Do I look fat 2?

[SnakeAround]

This lady measures 35.2 inches and weighs 214 grams. She has very fast become fat (at least that is what I assume) in her lower half , with a deposit around her vent and around a kink that used to be invisible before, it was visible when she was a hatchling though. I put her on a hopper every 3 weeks diet, today I took her out before feeding and realized her lower half looks a bit wavey/bumpy and decided to ask wether you think she might be ovulating instead of getting fat. The deposit around her vent was first noticable at the end of November. She has never been with a male since the first half year of her life and was born somewhere in the first half of 2005.

She was on a 6 day large hopper (or fuzzie rat) feeding schedule end of this summer, when I started to notice she gained weight faster then before I put her on 7/8 days and medium hoppers (mice only), since the fat 'hips' end of Nov on 10 days and today was a first time 3 week scheduled feeding. What do you think is happening? Ovulating or getting too fat? What would you do when you planned to breed her in 2008?

Sorry for the bad pic quality, not really optimal situation lighting wise.

[Lennycorn]

That looks like fat deposits to me (Hips). But I'm still learning. :shrugs:

Title stealer :grin01:

[SkyChimp]

That looks like a fat deposit to me, too. I'm not so sure its too bad, though. If the girth around the fat deposit is more than the girth just ahead of it, I might consider watch the quantity or frequency of feeding. There seems to be significant reduction in girth between the body just ahead of the vent from the tail just after the vent. There should be some, but that seems very pronounced to me. I think she's a little on the heavy side.

[SkyChimp]

Actually, I've changed my mind. That "fat deposit" doesn't seem at all bad after looking a little longer. There seems to be a little bit of a lump a few saddles up from the tail. I'm not sure what's going on. I don't breed so I don't know if she is ovulating or not.

[SnakeAround]

The second bump at the weird saddles is probably fat aroudn a kink. She had a kink there when she was a hatchling, it was not visible anymore after a year or so but now you can see it again.

[@__@]

I just wondering, does she have a problem with her digestion system??

--Bram--

[SnakeAround]

No, she eats and defecates normal

[piscesgirl1984]

I've heard somewhere that when a female snake is ovulating it feels like a string of pearls. Just FYI to help in determining the situation.

[Fenderplayer108]

To me it just looks like a bit of fat deposits near the ventral area. I would just cut back a prey size, or cut back on a feeding interval. Doesn't look to awfully bad though, you should be able to get her corrected and on her way.

[SnakeAround]

I know, but i have a femael that is ovulating i think, and i still don't feel pearls, i did not even feel eggs with that girl last year when she had them so i think i'm not good at feeling this... but tnx for suggesting. This fatty lady feels just squishy i think...

[catsapp]

I posted the same kind of question a few days ago. There is a picture of my snake here if you want to compare, the concensus from my thread has been that mine is fat.
-cathy

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=46263

[SnakeAround]

I hope so Fender!

@lennycorn; thanks for your opininion too!

[SnakeAround]

Thanks cats, i think mine is just fat too indeed... is it an amel thing? ;-p Shall we put both of them on an Atkins diet and do a competition? Darn... they already eat hardly any carbs.... :-(

[RedRaydin]

Just an fyi and I'm surprised someone hasn't mentioned this earlier in the thread. But the fact that you switched to fuzzy rats earlier in the summer and now are noticing this doesn't surprise me. If you search around at other threads using "fat deposits" you will probably see the main culprit is feeding rats. Most of the people here who have snakes over the 300 gram mark feed actual multiple fuzzies or big mice. Rats for some reason (at the consensus I've seen most come to) cause fatty deposits in corns. Maybe not so in boas and pythons, but for some reason it does. I've read that in quite a few threads from reputable people on this site. I would cut back feedings to once every other week or so and feed multiple prey items. That lump on the end by the tail does look a tad weird to me. I'm also no breeding expert but taking a normal look at it and I say fat deposits. I would wait until a breeder comes across the thread or go into that forum and post a link to this asking one of them. They would have the best answer to your question. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[tbtusk]

Sorry, I have to add one more question to this thread. My amel okeetee is clearly a little fat but she'll be breeding within three weeks, and I seem to remember that a little extra weight is a good thing for an ovulating female corn. Is this right?