What's the proper diet and feeding schedule for my 5-year-old corn snake?

An adult corn snake should only eat once every 7-10 days. Here’s a helpful rule of thumb that applies to most snake-feeding situations. It relates to the size of the prey items. You should offer your snake feeder mice or rats that are roughly the size of the snake at the snake’s widest part (the mid-body area). In other words, the feeder rodent should be 1 to 1-1/2 times the diameter of your snake’s middle. You can go slightly larger than this, but not much.

Thanks for reaching out about Francis. His metabolism is based mostly on the environmental temperature (and a few other things). Monitor him for activity, often when starting to move around a lot, is searching for something to eat. Then monitor body score, if overfeeding with start putting on weight and "rounding out". Not a fan of a consistent feeding schedule as sometimes they get trained to eat at a specific time whether needing it or not. Good luck.

Corn snakes can grow to as long as 5 feet. On average, they grow to 3-4 feet. A 10 gallon tank is too small. At minimum, a 20 gallon enclosure is recommended. A temp range of 75F-85F is best. They do not "need" a UVB light source but seem to be healthier with one. At 2 years of age, it should be eating adult mice. If it can't, feed whatever you can to get it back into a positive plane of nutrition so it can grow properly. Consider an exam with your veterinarian or an experienced herp vet to diagnose and treat any pre exiting conditions. Submit a stool sample to diagnose intestinal parasites. More information regarding care can be found here: http://www.anapsid.org/corn.html

Thanks for reaching out about Ivory and including a photo. You are correct that snakes can be finicky eaters during weather changes. If you feed mice, try offering rat pups: to snakes they smell and taste differently. If that doesn't work, a veterinary visit is recommended as intestinal parasites or infections are common. Good luck.

I honestly would not be overly concerned at this point. Snakes can go for very long periods of time (months) without eating at all. At least he is still eating something. He may be getting ready to shed or possibly the tank temperature has fallen too low. I suggest you check the temperature of the tank to make sure it is staying at the correct levels. There should be a temperature gradient of 70-85 degrees so that one side of the cage is warmer than the other. That way he can move around to the temperature he needs at any given time. When they are digesting their food they often need higher temps. After making sure the temperatures are correct, I recommend skipping one week of feed all together. Then the next week, try feeding him again to see if his appetite is back to normal.

You can certainly feed Nagini 2 or even 3 pinky mice if she will eat them and depending on their size. However, you would likely be better off feeding her one fuzzy to ensure she is getting enough nutrition from a single prey item.

Feed your ball python an appropriately sized rodent once a week. "Appropriately sized" means prey items that are no bigger in circumference than the ball python is at its largest circumference. A snake that is eating twice a week is likely eating food that is too small so yes, I agree with you, you should probably increase the size of prey. Hope this helps. Best wishes.