Power feeding is when you feed your snake a lot to get them to grow quickly. This usually means two meals per week. People do it to get their snakes to a breeding wieght quicker but has it's risks such as regurg and it can be detrimental to your snakes health. I have read somewhere that it can actually stunt the growth in some pythons and it can shorten the life span in pythons/boas. I am not sure what the effects are for corns. That is why when you say to feed every 4 days it sounds like power feeding and isn't recommended. As for the fact that you have never had a regurg is porbably because your temps are really good, you have a nice hot spot, about 90 right? I read in the Corn Snake manual that a spot at 90 helps aid digestion of large meals. Hope that helps, I'm not an expert on this subject but have read enough things that aren't good about power feeding to make me very cautios when it comes to power feeding.
Powerfeeding can also lead to fat deposits (appear as lumps and bumps along the upper back half), which themselves I don't think are dangerous, but usually don't go away. As said above, it can also lead to a shortened life span.
Thanks everyone! Ash, we havent named him yet. Maybe peaches if its a female. Maybe not lol. Still gotta name 6 ball pythons. Only 3 have names right now lol
Rocky, your sig should read 1.4 normals, if you have 1 male, and 4 females. And the 1.0 male het pied, should read 1.0 het pied, because the 1.0 tells us he's male. And 3 lines of text is all you are allowed to have, , so you better double them up! And don't forget to add your new corn!
LewsKinslayer0, I do have a nice hotspot and good temp range (62 to 94 degrees at this time of year). My Motega seems really comfortable in his viv (I built it a few months ago.) I never had the goal of feeding him alot so he would grow quickly, but I do want him to get as long as possible. Mainly, I want to make sure that he gets to eat as often as he wants to.
Your range is probably why you never had a problem with regurg. However the problem with you wanting him to eat as often as he wants to is that snakes are oportunistic eaters. Which means if the opportunity presents its self to eat, they will. Personally I would think the snakes length has to do more with genetics than feeding in captivity. If you only feed once a week they just grow slower but they are getting a regular diet. In the wild getting food isn't regular so feeding would have more of an impact on how big they get. So they will reach the maximum length genetically they can attain, otherwise we would have corns that are absultely huge in captivity. Not sure if that is right, but that is what I think.
LewsKinslayer0, Actually he has refused food before (not near a shed) and it was when he was moving up in mouse size. I tried the next day and he took it. That's when I had adjusted up to every 5 days. Also, I understand what you are saying about size potential, but I disagree with one point. There is a window of opportunity for growth, that once missed, relegates an animal to never reaching its genetically "mapped" potential. So if you say that by feeding once a week, they just grow slower (which is true) they will miss the window of opportunity for maximum growth. The slower an animal grows, the less likely it is that it will reach maximum size. In other words, an animal only grows for so long and then stops. I know with reptiles, they grow their whole lives but the principal still applies since the snake would only have gotten so big before his growth slowed considerably. Any animal is born with a genetic "map" that will only allow them to get so big. If they get less food, less often, they won't attain the maximum size allowed by their genetic "map". If you took that same animal and fed it more food, more often, it would likely fulfill it's genetic "map" and reach its maximum size. So, no matter how much you feed a snake its genetic "map" will only allow it to get so long. To sum up, maximum genetic size pre-exists in the animal. More or less food, good or bad diet, determine actual adult size.
a corn should be fed every 6-8 days and should only have a mouse that is no thicker than the thickest part of its body when it is biger move it onto pinky rats as they are better for the snake hope this help you out. i plan to breed them next year after i move into my house
garybingham, I had the understanding that the size of the mouse (mine is on rats now) should be no bigger than 1.5 times the widest part of the snake. If it is the same size as the widest part, you wouldn't see a bulge at all and wouldn't know when to move up in size. If you go by the 1.5 rule, you move up in size when you no longer see a bulge after feeding.
verycrazygirl, i have been looking at 1.2 Lavender Cornsnake 1.2 Motley Cornsnake 1.2 Reverse Okeetee Cornsnake and thats just to start with lol
jammer, all the care sheets and books i have seen say that a food item should be no thicker than the thickest part of the snake as if it is it can cause regurg and that is a bad thing.
I was told by a local breeder 1.5 times. As jammer said it is hard to tell when to go up in size if it is the same thickness as the snake to begin with. We have fed Peaches ones that are actually probably a little bigger than 1.5 times her thickest girth and had no problems. I know their skin isn't as stretchy as a boa or pythons so I wouldn't get much over 1.5 times.
garybingham, Yeah, I still have to agree with LewsKinslayer. My snake digests fine and he doesn't even have a uth. He is 15 months old and a little over 3 feet. A couple weeks ago, I moved him up to rats. He is now eating 1 rat (4.5 inches long minus the tail) every 6 days.
1.5 times the largest part of the corn's body is fine. At that size, you don't face much risk of regurgitation or hurting the snake. A mouse the same size as the snake's body will work fine too, if you want to play it safe. With all of my corns I feed them a mouse 1.5 times the thickest part of the corn's body and I've never had a problem with that.
jammer, &matt_k, i just got the Corn snake manual by Bill and Kathy and it looks like you are right, they say a food item 1.5 times the thincknes of the snakes thickest part of its body i am sorry lol verycrazygirl, like i said i am looking at them i cant get any untill i move that will be after x-mas i will then be setting my breeding room up that will take till Feb lol, then i will fill it up i am also looking at 1.2 miami 1.2 caramel 1.2 candy cane and you will be sick of seeing pics when i do lol
