Caring For Your Corn Snake
Food
I suggest that you remove your snake from his home for feeding time. This is recommended for a couple reasons. First, it allows your snake to concentrate on eating. It also eliminates the danger of your snake ingesting substrate from it's home while eating.
Many breeders ship hatchlings in deli-cups punched with air holes. These deli-cups work great as feeding containers. As your snake grows, just get something a bit bigger for "dinner time." Find a container with a tight fitting lid, and remember to put small holes in it. Disposable food storage containers work great.
Your corn snake should be fed captive bred rodents only, because wild prey can transfer parasites to your snake. My general rule of thumb is to feed a food item that is the same size around in the tummy area as the snake is. Too big a food item can cause the snake to regurgitate the undigested portion of it’s meal after a couple days or so. This is dangerous and can be deadly for your corn snake. The best thing to do is prevent regurgitation by feeding the proper size food item and making sure the “warm” side of your snake's enclosure is at the proper temperature.
Hatchlings can be fed every 5-7 days. Adults, however, shouldn’t be fed that often. Feeding them every 10-14 days is acceptable. It’s recommended that you feed frozen/thawed rodents. I cut the skin on the backs of my rodents after they are thawed. It's not necessary, but does help the digestion process. This can be done using a sharp pair of scissors (see photo above).
Once in a while, a snake will prefer to eat live. If I'm selling one that prefers live, I will put that info on my website. Most of my snakes, however, eat frozen/thawed. If you choose to purchase one that's eating live, it’s recommended that the mouse be stunned or pre-killed to make sure your corn snake isn't hurt while eating. This pertains to mice that have their eyes open and have hair. Anything smaller than that (like a pinky or peach fuzzy) isn't going to be a danger to your snake, so stunning or pre-killing isn't necessary. A live mouse injuring a snake doesn't happen often, but it can happen. If you're feeding live prey to your snake, do not leave them unattended.
"Dinner Time" Photos
