#6 Repeat Every 5 – 7 Days

Now you repeat the process every 5 – 7 days.

Adjust the size of the mouse to match the width of the corn snake.

When it can eat adult mice, you may want to switch to feeding every 7 – 10 days.

Warning!

Don’t ever feed a corn snake within 24 hours of feeding.

It won’t have had time to digest its last meal.

Helpful Tips for Feeding a Corn Snake

While corn snakes are typically voracious eaters, there may be times when your snake does not have much of an appetite or refuses its food.

Corn snakes will experience appetite loss during shedding, sickness, pregnancy, and brumation.

If your snake is not eating as it usually does, seek veterinary care to rule out illness.

Below, we provide some helpful tips on how to make feeding time an enjoyable experience for both you and your snake.

Maintain Proper Temperatures

Corn snakes need heat for properly digesting their food.

Because they are ectothermic animals, snakes rely on outside sources of heat to maintain their body temperature.

Provide your corn snake with the optimal temperature gradient in its enclosure, so the animal has ways to warm up and cool down.

The cool side of the tank should have a temperature range of 75-82° degrees Fahrenheit (27° C).

The ambient temperature in the middle of the tank needs to be between 80-85° degrees Fahrenheit (29° C).

The best temperature range for the warm basking side of the tank is 88-92° degrees Fahrenheit (33° C).

Regularly monitor the enclosure temperatures to ensure they are correct and adjust when necessary.

Monitor When Feeding

It is always best to monitor your corn snake during feeding time, especially if you are using live prey.

Live prey may bite or scratch your snake enough to cause serious injury, and the risk increases when the prey is not eaten right away.

Even if you are using thawed prey, monitor your corn snake for any signs of difficulty eating or regurgitation.

If your snake is struggling to eat, this is usually a sign the prey is too large.

It is very unlikely for a snake to choke because it has a glottis, which allows the animal to breathe while eating.

However, if the adult corn snake regurgitates its food, it will associate this negative experience with mealtime, and its appetite will be diminished.

No Wild-Caught Prey

Always purchase feeder prey from a pet supply store or another reputable seller.

Never feed your corn snake any wild-caught mice, rats, or other small prey.

Wild prey animals are highly likely to be infested with parasites or other diseases which are very harmful to your snake.

Use Feeding Tongs

Your corn snake may get very excited and strike as soon as it sees prey.

If you are using your hands to feed your pet snake, there is a chance you will be bitten.

To avoid the risk of being bitten by your corn snake during mealtime, use feeding tongs instead of your hands.

Feeding tongs have rubber tips for your snake’s safety, and they are available at most pet supply stores.

Weigh Your Snake

Use a small kitchen scale to weigh your corn snake once a week.

Tracking your snake’s weight allows you to determine if your pet’s growth rate is on track and the animal is maintaining a healthy weight.

If your snake is losing weight or gaining too much, you will need to schedule a visit with your veterinarian to rule out any underlying illness and create a diet plan.

Feed Your Snake in the Morning or Evening

Corn snakes are crepuscular, which means they are the most active during the hours of dawn and dusk.

The best time to feed your snake is during the evening, close to sunset.

The snake will be rested and ready to hunt during this time, so it will be more receptive to being fed.

If you are unable to feed your corn snake in the evening, aim to have morning meal times instead.

Provide a Water Bowl

Place a large, shallow dish in your corn snake’s enclosure and make sure it is filled with fresh, clean, chlorine-free water at all times.

Snakes tend to soak in their water dish, so you may need to change the water more than once per day if it gets dirty.

Conclusion

We hope you enjoyed learning how to feed a corn snake.

It can be tricky, but if you choose the right size of mouse and take care not to feed it too often, it’ll all be just fine.

Look for mice smaller than their width at mid-length.

Babies can eat every 5 – 7 days, while adults should wait every 7 – 10 days.

Follow these guidelines, and your cute reptile will be just fine.

Commonly Asked Questions

How do I know if my corn snake is hungry?

When your corn snake is hungry, it will be more active during the day and will spend more time near the front of the enclosure.

The snake will also flick its tongue in and out more frequently than usual.

Can I hold my corn snake after feeding?

It is not advisable to handle your corn snake for up to 48 hours after a meal.

Handling your snake too soon after eating will cause the animal to regurgitate its food.

It is also essential to handle your corn snake at least 1-2 times per week to keep the animal tame and provide it with some exercise.

However, handling your snake more frequently than once per day may cause the reptile to become stressed and lose its appetite.

Related: How to tame a corn snake

How long can a corn snake go without eating before dying?

During brumation, a corn snake is able to survive for 2-3 months without a proper meal.

Outside of brumation, a corn snake is only able to go for two weeks without eating.

If you have issues with getting your corn snake to eat, it is best to seek a reptile veterinarian for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Maize snake. Feeding. | Teniura

In nature, maize snakes feed on small and medium rodents, bats, birds and their eggs, occasionally lizards. Are eating unstable, as they hunt for something then they eat it.

At home, maize is fed

laboratory mice
mastomys
rats
hamsters (rarely because they are fat)
chickens

In no case should you feed maize and other snakes with meat from the store, for them it is an inferior food. The snake definitely needs vitamins and trace elements that are in the internal organs of rodents and birds. And wool and feathers are needed for peristaltics, and they come out unprocessed.

Feeding babies

Little maize hatches from the egg and in the first 7-10 days the baby completely absorbs the reserves of the yolk sac that he has drawn from the egg. Before the first feeding, the baby should make a mistake, shed, and only after that you can start feeding him.

Not all corn snake babies begin to eat immediately after the first molt. In nature, such babies die, and at home there is a chance to teach them to eat on their own, by force-feeding several times.

If you are a beginner and get your first snake, take only one that is already stable on its own and has not had burps. And it will be already a little grown maize, and not a baby.

Babies under 4-6 months of age should be fed every 5-6 days only by newborn naked mice, occasionally hamsters. Growing maize snake should not starve.

Mastomis pebbles

Important! It is better to place a small snake up to a year in a compact container of 10-15 liters, having previously equipped it in accordance with all the rules. In terrariums and containers of large volume and without shelters, maize tend to become stressed and refuse to eat.

Feeding adolescents

Every 3-4 months, as the snake grows, it is necessary to transfer to a larger food and select for each baby individually one suitable KO. The food object should be increased gradually and at the same time feed less frequently. Also be guided by the thickness of the snake: the thickness of the KO can be a maximum of 1.5 of the thickness of the snake.

Adult snakes can be fed once every 7-9 days pubescent mice, mastomis, newborn rats, quails.

Naked rat

Feeding adult maize

It is enough to feed adult snakes every 7-14 days with a food object of a suitable size and weighing about 40 g: a large mouse, a chicken, a small running rat. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the size of the snake, the larger the snake, the more KO it can be offered. Too much KO can lead to unwanted burping.

Corn snakes are easy to pick up defrosted food.

Maize snake actively grows up to 3 years.

Thawed day old chick

Feeding and moulting

Do not feed snakes during moulting. Usually grown and adult individuals themselves refuse to eat during molting.

Very small snakes molt quickly, they can shed in one day. It happens in the morning he fed, and by lunchtime the serpent had already left in a molt And usually, together, the processes of molting and digestion of food take place in babies. painlessly.

Feed change

Not all snakes easily switch to a new type of food. If the snake refuses new type of food, you can try to deceive her by rubbing the new type of food with the usual scent food. For example, “rub” a hamster with a mouse.

It happens that a snake eats only live food, it also eats one species, for example, the Dzhugnar hamster, but refuses to eat other food, for example, a mouse. And in this case, you can retrain the snake: put the mouse to the Dzhugnar hamster so that the mouse is saturated with the smell of the Dzhungar. This can take a lot of time, most likely it will not work to transfer the snake to a new type of food the first time.

When to feed

Corn snakes should only be fed after how they are completely fucked up. Adult snakes usually do this on the 3rd day, quite kids - earlier.

Snakes usually drink after they have eaten, so make sure that the water in the drinking bowl is clean.

It is not necessary to give vitamins with meals, because that with complete food, snakes get everything they need, and an overdose vitamins are dangerous.

It is safe to feed animals on the mat. They will not swallow artificial grass with their food.

What to ask when buying corn

When buying corn snake you need find out

Age of maize
Is it stable on its own?
What does maize eat (mouse, hamster... size)?
How exactly did the baby eat (from tweezers to hiding at night...)?
How many times and how did you eat (if a baby)?
Accustomed to thawed food?
When did the baby last eat?

If maize is a few years old weeks stably eats on its own, then, subject to proper maintenance even a beginner has no problems.

If the baby has only eaten once on his own, then it is still very risky for a beginner to take such babies. It doesn't mean baby She is already eating on her own.

And remember, the more you ask about what and how the corn snake eats, the fewer nutritional problems will arise in further.

Important! After moving the snake to a new house (and even a new terrarium), it should not be disturbed for several days, and you can feed it no earlier than after two or three days. The maize snake of any age must get used to the new environment. Stress can cause the snake to stop eating, and worse, regurgitate.

Spitting is highly undesirable for any snake and can lead to further problems or even death of the animal.

Defrost feeding

they refuse the mouse and eat only a live mouse. Some refuse for a long time eat thawed food.

If maize does not eat defrosted try tear (cut) the skin of the KO to increase the smell. Leave KO for a while time with the snake, maybe she needs time or some specific conditions.

All snakes prefer a certain way of eating, e.g. and so on.

When the snake must not be disturbed

After feeding the snake, in no case do not disturb it, and even more so do not pick up, remember, this can lead to such adverse effects, such as burping of feed.

When a snake is molting, it must not be disturbed either. At the same time, during molting, some animals become inactive and lethargic, while others, on the contrary, become aggressive and nervous.

Spit

If this happens, do not disturb the pet and pause feeding for at least 10 days for snakes of any age. After a break, start feeding the snake half as much food as usual.

Why won't the corn snake eat?

The reasons for refusing to eat can be different and only understanding the reason, you can answer the question of how to feed.

Stress . Maybe in a new environment (moving to a new house, to a new terrarium) or after some of your manipulations. In this case, you should feed the snake on the second or third day, so that she gets used to it, calms down, in no case earlier.

Not hungry. Feed too often. Overfeeding and "acceleration" of growth snakes inevitably leads to obesity of varying degrees, even in young individuals. And this in turn leads to health problems and even death of the animal.

Constipation. You can help the animal to make a mistake - let it swim in a warm water. If this does not help and constipation for a long time, then you need to contact your veterinarian, to understand the causes and eliminate them.

Never ate by myself. It happens that small maize are not fed from birth on one's own. In this case, you need to try different KOs and different methods. feeding and only if nothing helped, then feed the baby forcibly. Feed maize baby should definitely be entrusted to a veterinarian or an experienced terrariumist. It happens that you have to "shove" small corn several times before they start eating on their own.

Molting snake. The snake has already begun the process of molting, but it is not noticeable yet. At some snakes only by their blue eyes can be seen that they are in molt, although the process starts earlier.

Poor conditions of detention . For example, there is no temperature difference or insufficient heating in a warm corner The low temperature leads to a decrease in the snake's appetite and activity of the digestive processes.

Sexual behavior and reproduction. Male over 2 years old (sometimes earlier) from February to April maybe in a race. Refusals from food can be long - up to several months.

The female may be pregnant. Pregnant females often lie in a warm corner and may refuse food throughout pregnancy until masonry. But offer KO is a must for a pregnant female.

Females can lay unfertilized (fatty) eggs even without mating with a male. If the snake has not laid fatty eggs, it “dissolves” them and feeds on it for some time.

Unusual KO. Snakes may refuse an unfamiliar prey item. If, for example, a snake has always eaten mice, then a chicken may be abandoned. snake can refuse stale KO, and that's good, otherwise there may be problems health and even death.

Disease. In this case, you should definitely contact your veterinarian and treat the animal.

How to feed the corn snake

If you cannot find a suitable KO for your pet, remember that maize in good shape can live without food.

How to feed maize:

Wait a few days, the snake may shed or become cloudy. In this case, feed the snake after the molt.
Place shelters in warm and cool corners, the snake may be refusing to eat due to stress.
Try another KO of a suitable size (hamster, quail, chicken). “Feed” an unusual KO with a familiar smell. For example, put the mouse for some time to the jungarik.
Cut the skin of the thawed KO in several places to smell.
Try to give a live CO. There are individuals who refuse to eat defrosting.
If maize is already an adult, older than 2 years, then you can not feed it for a month and offer food after a hunger strike.
The snake can be gently wintered at a temperature of 18-20 degrees for 3-4 weeks. When the temperature returns to normal - feed.
Small maize to leave naked in a shelter for the night.
If the animal is losing weight, shedding continuously, has sores in the mouth or other symptoms, it is necessary to consult a veterinarian and treat the animal first.
Pregnant females refuse to eat at the end of the term, they are not able to digest food.

If the corn hasn't eaten, offer KO again in a week. Be sure to check the conditions of detention: temperature, availability of clean water, put opaque shelters in different temperature zones.

Overfeeding

The basic rule of feeding snakes is that it is better to slightly underfeed than to rush to increase KO, overfeed and get problems in the form of burping, loss of pet health (obesity, disruption of internal organs) or even death of the animal.

What does a corn snake eat? - What is eaten on planet Earth

The corn snake, also known as the corn snake, like all snakes, is a predator and feeds on small animals. In the wild, she prefers to eat mice, rarely ruining bird nests by eating their eggs. Can eat a lizard or a frog.

A corn snake eats a mouse

What to feed a corn snake

When keeping a corn snake in a terrarium, it is best to feed mice and rats. A young snake should be given small mice or two to four week old rats.

Adult snakes are easiest to feed to adult rats, but watch the size of the prey and the body of the snake.

The size of the food should be less than the width of the snake at the widest point of its body, and the weight should not exceed 1/10 of the snake's weight. If these dimensions are exceeded, live food can injure the snake.

Live food is best, it should be placed in a terrarium and the snake will hunt it.

You can feed frozen food, which is thawed and then given to the snake with tweezers. But for this it is necessary to accustom the snake to such food, as well as to acquire the appropriate skill.

If suddenly this happened, the prey frightened or injured the snake, and it refuses to eat after that, then you should take a break in feeding and do not feed the snake for about 14 days, and then you need to give it a small mouse.

If you have several snakes, they should be fed separately and in different cages.

As a treat, it is appropriate to feed snake quail eggs. However, don't feed them eggs often.

Raw quail eggs can be given as a treat. But since eggs are not included in their permanent diet, they should be given very rarely, no more than once a month. Excess eggs are bad for the snake.

How often to feed

Adult snakes should be fed once every two to three weeks. The young need to be fed twice a week.

Be careful not to pick up or pick up the snake for three to four days after feeding, as it digests food and can be seriously injured.

Corn snake refuses to eat, what should I do?

If the corn snake refuses to eat, the cause must be determined.

They usually refuse to eat for the following reasons:

Getting ready to molt;
Pregnant;
The food is too big for the snake or there is something wrong with the food;
The snake is sick.

In the first three options, just stay away from the snake for a couple of days or reduce the amount of food, if there is a suspicion of illness, then visit or consult a veterinarian.

Useful information

Corn snakes have another name - corn snake. These are small snakes, in length they rarely grow more than 120-150 cm in length and reach a weight of 500-900 grams. They are low maintenance and are popular as a first snake for beginner terrarium keepers. There are many types and colors of these snakes, it is almost impossible to find identical individuals.

They naturally occur in the southeastern and central regions of the United States, including Louisiana, Colorado and Florida. They breed easily in captivity, so they are popular and common as a pet around the world. With proper care, they can live up to twenty years.