I can't tell if my Corn is over weight

[zoider21]

My corn snake Luciana recently moved up to x-large mice which I have been feeding her once a week like I have done for the four years I have had her (got her as a hatchling). Recently it seems like she has developed a fat lump near the base of her tail, but I am not sure if its really a lump or if she has just grown thicker overall. She has no lumps on her sides or any spaces between her scales so I was hoping someone could tell me whether or not if she has a fat lump. I am considering increasing the time between feeding but I am not sure what to change it to, so any suggestions towards that would be appreciated. Here are some pictures of her tail section, if other angles are needed I can supply them.

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/zoider20/100_7446.jpg

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/zoider20/100_7450.jpg

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/zoider20/100_7449.jpg

[Lennycorn]

The first picture looks like the beginning of hips but not in the other.
Overall tho, your snake does look overweight to me.

I feed my adults every two weeks. But I think I might up there size to extra large mice.

Do you know the weight??

[zoider21]

I am afraid her weight is an unknown, I am not sure how to weigh her properly. Do you think if I can her back to a healthy weight if she eats every two weeks this problem won't come back?

[Lennycorn]

Well I'm just judging from the pictures that the snake is overweight. but it looks it.
Do you have a rough idea of the lenght of the snake and or other pictures next to items to help compare.

And yes I would feed either every 10 - 14 days.

[bitsy]

Difficult to tell from just partial photos really. Looks like it could be a matter of whether she's in proportion over her entire body. Having said that, yes, the tail end does look a little on the bulky side to me.

Unfortunately, it's easier to get fat on them, than to get off. As Lenny suggests, I'd definitely reduce feeding - I'd go to once every 14 days, but it could take months before you see any appreciable weight loss. In my experience, once their metabolism gets used to working on more food than it needs, the stored fat stays put.

If the lumps you feel (TBH I can't really see them in the photos) are soft and squishy fat lumps, then I'm afraid she'll probably always have them, even if she slims down to snakey supermodel proportions! "Hips" seem to be the Corn equivalent of cellulite - they just don't want to shift.

You could combine reduced feeding with a bit more handling or movement, to see if you can encourage muscle development and burn off fat. Some folks swear by letting their Corns slide up and down a flight of stairs (under close supervision). Really gives them a good workout.

[SnakeAround]

The overall rounded shape of the body indicates chubbyness to me. And since most adult corns would get fat on a mouse per week, it would not be weird to see this. Corns do not ened large mice either, medium are good. Only breeder females burn excessive fat when developing eggs while they do not feed, but any other adult corn most probably gets overweight from a mouse per week.

[Nanci]

She looks overweight to me, but not fat, yet. But she definitely needs to cut back! I'd be feeding her one medium 25 gram adult mouse every three weeks, or a small 20-21 gram mouse every two weeks, and exercising her for 15 minutes daily. Stair climbing!!

[zoider21]

Okay while it was really difficult I was able to get a rough idea of her weight she's somewhere around 850g and is about 5ft long. She wasn't too keen on sitting still in a bowl to get weighed. I also have some more pictures that hopefully will give a better idea of her weight. She doesn't have any lumps I can really feel, the only one she has is the one at the base.

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/zoider20/100_7468.jpg

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/zoider20/100_7477.jpg

http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz32/zoider20/100_7453-1.jpg

I had asked some people around town when it came time to move her up in mouse size and they said she could keep eating once a week, it did seem strange to me. I really want to thank all of you for the advice. Its great to hear from people who really seem to know what their talking about.

[bitsy]

She's certainly not the worst I've seen by a long way, but I do think she's a little on the large side. Going down to one feed a fortnight would do no harm. My 23 year old's been on that regime all his life and he's still a reasonable healthy weight.