# mouse bigger than snake



## J.huff23

I ecided to move my 4 foot sorn snake up to adult mice. I got an adult mouse (frozen/thawed) and put it in the feeding container. The mouse is way to big for the snake. But the snake keeps trying to eat it.

What is the danger of my snake eating the mouse thats too big for it?


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## clam1991

it'll find a way to eat it no doubt


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## J.huff23

clam1991 said:


> it'll find a way to eat it no doubt


Oh no doubt. I just dont want my snake to get hurt as a result of eating it.


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## Will Hunting

This is what happens.


But seriously, how much bigger is the mouse in proportion to the snakes head? Usually, if it can fit it through the mouth it'll be fine.


...under most circumstances. xD


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## clam1991

i dont think any thing  bad could come of it
im sure it wont eat for a while but it'll be alright IMO


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## venomous.com

Try to stick with stuff that 1.5 times the thickest part of the snake. Just because it can do it if has to doesn't make it a good idea. Better 2 small prey items instead of one huge one.


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## J.huff23

Oh man. I hope my snake will be Ok . The mouse was an adult mouse. Im going to go check on her right now.


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## J.huff23

She downed the whole mouse. It left a bigger bump in her belly than the hoppers obviously. I read that if one prey size doesnt leave a bump then you have to move it to the next prey size. I have been feeding her 2 hoppers a week and they seemed too small. 

She seems to be moving around fine.


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## Red Eyes

As long as the prey item isn't too much bigger (ie:3x thickest part of snake) and she isn't disturbed everything should be ok.


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## J.huff23

Ok. Thanks. Next feeding im going to feed her way smaller prey than an adult mouse. But bigger than a hopper.


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## JohnEDove

If your corn is 4 ft it should be able to handle an adult mouse. I feed our 50 inch female breeder on small to medium rats
The worst that will happen is your snake will regurge if the prey is to big. That is if you are allowing the correct temps for digestion.


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## ballpython2

j.everson23 said:


> I ecided to move my 4 foot sorn snake up to adult mice. I got an adult mouse (frozen/thawed) and put it in the feeding container. The mouse is way to big for the snake. But the snake keeps trying to eat it.
> 
> What is the danger of my snake eating the mouse thats too big for it?


  i say as long as the mouse is dead just let him try to eat the mouse.

the snake will NOt explode or nothing like what you see in that picture below.
 that only happened because  of the snake havin a curve body and the crocodile (whatever it was) having a straight body

 as i said before if the mouse is dead let the snake try to its heart content.   if the mouse is in there in the morning throw away.

Sometimes  you have to feed snakes    certain size animals who see if they are ready for a bigger size. thats how i do it.

but then again  just for   reference for boas (rainbow boa to be specific) can go up to   one size bigger than a baby rat once it can eat 3 full grown mice...


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## J.huff23

ballpython2 said:


> i say as long as the mouse is dead just let him try to eat the mouse.
> 
> the snake will NOt explode or nothing like what you see in that picture below.
> that only happened because  of the snake havin a curve body and the crocodile (whatever it was) having a straight body
> 
> as i said before if the mouse is dead let the snake try to its heart content.   if the mouse is in there in the morning throw away.
> 
> Sometimes  you have to feed snakes    certain size animals who see if they are ready for a bigger size. thats how i do it.
> 
> but then again  just for   reference for boas (rainbow boa to be specific) can go up to   one size bigger than a baby rat once it can eat 3 full grown mice...



She ate it and seems to be doing good.


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## J.huff23

JohnEDove said:


> If your corn is 4 ft it should be able to handle an adult mouse. I feed our 50 inch female breeder on small to medium rats
> The worst that will happen is your snake will regurge if the prey is to big. That is if you are allowing the correct temps for digestion.


So i can start feeding her adult mice from now on?


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## venomous.com

j.everson23 said:


> So i can start feeding her adult mice from now on?


It always depends on the snake. I have a 7 foot Spilotes pullatus that will only eat small rats when she should easily be able to eat larger. She will kill them but not eat them. I have a pair of 4 foot Spilotes that will eat anything that moves. My Elaphe mandarina are the same way. I've been keeping snakes over 20 years and I've never lost one because I gave it too small of prey items. Really, I see no reason to give the snake huge meals, just give it a couple of smaller prey items and be done.


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## ballpython2

ptviperz said:


> It always depends on the snake. I have a 7 foot Spilotes pullatus that will only eat small rats when she should easily be able to eat larger. She will kill them but not eat them. I have a pair of 4 foot Spilotes that will eat anything that moves. My Elaphe mandarina are the same way. I've been keeping snakes over 20 years and I've never lost one because I gave it too small of prey items. Really, I see no reason to give the snake huge meals, just give it a couple of smaller prey items and be done.


Smaller prey items mean you have to spend more money.

 one petco small rat is 4.99

3 mice from petco (one being 2.49) that comes out to 7.49 cents. definitely not worth it.

so you should fine a  way to get it on the appropriate size food item


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## venomous.com

ballpython2 said:


> Smaller prey items mean you have to spend more money.


Large rats are $4ea where I can buy mice for $1ea. The guy is talking about 2 hoppers vs 1 large mouse, should be a $1 difference at most, once a week. My B+W Tegu eats 2 large rats a week....I'd hate to see what you'd be paying for him. Sorry you pay those kind of prices man, don't buy from Petco(or whoever)! Buy frozen and have them shipped or something.


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## Alex080

I breed corn snakes and kings at 4ft they should be okay on adult mice 
mine are a little larger and eat small to medium rats i wouldn't worry unless it can't swallow the food i have heard too large of a food item can possibly break there jaw but i haven't had that happen how long did it take for the snake to swallow the mouse my rule is if it takes longer than 15-20 minutes go smaller next time  hope this helps


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## J.huff23

Just to be safe, I will keep her on hoppers until she sheds a few more times.


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## equuskat

hoppers for a 4' corn?  wow.  that's really small meals.  heh  yeah, you can give her small mice for sure, and adult mice without issue in most cases.


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## J.huff23

Katy_green said:


> hoppers for a 4' corn?  wow.  that's really small meals.  heh  yeah, you can give her small mice for sure, and adult mice without issue in most cases.


Ok. I will move her up to adult mice from now on. Thanks.


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## JohnEDove

j.everson23,
If I were giving you advice as one of my customers I would tell you to go with what you feel is best.
I generally tell my customers not to feed anything larger than the largest circumference of the snake, I also offer a one month guarantee on my snakes and make myself available to my customers for consultation forever. I do not always follow the largest circumfrence rule myself but I stick pretty close to it. There are times my breeders get smaller than optimal rodents and on occasion they get something slightly larger than optimal. So far I have not had problem one. 
That is one of the nice thing about snakes, and corns in particular, in the wild they take what they find and for the most part avoid what they cannot eat.
As for your snake, if you feel comfortable with 2 or 3 hoppers every 7 – 10 day instead of 1 adult mouse then go for it. Multiple hoppers offer roughly the same nutrition as their adult counterpart. You are the one that lives with and observes the snake, you are the best judge of how it is doing and what it can handle.


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## arachnocat

I feed all my 4ft corns adult mice or small rats. I was really nervous the first time I bumped up their prey from fuzzy to adult but they did just fine. They can do small rats but it takes a lot longer for them to eat so I usually just give them two adult mice instead when I'm trying to fatten them up for winter.
I've adopted some snakes recently and a lot of people were not feeding their snake appropriate sized food items (way too small!).


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## J.huff23

JohnEDove said:


> j.everson23,
> If I were giving you advice as one of my customers I would tell you to go with what you feel is best.
> I generally tell my customers not to feed anything larger than the largest circumference of the snake, I also offer a one month guarantee on my snakes and make myself available to my customers for consultation forever. I do not always follow the largest circumfrence rule myself but I stick pretty close to it. There are times my breeders get smaller than optimal rodents and on occasion they get something slightly larger than optimal. So far I have not had problem one.
> That is one of the nice thing about snakes, and corns in particular, in the wild they take what they find and for the most part avoid what they cannot eat.
> As for your snake, if you feel comfortable with 2 or 3 hoppers every 7 – 10 day instead of 1 adult mouse then go for it. Multiple hoppers offer roughly the same nutrition as their adult counterpart. You are the one that lives with and observes the snake, you are the best judge of how it is doing and what it can handle.



Ok....I will wait untill she sheds a few moretimes. Till she gets a little thicker. Then I will move her up. Thanks everyone.


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## equuskat

You shouldn't just change your mind every time someone tells you to do something different!  YES, you need to do what you feel is best, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you don't really know what to look for.  

Do some research!

Your snake may be "not thick enough" because it hasn't been fed enough.  It should have no problem handling larger prey.  

You need to consult a snake expert, show some pictures, and do some reading.


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## J.huff23

Katy_green said:


> You shouldn't just change your mind every time someone tells you to do something different!  YES, you need to do what you feel is best, but I have a sneaking suspicion that you don't really know what to look for.
> 
> Do some research!
> 
> Your snake may be "not thick enough" because it hasn't been fed enough.  It should have no problem handling larger prey.
> 
> You need to consult a snake expert, show some pictures, and do some reading.


I feed her plenty. I did my research weeks before I got her. She has shed twice in my care. Im just trying to take everyones advice. But im getting mixed opinions. So, I know that I have to do what *I* feel is right. So, Im going to keep her on hoppers for a little bit longer. I know about feeding her mice that are as wide as the thickest part of her body. Adult mice are a little bigger than the thickest part of her body. So im keeping her on the two-three hoppers per week plan for a little longer.


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## ballpython2

j.everson23 said:


> Just to be safe, I will keep her on hoppers until she sheds a few more times.


Once you fed your snake a  mouse size  you though he couldnt eat at first, from that point on you can keep giving him mice that size because his body as now been accustom to the size.

There isnt a negative effect as long as the snake doesnt throw the food back up.

If the snake throws the food back up it means its  too big  (unless its not at hot enough temps for the snake to digest).

If the snake  keeps the food down that means its just the right size to move up to.

I was scared to move my Rainbow boa up a food size because i thought the food that i had brought was going to be too big. but the up side to buying food thats too big is I have a blood python as my  disposer loll so he'll eat it.


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## Mushroom Spore

j.everson23 said:


> I know about feeding her mice that are as wide as the thickest part of her body. Adult mice are a little bigger than the thickest part of her body. So im keeping her on the two-three hoppers per week plan for a little longer.


How big are these two-three hoppers combined compared to the size of the adult mouse? If they're the same total size or bigger...just go ahead and give her the adult mouse, since the end result is the same. One prey item is better than multiple prey items, you get a better ratio of meat to indigestible things like fur.


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## ballpython2

Mushroom Spore said:


> How big are these two-three hoppers combined compared to the size of the adult mouse? If they're the same total size or bigger...just go ahead and give her the adult mouse, since the end result is the same. One prey item is better than multiple prey items, you get a better ratio of meat to indigestible things like fur.


And to add on to what spore said i think a rat fuzzy is the same size as an adult mouse and I was told (dont know how true/untrue this is) rats are better to feed your snake than  mice are.

so if this is true then you minds well put your snake on  fuzzy rats because they are the same size as  adult mice plus the fur cant be digested which is ok because  fuzzie rats barely  have hair on them anyway.


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