One or Two at a time???

[ribrob]

I have a snow corn about a month old an i want to start feeding it 2 pinkies a week so should i feed them to my snake at the same time or should i do it on seperate ocasions or wat ?

[SCReptiles]

As long as you can get prey items the exact size you need, I would go with one. you need to see a slight bulge in the snake after it has eaten. If you have that prey size, go with one every 4 days while the snake is still growing. Once the animal is about grown, maybe 3 feet or so, move to once every seven days, same size formula. Once it’s a mature adult, you can do one over 10 to 14 days. As long as you are not burmating it. If you intend to burmate thru the winter, you will need to make sure it has a little extra body weight in late fall, and will need to feed heavy when you bring it up in early spring until the body weight is back to normal. Side note, you may want to offer two or three if all you can get is too small to show a bulge in the animal.

[ribrob]

thanks for that my mind is at rest now ! an wat does burmate mean does it mean hibornate ?

[SCReptiles]

Burmate is roughly the equivalent of hibernate. Mammals that hibernate, like bears, basically go to sleep for a few months. Snakes are awake during Burmation, but they are very lethargic. They do not move very much, they do not eat and shouldn’t be offered food. Some people keep water in the cage and some only put in a bowl like once a week. I keep it in most of mine, but if I have one that is known to soak a lot, I will remove the water, as I do not want him to lower is body temperature more then I have done so. Some will tell you that you only need to burmate if you intend to breed, but I do not agree with that. Not sure about your climate, but in January it’s pretty cold where I live. If it snows and the power lines break, the temp in my house and my snake room is going to go into probably the 40’s. Maybe even 30’s. If my snakes are not burmating and have meals in them, they are going to die. If they have not eaten in over a month and are already sitting at 55, then it’s probably not going to hurt them. Unless you have back up power, I would burmate yours. Since you have just the one baby, if you want to keep him up over winter in order to grow him faster, you can get by with it. If the power goes out, remember, you are about 98f, so just hold him next to your skin. Put him against you under your shirt, and he will be fine. If you build a collection of several animals, or when this one is full grown, you can’t get by with that method. So, when it’s going to be cold for a few months, I would burmate your animals.

[ribrob]

well we dont have many power failures over here but it gets pretty cold from say mid october threw to aprill or even may! so if i was to burmate my snake i would just turn down the temp an not feed him for a while? But this is not neccassry is it?

[SCReptiles]

Assume you are keeping him at 80 and you want to burmate from November to April. The first of October lower the 80 to 75, continue normal feeding. Second week, lower to 70, offer last meal. Wait till the animal has defecated, then lower to 65. Next week, lower to 60, then 55. Leave at 55 till you are ready to bring them up. Then raise it to 60 for week, 65 for a week, 70 for a week. After 70 for a week, begin to offer food again and pull him back up to 80. It is not necessary if you can be assured you can keep him warm should you lose power. Like I said, one small snake you can do with no problem, many snakes or a large adult will be a problem.