Is my snake fat?

[rippit]

I feed her 1 fuzzy every 4 days. She's 24 inches, about 9 months old, and she's starting to look a little chubby to me. Any opinions would be appreciated.

[cornman1979]

4 fuzzies every day???

I would seriously recomend 1 small mouse once a week from now on. I feed my yearling a small mouse evey week and he's early 30 inches long and is still resnobly slim like he shouldbe at this size.

[rippit]

[QUOTE=cornman1979]4 fuzzies every day???

QUOTE]

NO NO NO - re-read that - ONE fuzzy every FOUR days! LMAO - yeah, she sure would be fat if I fed her four fuzzies a day!

[cornman1979]

Sorry i mis-read it. I would still change to a small mouse every 6 days if s/he will take it.
I blame it on this flu i have at the min, that i cant concentrate right.

[Amanda E]

She does look a bit heavy to me, especially in the last 1/3 of her body.

IMO, a cornsnake is overweight if the sides of their bodies are rounded instead of straight up and down. Another sign is when you hold them, their belly scales should square off right at the sides of their bodies. Basically a crosssectional view of their body should look like a loaf of bread.

[JTGoff69]

She's not fat, she's just big-boned! LOL Well......maybe just a little..... :wavey:

[mbdorfer]

I agree with cornman1979
One small mouse per week would be better
All my snakes that size are eating mice voraciously!
And no, I wouldn't say she is fat

[Tracee]

Oh my lordy.. I think she looks fine! I feed my snake once a fortnight tops, he's very active, in perfect health, and he's huuge. I really don't think you have anything to worry about, you're obviously keeping a close eye on her health :)

[rippit]

Yeah, I guess I worry a little too much. She's always been a good eater - once she goes into the feeding container, she'll hit a fuzzy the second I drop it in. She'd probably hit my hand too if I put it in there, but I've never tested that one, and I don't plan to.

On a related note, if she IS in fact too fat, what are the potential negative effects? Is it just that the other snakes will make fun of her when she starts going to school, or are there serious health problems associated with snakes being overweight?

[Spirit]

She does look a bit heavy to me, especially in the last 1/3 of her body.

IMO, a cornsnake is overweight if the sides of their bodies are rounded instead of straight up and down. Another sign is when you hold them, their belly scales should square off right at the sides of their bodies. Basically a crosssectional view of their body should look like a loaf of bread.

Why does the tail SUDDENLY start like that? Is that the angle of the pic? It's like fat, fat, fat, TAIL! :laugh:

Really pretty snake (though I know nothing about weight).

[rippit]

Why does the tail SUDDENLY start like that? Is that the angle of the pic? It's like fat, fat, fat, TAIL! :laugh:



LOL - thanks for the compliment! Her tail really IS that fat - baby got back, I guess. I know female tails taper a lot faster than males, so that's probably something to do with why she looks big back there. And she just went to the bathroom yesterday, so I know there's not an impaction. It almost looks like she's gravid, but since she hasn't had contact with a male (and since my male is only 12 inches long anyway) I know that's not it either. Maybe she's just husky (no wait, that's a dog, not a snake). Oh well. We're running about 55/45 on the poll that she isn't fat. But one thing I'm pretty sure of is that she is going to be a BIG girl when she's fully grown.

[Amanda E]

Why does the tail SUDDENLY start like that? Is that the angle of the pic? It's like fat, fat, fat, TAIL! :laugh:.
That's why I said she looked a little heavy, because the area above her tail is so big and her tail tapers off so much.

On all of my snakes, their tails dont noticably taper like that. The only easy way I can visibly tell if mine are male or female is by the difference in length of their tails.

[Tracee]

"baby got back" :laugh:

[Spirit]

LOL - thanks for the compliment! Her tail really IS that fat - baby got back, I guess.

LOL! This snake isn't just fat... it's PHAT. :laugh:

(PS. That's not Indy, is it? Isn't Indy a motley?)

[rippit]

LOL! This snake isn't just fat... it's PHAT. :laugh:

(PS. That's not Indy, is it? Isn't Indy a motley?)


Nope - that's Marien. Marien is supposed to be a motley, but she's clearly not a trophy specimen - some of her motleys are more like stripes. Indy is a normatee - that's a new morph I made up because she was sold to me as an Okeetee but everyone seems to thinks she's a normal.

Spirit, I'm impressed - you remember my snakes better than I do!

[Spirit]

What can I say. I *heart* Indy. ;)