Well.. I\'m a big fan of snakes, and hunting them is sort of a pasttime... I recently found a juvenile corn snake (ash gray and dark gray/brown, about a foot long) out in the country, near a friend\'s house. They were about to take a rake to the poor guy, so I took him, instead. He\'s very well-tempered, and quiet, and he\'s missing an eye, which appears to be a birth defect, but, other than that, appears healthy. My dilema is in what to feed him. All of my guide books only give references to the eating habits of adult snakes... I\'ve tried feeding it a small toad, a worm, and various insects, but, even though it has adapted nicely to its terrarium (it drinks water just fine) it won\'t eat. Is it simply not hungry (a distinct possibility), or am I not offering the right food items?

Awww.. The little guy could\'ve definitely already eaten not that long ago, so that could explain his non-eatingness.

And usually people feed them mice, newborn mice if they\'re babies and adult mice if they\'re..well, adult.

Mmmmm..mice.

Food
Mostly rodents and other
small mammals and birds
and their eggs. Juveniles
in particular also eat
lizards and frogs, espe-
cially tree frogs.

^ Got that from some random PDF document. So yeah, if he doesn\'t like the frogs and insects, throw him a small mouse, that might work.

(I rambled again)

The problem therein is this: we don\'t have any mice... Well.. I mean, not commercially bred ones... A wild one could give it a disease, or something.

I was really hoping I wouldn\'t have to track down a frog. The small ones are the hardest to catch.. X3

I find that rather insulting, Kiryu... Sorry, but I have a professional guide written by corn snake enthusiasts. Fortunately, we also have canned crickets for the little guy to eat... Tell me what the word \'crepuscular\' means (without looking it up) and you\'ll win back 10 points of respect from me.

Feed it small lizzards,or buy some mice from the local pet store,(dead),dangle it infront of the snake,and say,\"Hey boy/girl(?)Does\'t this look yummy?!Mmm-mm!I wish I was SUCH a lucky snake to be eating this plump,delicous,juicy mouse.My mouth is drooling.But I\'m kind enough to offer you this mouse.\"Try the format until eating is a regular habit.If he doesn\'t take the mice,try crickets,lizzards,or eggs.....Remember to bribe it to eat.Make it sound delicous....C\'mon!Snakes are smart.They\'ll understand...I think..

That was kind of ignorant Kiryu if you ask me.

ON TOPIC: I wanted a snake once, but my whole family are afraid of them :rolleyes:. Well, anyways snakes aren\'t really meant to be kept up in a cage inside a house. It\'s unhealthy and it probably can\'t survive in the wild because it was probably in your house for a while though. Well I looked this up in about 4 minutes and I hope this helps a little:

Post redacted

The defect is a total and complete lack of a right eye. This hatchling has good body mass, which indicates that he has been able to feed himself properly... so far. Reptiles with defects, like all reptiles, always try to survive, they just have a lesser chance. Because of having only one eye, this snake will not contribute to the wild population because..
a) He cannot se what is coming up on that side.. a predator could easily snag him
Because of his defect, no females will want to mate with him
This is part of the reason I\'m keeping him. Truly, this is kind of an old thread, and, everything is worked out, now. He\'s been eating just fine, and seems content to lie on his heating pad, and climb around the (overly large) tank. =p