Frequently Asked Questions

1. I am having extreme difficulty in keeping food in my female corn's stomach

2. Can I house more than one snake together?

3. My Snake is regurging, what can I do?

1. I am having extreme difficulty in keeping food in my female corn's stomach. I have given her Flagel and I have de-wormed her but still the food comes out. I have given her fuzzy mice and that helps for a day or two then that also comes out. What is strange is that she shares a cage with another male and female corn who eat extremely well and who are copulating and laying eggs. Have you got any advice for me? (Kathy Love - http://www.corn-utopia.com/)

If it has been regurging for a long time, you may be in for a difficult, if not impossible cure. First, separate from the others it is very stressful for a snake to have cagemates when the snake is having a problem.

If you can find grapefruit seed extract at a local health food store, you might want to start putting it in the drinking water ( mix in a glass and taste it - you should be able to taste it, but not mix so strong that you don't want to drink it.)

2. Can I house more than one snake together? (Kathy Love - http://www.corn-utopia.com/)

Please DO NOT keep babies (or any newly obtained corns, or ones having medical problems) together! Although some people have done it successfully, many more have had a lot of problems. If you have to keep some together, do it with the well established corns that have been doing well in your collection for a long time. The babies are already under stress with new homes, travel, and just generally growing up. Please don't add to the stress anymore than you have to. Cannibalism is possible, although not likely. More likely problems include: going off feed, regurge, passing disease, etc.

It is a much better idea to get a bunch of little plastic shoeboxes or "critter keeper" type terrariums and stack them on top of, or next to, each other. After you have had the snakes for AT LEAST 3 or 4 months and have gotten to know them individually, you could try combining some of the best feeding, best growing ones in groups of two per cage.(be sure to separate while feeding, and for 1/2 hour afterwards) There will always be differences in feeding habits, timidity, etc. Some animals are more prone to stress than others. You won't know which ones at first, but after a few months you will know. Be ready to separate them at the first sign of one going off feed, regurging, behaving unusually, etc. They may look happy all curled up together, but that doesn't mean they aren't stressing out.

The reason I keep referring to babies is because that is what most people buy from a breeder. But the same would be true of newly acquired yearlings or adults, or ones with any kind of problem - they would also be suffering from the stress of travel and adjusting to a new home, or coping with some disease problem. Any new or problem animals should be quarantined and their habits observed for a 2 - 4 months anyway. I would not suggest that you put two (or more) together unless they have both been in your collection for at least a few months and are approximately the same size.

If you follow these instructions, you will often be able to EVENTUALLY keep 2 or 3 together once they are well acclimated. Just depends if you get a shy one. The more you keep in one cage, the more likely complications will occur (as mentioned above, going off feed, regurge, passing disease, etc.)

3. My Snake is regurging, what can I do? (Kathy Love - http://www.corn-utopia.com/ )

I suspect your problem is probably not the mice, but about handling too soon and feeding too soon, or temps, or for some unknown reason. If you make these mistakes once, or even twice, it is not usually a problem if you FOLLOW MY INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY. But remember, each time it regurges, the stomach acids are depleted, and the whole electrolyte balance is thrown off more and more each time, and it makes it MORE likely that it will continue to throw up until it dies. That is why it is so important to NOT ALLOW another regurge.

The next month or two is crucial. DO NOT feed it for AT LEAST 8 days since the last regurge. NOT ANYTHING AT ALL! Then get a newborn frozen pinky and cut it in half. If she eats it, leave her alone for a whole week. (no handling). Then feed a whole newborn pinkie. Leave alone for a whole week. If she regurges, wait a week and repeat 1/2 pinkie. If she keeps it down, wait a week and repeat whole pinkie. If she holds down a couple of meals, DO NOT rush back into larger meals and more handling. Treat this seriously. Go very slowly. After 3 successful meals, go to a newborn pink every 5 days. Go back to normal feedings only after 6 successful meals. Always wait to handle until after 3 or 4 days, but only AFTER 6 successful meals. No handling until then (causes stress, need to keep stress down). And NEVER feed again right after a regurge - ALWAYS wait AT LEAST 7 or 8 days, and then only feed something that was about 1/2 the size of what she regurged..

Also, be sure that temps are not too warm or cool. Try to give an area of low to mid 80s on one side and 70s on the other. Too hot or cold will cause regurges.