OK the more that I look at all the hatchling corn snakes and kingsnakes, the more I want to breed these wonderful snakes. A corn snake was my first one. So I’m pretty much falling for these guys all over again.
Anyway, the reason for this post is a simple question that may not have a simple answer.
How easy is it to get hatchlings to eat? And what do you feed them?
Corn snakes are usually great eaters right off the bat. They eat pinkie mice. If it’s a particularly small baby, you can start with day old pinkies or a pinkie cut in half. For a first feeding, I usually will offer food in deli cups overnight and just leave them be. Some of them are pretty shy (understandably so!), so they might need a few feeds by themselves before they’ll let you watch or tong feed. But anyway, there are lots of tricks to try if you get a few stubborn ones.
Awesome! I appreciate the feedback.
My first clutch had their first meals today! They all ate amazingly from tongs in a separate container from their main baby tubs. There was some defensive strikes but once they struck and bit hard enough to hold on seemed like instinct took hold without a problem. A friend of mine says some of her clutches can be hit or miss a few times at the beginning but peristance pays off for me by just offering food again and again until a strike turns into a eating.
As to what I’m feeding its thawed day old pinks. So far no trouble getting them down their gobs other than some initial flailing and such. But didn’t take long for any of them to figure it out and get their meals down.