hugo's eating patern

[jo]

my 7 month old corn hugo is still eating pinkys 1/2 every 4 days im going to move him on to fuzy's when iv ran out in about 2 weeks. But he only seems to eat the 2nd pinky if i leave it in the viv longer than i should i forgot about moving it last night as i fell asleep early, lee said it was thair at 11pm but didnt move it (scared of putting hand in when food is in viv) but it had gone this morning. i know you shouldnt leave longer than 3/4 hrs. this is the 3rd time iv forgot and every time i do he eats it. leon would never eat food cold never mind the next day. I know its wrong to be that careless. should i worry about hugo's health i do think he is a bit under waight and small for his age.

[lozzer]

1 sec why are you powerfeeding him?

[jo]

i have always feed him every 4 days, i was told to. plus i wanted him to grow strong and fast so he would be big enough to put in the same viv as my older snake. becouse i was also told the sooner the better. Dont you agree with this?

[John Pilling]

Pinkies are fine every 4 days, weather it's 1 or 2 pinkies.

When you move up to fuzzies also move to every 5days for feeding.

I know what Lozzer means but if you were feeding a fuzzie or 3 pinks every 4 days then i also would be concerned.

When you move up to 2 fuzzies (sometime this year, i garentee it) also move to every 6 days and stick to every 6 days for 2 fuzzies or a small mouse. Next size up every 7 days and untill s/he is eating eather a medium mouse every 7 days, or a large mouse/chick every 10 days.

If you want to feed rats then please do so but check out the nutrianal value first for when to feed compaired to mice, check it out here www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp where their is a very good nutrition chart, with comparisons.

[jo]

john i was planing on this thanx for the reasurernce, he just seams to be moving along so slowly i had no concerns with leon. is it ok for him to be eating a pinky the next day im in 2 minds as id rather him eat than not but its germs aswell im just not sure

[lozzer]

Well if you powerfeed the snake won't normaly live over 10 years it does make them grow faster but its not healthy for the snake ive fed all of mine once a week and they seem to be growing at a steady and a healthy rate.

[John Pilling]

Jo if your feeding in the viv then the mouse can be left overnight, though no longer as after about 12 hours it will start to turn, so if your feeding at, say 10pm and the mouse is gone by the latest at 10am the mouse will be fine.

Anything longer remove it and leave till the next scheduled feed, missing a meal everynow and again this doesn't hurt, trust me chocky was off his feed for nearley 7 weeks with no ill effects .

[jo]

lozzer thanx for your in put, the last thing i want is to shorten his life, i was only planning on feeding him like this untill he was of pinkys. And thanx john i will make sure i keep to a 12hr time limit at the most hopfully when he moves to fuzzys he will grow out of it.

[John Pilling]

It's one of them Jo, if he doesn't eat he's not hungrey, and if he was an adult at this time of year he would be looking for a mate and off his food. Those are the 2 main reasions he may not eat, so don't worry if he stops for 3-4 weeks.

[Muphesto]

yeh thats indy missed his 3rd meal so that means hes been off his food for 3 weeks now, he is still active and easily handled but just wont eat

im not worried just now tho as i know its natural at this time of year

[Dave]

try teasing him a bit in a plastic container this might get him ready for a meal, works with my lot and kiera works well with it

[jo]

iv tryed but he just hides and trys to get away from the food he is a bit shy. i think he will be beter when he is older, i think he is just a withdrawn slow snake im sure he will be fine with tlc, as he will get more conferdent the more i handle him and so on

[Dave]

i think he should be alright in time as you say! good luck ;D

[Jared]

lol teasings not a good idea I got bit the other day when I tried it. I was trying to get him in a feeding frenzy by letting his sniff the mouse first but then he bit me. I could barely even feel it though. The good thing about getting him in a frenzy is that he'll constrict it.

[Dave]

if you do it right you wont get bit, you really need to get the snake to see the heat where your hand is behind the plastic box with the mouse inside! if done right the snake will think the mouse is alive and attack it! ;D

[Jared]

Well I feed him in the viv and the best way to tease for me is sorta jiggle the mouse around then he thinks it's alive and he'll come and strike it's head