Exotic Pet Corn Snake Care Sheet: Feeding Corn Snake

Corn snakes,like all other snakes, are carnivorous. Meaning they feed only on the flesh of other animals. Corn snakes feed small rodents and sometimes lizards, although they have been known to take small birds from time to time. A pet corn snake owner, obviously, will have an easier time supplying his or her exotic pets with mice than anything else.

An active corn snake will eat every 10 days or so. It is recommended to feed your corn snake pre killed prey, especially if the snake has not been raised on live prey. A live prey may also turn on and attack a lazy snake that isn’t feeling too hungry and possibly causing severe harm to your pet corn snake.

When to feed a corn snake and how much

Hatchlings are started out with pinkie mice for feedings and as the snake grows, gradually increase the size of the prey by offering fuzzies, crews, then small adult mice or rat pinkies.

A young hatchling will eat a pinkie mice every three days or so. Gradually, as hatchling gets bigger; feed it every four, five or six days. Around the time it is getting out to six days, it will be swallowing down a pinkie in next to no time, so try it with another one just as the tail of the first one disappears. If it takes two pinkies ok, continue with this for two or three more feedings and then offer it one fuzzy instead of the two pinkies. It might look too large for you, but if the snake can swallow it without difficulty, it is not too big. If you feed too much at one feeding session, or feed a prey item that is too big, your snake won’t swallow it and will spit it out after trying. A general rule for food size is that up to 1+1?2 the snake’s body girth is acceptable.

After a several more weeks of one fuzzy, repeat the process you did with pinkies. When your corn snake swallows a fuzzy easily, then try to feed it with two. And after a few feedings with two fuzzies, try it with small adult mice. A full grown Corn snake can eat a medium to large mouse.

How to feed a corn snake

Frozen prey need to be completely thawed and warmed slightly before feeding. After thawing, place the prey on a small plastic dish and place the dish in the cage and leave the snake to it. If the snake won’t eat it after few hours, then remove it and throw it away.

Some snakes like their prey “jiggled” in front of them. To do this, pick the prey up by the tail with tongs (no sharp, pointy ends), and hold the prey in front of the snake for the snake to strike at.

Pet snakes that have refused to feed more than 2 times can be enticed into feeding by having the prey item slightly warmed, either by a heat lamp or soaked in warm water a few minutes before feeding. Don’t put it in a microwave, as they can explode. Another trick to try is “braining”, where you pierce the head of the prey with a knife point and liquid from the head exposed with forceps or tweezers. The smell of the liquid will entice your exotic pet corn snake to feed.



By: Avicenna

About the Author:

Avicenna writes various of articles about exotic pets, such as pet snake, Turtles and more

Keeping a Brazilian Rainbow Boa

Keeping a Brazilian Rainbow Boa
By Jessica Spinner

A Brazilian Rainbow Boa will thrive in captivity as long as you keep it clean, safe and well fed. The typical size of an adult on this variety of snake is from four to seven feet although there have been some that grew to a length of twenty feet. For this reason, this snake needs lots of space in which it can move about freely. Along with a large cage, you need to keep the humidity in the cage quite high and always have a bowl of fresh water inside. During the day, these snakes need an average temperature of 26 to 29 and even though you can lower the temperature at night you shouldn’t have it any lower than 24. An aquarium intended to hold 40 – 60 gallons of water should be quite sufficient.

The substrate you use in the cage should be one that holds the humidity quite well. Canadian peat moss is one that most herpers use with this subspecies of rainbow snake. The diet can be entirely made up of mice that are equal to the size of the snake girth. You can also feed your snake small rats. You should never feed live food to the snake because of the possibility of danger to your pet. If you find that you pet seems to be off its food and is not eating as it regularly did, try taking it outdoors. Experts will tell you that the fresh air seems to revive the boa appetite.

If you intend to breed the snake, you do have to make sure it is at least four or five feet long. Both snakes need a slightly lower temperature in the weeks preceding the breeding period, which means you should lower the temperature of the cage to about 20. Then you can introduce the male into the cage of the female. Male boas are very territorial and it is not a good practice to put a female into a male cage because he will see this as an invasion of his territory rather than an opportunity to mate.

You can use newspaper or paper liners are good as coverings for the bottom of the cage. They are easy to remove when wet and you just throw them in the trash. It is important to clean the cage on a regular basis and you should change the bedding at least once a week. Since there is a high level of humidity in the cage, this is the prime breeding grounds for mold. However, if you do not have enough humidity, it could prove fatal for your pet.

Even though rainbow boas do not have a problem living in wet areas, you should have an area of the cage that is always dry for them to use when they choose. These pets are quite active and the babies tend to nip at your fingers if you put them into the cage or when you handle them. With proper handling, they are one of the easiest snakes to train.

For more information on Brazilian Rainbow Boas, pet snakes, Emerald Tree Boass and related topics visit http://www.BoaTips.com

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