How to Feed a Baby Corn Snake Frozen Pinkies

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While feeding your pet corn ophidian might seem strange and complicated, it is actually fairly simple. Corn snakes are predators and meat-eaters, so y'all should consider how comfortable you are with feeding animals to your serpent before taking one on as a pet. In full general, thawed frozen rodents are the all-time food source and the easiest way of feeding your snake. Further, they are the most convenient source to purchase and, unlike live rodents, they don't threaten your snake with injury or affliction. If your snake isn't eating, information technology could be due to feeding technique, temperature, other stressors in its environment, or information technology might merely be shedding.

1. 1

   Choose betwixt frozen and live rodents. While some people think that using live prey seems more than natural, most captive bred snakes take never had live or wild-caught casualty. Alive prey is more expensive and less convenient to buy and store. More importantly, live rodents can injure, or even kill, your pet by biting or scratching, and can spread diseases or parasites.

   • If you caught your pet ophidian in the wild, it might turn down thawed rodents and merely want to eat live casualty.
   • Check with your pet store to make sure your shop-bought corn snake was raised on thawed rodents. Whether a serpent has been raised on live prey is typically listed on its clarification, or a store employee can let you know.
   • If y'all need to feed your corn ophidian alive casualty, don't leave the room. Yous'll demand to make sure the alive rodent doesn't injure your snake.^[1]
   • If an 60 minutes or 2 has passed and the snake has non eaten, remove the prey, place information technology in some other cage with a food and water source, and endeavor again the next mean solar day.

2. ii

   Cull the right sized rodent. In full general, do not feed your corn serpent annihilation larger than 1.5 times the size of its midsection. If your corn snake is a hatchling, feed it thawed pinkies, or mice that have not yet grown fur. Feed your hatchling one to 2 pinkies per week. As it grows, switch to fuzzies, which are mice that accept just started to grow fur. Kickoff with one per week, and somewhen progress to ii as your snake matures.^[two]

   • Check the size of your babe snake's midsection to determine the size of their prey. If it'due south a very small hatchling, pinky parts are too bachelor.
   • Casually observe your serpent on a regular footing and then you tin can get to know its beliefs. Look for when it moves around its muzzle as if information technology were hunting, and begin to structure your feeding fourth dimension past gauging when your snake looks hungry.

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3. 3

   Feed your snake about in one case per week. When your corn ophidian is a baby, y'all will need to feed it once every v to seven days. When it'south an adult, you lot will need to feed it every vii to x days.^[3]

4. 4

   Make certain you get your feed from a expert source. Big name pet stores tend to comport frozen rodents from practiced sources. Buying in bulk from a pet concatenation or an only reptile or snake club can save you money. You can see if your area has a local herpetologist, or reptile good, or herpetology order. Consider consulting with them, or alternatively a local veterinarian, most local bulk frozen rodent buying options.^[4]

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1. 1

   Handle your snake'due south prey with forceps, tweezers, or tongs. Forceps and similar tools reduce the take a chance of snakebites past keeping your hands a safety distance from they prey and your snake's rima oris. If you do touch your serpent'south casualty, or if you take a pet rodent, launder your hands before feeding your snake or putting your hands in its habitat. Otherwise, you'll scent similar prey and run the risk of getting bit.

2. 2

   Put a frozen mouse into a plastic baggie. If it's not already individually bagged, put a frozen mouse into a bag. Estrus upwards about 2 cups of water on the stove or in the microwave. Identify the mouse in the bag into the water and allow it sit for 10 to fifteen minutes, or until thawed.^[5] .

   • Ensure that the water is not boiling, or you might cook the plastic baggie.
   • Don't thaw a mouse using a microwave or stove. If it cooks, your snake might pass up it or get sick from eating it.
   • To bank check if it's ready, poke the mouse'south abdomen in a few places. If there are no hard spots, the mouse is ready for feeding.
   • The time information technology takes for the mouse to thaw depends on its size. Smaller mice will thaw sooner than large mice.

3. 3

   Determine whether to feed your serpent in its vivarium or in a feeding tub. Some snake owners prefer to feed their snakes in a special feeding tub. This will condition your ophidian not to await food when you put your hands into its habitat, thus reducing the hazard of bites. The feeding tub should be a container that can comfortably enclose your ophidian and fit into the vivarium.

   • If yous use a feeding tub, place your ophidian into the tub before feeding, feed information technology, then one time it has swallowed the mouse place the ophidian and feeding tub into the vivarium.
   • Let it slither out of the tub back into the vivarium on its own time instead of lifting the snake out of the feeding tub to put it back into its habitat.

4. four

   Dangle the mouse into your snake'due south vivarium or feeding tub. Whether you opt to feed your ophidian when it's in its vivarium or using a feeding tub, the process is basically the aforementioned. Use your forceps or tongs to dangle the mouse past the tail about 5 inches (12.7 cm) from your snake's caput. Give it a few shakes, as snakes prefer moving targets.^[6]

   • The snake should strike within a minute or so. In one case the snake grabs the mouse, let it get immediately.

5. 5

   Requite your snake some privacy. Corn snakes prefer to eat in the night and, especially with new owners, are about comfy eating lone. Once your snake has grabbed the mouse, close the vivarium or cover the feeding tub (making sure there'south nonetheless air catamenia) and exit the room, closing the door behind you. After a few feeds, the serpent may be comfortable eating in front of you, but make certain to leave him/her alone for the first few feeds or if information technology is a hatchling.^[7]

   • Remember nigh when a ophidian is eating in the wild: it can't really defend itself or quickly escape danger while it's swallowing prey.
   • Because eating is such a vulnerable time, some snakes, especially hatchlings, need to get used to you and decide that you're not a threat before they'll eat in front end of you.

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1. 1

   Don't handle your snake later feeding it. Give your snake time to digest its nutrient. Treatment it while information technology's digesting tin can cause regurgitation and other bug. Make sure to await 2 days after feeding time before handling your snake.^[8]

   • In addition, avert handling your snake the day that y'all feed it. Treatment it likewise much but before feeding time can also stress your ophidian out, which will reduce its appetite.

2. ii

   Maintain warm and absurd temperature zones. Ophidian habitats demand to have a temperature slope, which means one cease needs to be warm and the other absurd. This helps them maintain their body temperature, and is particularly of import during digestion. Temperature imbalance can result in your ophidian refusing to swallow or regurgitating.^[9]

   • Use heat lamps and an accurate thermometer to maintain temperatures of eighty to 86 degrees on the warm side and no less than 65 degrees on the absurd side.
   • Make certain there are plenty of hiding places in both temperature zones. Your snake might impairment itself if there'due south simply one hiding identify and it doesn't leave that zone to regulate its temperature.

3. 3

   Consider if your snake is shedding if information technology doesn't eat. If your snake doesn't want to consume, merely doesn't appear to be stressed and the temperature is right, it might exist because it's about to shed. Check to come across if its skin is irksome, eyeballs are bluish. If then, your snake is preparing to shed and will not eat during the shedding process. It will resume eating normally equally soon equally information technology's completely shed its pare.^[10]

   • If your snake refuses food but is not shedding, stressed, and the temperature is correct, consult a veterinary.

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Article Summary 10

If you plan to feed your corn serpent alive rodents, cull an animal that is no more than one.5 times the size of the snake'south midsection. Use forceps or tongs to lower the prey into the tank to remove your chances of getting bit, and dangle the mouse just above the snake's head until it strikes. Stay in the room until the snake starts to eat to ensure the prey does non injure your snake, then give the snake privacy while it finishes its repast. If the ophidian doesn't eat the rodent after i-2 hours, remove the prey and identify it in a divide cage with a food and h2o source, and so attempt again the next day. Read on for tips from our veterinary reviewer on using frozen rodents!

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Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Feed-a-Corn-Snake

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