Tips for Feeding Pre-Killed Prey to your Corn Snakes

Your Corn Snake might take immediately to pre-killed prey but if your snake is a little bit picky, the following tips might be helpful: 

• Rub the live prey that your Corn Snake prefers against the pre-killed prey before putting in in the terrarium
• Prepare a dish of warm chicken broth and dip the pre-killed prey there.
• Use hemostats or tongs to dangle the prey and “walk” it around the enclosure to make it appear as if the prey is alive and attract the snake to strike at it.
• Make sure that the prey is warmer compared to the room temperature because in that way, it will smell more appetizing to your snake.
• Pierce the braincase of the prey with a nail or a pin to release more appetizing odors.
• Feed your Corn Snake a different colored prey. For example, if you’ve already tried a white mouse, try switching to a brown mouse instead.

Feeding a Corn Snake can be quite hard at first, but with little effort, time, and the right methods at your fingertips, you can keep you snake happy, healthy, and well-nourished.

Corn Snake’s Diet

• Avoid feeding your Corn Snake wild-caught prey because this can transmit parasites to the snake. The best option is to offer thawed/ frozen rodents, since the freezing process kills any potential parasites the rodents may have.
• You do not need to supplement your Corn Snake’s meals with vitamin powders or similar products. Corn Snake can get all the vitamins and minerals that they need from the food that you feed them, without the need to add anything
• As mentioned above, supplements are not necessary for your Corn Snake unless your snake has certain medical needs.
• You should always take note that fresh water in a shallow dish must always be available.
• Corn Snake aren’t picky eaters, so many of them will live their whole lives eating nothing but mice.
• Take into account of using tongs when feeding your Corn Snake to avoid accidental bites.
• When preparing a pre-killed prey for your pet, thaw it by running it under warm water or setting it in the sun so be sure not to sit it for too long as harmful bacteria can start to form on it.
• Baby Corn Snake do well eating only one pinky mouse once every week or so.
• Increase the size of the rodent appropriately as your snake grows. A recommended sized meal is one that is no bigger than the width of the snake’s body, or leaves only a small lump in the snake’s body after being consumed; anything that is too large will result in regurgitation, injuries, seizures, partial paralysis, gut impactions, and death.
• As soon as your Corn Snake has reached its adult length, you can feed it 1-2 large adult mice every one to two weeks.
• Always remember to feed your snake its prey animals one at a time only and never leave them with live prey unattended for so long especially when your Corn Snake is not hungry as mouse has the tendency to claw, scratch, and bite your snake.
• Be aware that your Corn Snake can get injured or can sometimes die from prey injuries and bites.