Length Weight Age Averages

[Cam5]

I have found a lot of information on keeping track and how to measure the length and weight of cornsnakes.

I am wanting to know if there are any charts showing the averages for a corns age to height/weight ratio?

Also, I keep people commenting that so and so's snake "looks over weight" how can you tell?

For example when our kids go to the doctor they are lets say 5 years old, 42 inches and 40 pounds. Which means for his age he is in the 90% for height and weight (this is just random numbers and percentiles). Where as if he were 5 years old, 42 inches and 36 pounds there would be cause for concern.
This is all plotted on a bell curve in the chart so even if they a re not "average" you can see if they are in line with themselves per sey overall.

I know they will fluctuate based on if they have just eaten, if they are off food etc. but it would be great to have this as a guide.


Thank you....always learning :wavey:

[Corny Noob]

Unfortunatly there is no percentile chart. It's more visual by just looking at a 3 year old snake and saying gee it looks skinny when you can see it's spine, or gee it looks fat when you can see fatty deposit "hips" down by the vent.
Due to genetics, our husbandry, if the snake eats in blue etc they're all gonna grow at different weights.

[Tula_Montage]

Thing is, theres no average weight for age and length. I have an 06 that weighs 35 grams and an 06 that weighs over 200 grams. I think it entirley depends on your feeding regimes.

Then you have to consider genetically small corns and genetically big corns. You can feed a genetically small corn all you want and it may never exceed 300 grams, 3ft. Or you could underfeed a genetically big corn, breed it and still produce huge babies that carry the "big gene". Its all down the individual corn snake and how you decide to feed it.

[Cam5]

I did not realize there was such variation. I appreciate the "visual" description. Since ours neither has spine nor bones showing I will assume he is about where he should be....even with his food strike.

Thank you very much!

[bill38112]

Thing is, theres no average weight for age and length. I have an 06 that weighs 35 grams and an 06 that weighs over 200 grams.

First, I'm not trying to offend anyone here. I got my butt handed to me over on the retic forum for this opinion, but I'm going to restate it anyway.

There certainly is an average weight and length for a corn snake, just like there is an average weight and height for humans. The problem is we, as a group, don't really practice very disciplined record keeping. So we don't know what the average weight or length is. I put this off on the fact that our hobby is very young. What kind of surprises me is that only a small percentage of breeders seem to be interested in keeping records.

I see lots of reasons for keeping such records. One is to gauge health. Nothing tells you something is wrong like a loss of weight. Another is to know which of my females and males consistently hatch bigger babies. But nothing beats because I just want to know one more thing about my snakes.

Now for those of you who have measured and weighed every snake every month, I know you're out there, but you are a minority. More importantly, you haven't shared your data. Where are the graphs and charts? lol. OK, I admit I'm a data freak, but noting builds credibility like having research on your hobby. Just my two cents.

[Cam5]

First, I'm not trying to offend anyone here. I got my butt handed to me over on the retic forum for this opinion, but I'm going to restate it anyway.

I am hoping your bum was presented on a silver platter at least :)

I think you are on track with your opinion. It is a young "hobby" "business" comparitively speaking to that of the world of dog breeding for example. Through record keeping dog breeders have been able to breed for health, looks and temperament more successfully. For example 2 blue merle Aussies are likely to produce pups with health problems...it was also determined that dalmations with white ears are most likely to have deafness as an issue...this of course was all discovered via tracking, sharing information and conversation amongst the breeders and the AKC (american kennel club).
So this forum kind of serves as the NCC ( national corn club ). :cheers:

Now for those of you who have measured and weighed every snake every month, I know you're out there, but you are a minority. More importantly, you haven't shared your data. Where are the graphs and charts? lol. OK, I admit I'm a data freak, but noting builds credibility like having research on your hobby.
Are you an engineer by chance?


Just my two cents.

Thank you for the 2 cents :)

[desertanimal]

I weigh my snakes every month, maybe more often, but I don't measure them. I think that's a pain in the neck. And I've got graphs of their weight progressions. All the 05 are on one, the 06s on another, and then my one 07. And I have feed records too. But in order to really compare apples to apples, we'd need weights AND lengths of the snakes, plus feed frequencies AND prey weights. Not every fuzzy weighs the same as every other one. And I don't weigh my prey items. My system works really well to compare snakes at my house to each other, but my records wouldn't be useful for comparing my snakes to those at anyone else's.

Cam5, what people say is that the cross-sectional shape of your snake should roughly match that of a loaf of bread. It should be flat on the bottom and pretty flat on the sides, and rounded on the top. If your snake's spine is sticking out, it would look triangular on the top. If your snake is rounded on the sides, it's either a female who's ovulating or gravid, or a snake that is carrying a little more weight than is optimal.

[Jillie]

I weigh my snakes just befor I feed them each week. I also measure there shed each time and plot this all down on a chart. I know the shed size doesn't actually give me there real size but it does help me each time to see overall if they have grown much etc. :) I also do this monthly for my friends 3 snakes. Although they are all growing at different rates it just helps me. I also keep a chart of what they are fed each week how much the pinkies fuzzies weigh etc. I must be chart mad lol :bang:

[Cam5]

Cam5, what people say is that the cross-sectional shape of your snake should roughly match that of a loaf of bread. It should be flat on the bottom and pretty flat on the sides, and rounded on the top. If your snake's spine is sticking out, it would look triangular on the top. If your snake is rounded on the sides, it's either a female who's ovulating or gravid, or a snake that is carrying a little more weight than is optimal.[/QUOTE]

I am a very visual person, so this explanation is spot on. He used to be rounded, now he's a beautiful blacka nd white and golden loaf :cheers:

Good points made about weighing the prey items as well.

[ssmith_1187]

Where are the graphs and charts?

Good morning Bill!!!

I don't measure the length of my snake, but I do weight her and her prey item every 5 days when I feed her.

I think record keeping is very valuable. I had a regurge and found she hadn’t lost much weight, plus it’s helping me determine when to move her up in prey size (according to the Munson Plan).

Regards,
Steve

P.S. Do you really want to see the graphs of Roxanne’s prey items as well as her growth chart :spinner:

[Topazfyre]

Now for those of you who have measured and weighed every snake every month, I know you're out there, but you are a minority. More importantly, you haven't shared your data. Where are the graphs and charts? lol.

I'm not trying to start an argument here but here's my input on this subject.
Firstly, I think probably more people chart than you think. I could be wrong, but from what I've seen actually a large amount do. But mainly, I think that most people believe that making these charts are for themselves, so they personally can monitor their snakes. But also, many probably think, 'Why would anyone else want to see these charts? Unless there's something wrong with it, why would anyone else care about seeing these?' So they aren't displayed. However, I think if someone wanted to put forth the time and effort into compiling data from different people and snakes to form averages (a job that may require hundreds of snakes to make the data as accurate as possible), then they might have success. It's my opinion that if someone asked for people to send in their data, many would gladly do so and such a compliation could be accomplished.

Please remember that all of this are just my thoughts, and if anyone else thinks otherwise I'd love to hear their opinions. :)
Oh, and sorry if we may have gotten a little off the original topic... :rolleyes:

[Corny Noob]

Well the reason I say there is no standard size is because EVERY single time someone says "I have a [whatever year] that's [however big/long]" and not even one other person responds with a snake the same size even if it's with in a few months of the same age.

I know because I asked myself when I first got my corn, and my response were anywhere from 25-100 grams more than my snake.
I am one of those people who keeps a diligent record of my snake, and I can only come to the conclusion that there is no "average size" because everyone has different practicies genetics etc.

So I stick by my orginal sentiments :)

[desiredbard]

First, I'm not trying to offend anyone here. I got my butt handed to me over on the retic forum for this opinion, but I'm going to restate it anyway.

There certainly is an average weight and length for a corn snake, just like there is an average weight and height for humans. The problem is we, as a group, don't really practice very disciplined record keeping. So we don't know what the average weight or length is. I put this off on the fact that our hobby is very young. What kind of surprises me is that only a small percentage of breeders seem to be interested in keeping records.

I see lots of reasons for keeping such records. One is to gauge health. Nothing tells you something is wrong like a loss of weight. Another is to know which of my females and males consistently hatch bigger babies. But nothing beats because I just want to know one more thing about my snakes.

Now for those of you who have measured and weighed every snake every month, I know you're out there, but you are a minority. More importantly, you haven't shared your data. Where are the graphs and charts? lol. OK, I admit I'm a data freak, but noting builds credibility like having research on your hobby. Just my two cents.

Hi bill

That seems logical...plenty of data ...standard deviation... and you should be able to get some kind of growth chart...Only if even tyhe Munson plan worshippers would stickto it so we know we all feed about the same.
(two snakes same age 2 inch difference only are 1 inch of the average)

Like:
http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/ijmorphol/v25n1/art14.pdf

A bit of competitive ...Call it two eyed snake envy.....

[Sekani]

I wanna see charts and graphs :) I love seeing how a snake grows over time and its progression, and if someone does have the time id love to know rough averages for snakes weights/ages :)

[ahzryn]

Sorry to bring up a zombie thread, but, this was exactly what I was looking for. Has no one ever mined this data and tried to put together weight/age, length/age, and weight/length curves? Anyone interested in contributing to the project if I compile it? Sure, all snakes are different, grow at different rates, and have different builds, but so do people. Still makes for pretty charts. :)

[hypnoctopus]

There was a thread around here maybe about 2 years ago that had a fair amount of data in it, although no chart or graph. I'll see if I can find it.

EDIT: Here it is: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112289&highlight=length+weight

[ahzryn]

Thanks for the link, and your data in it! :p

I scraped the data from that thread, added what little I have on my snake, and did a quick weight(g) by age(m) for under 24 months, since that's where the bulk of the data is. It makes a decent curve, even though the data is somewhat limited.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8943564/CornWeightAge.jpg

That was my fun for the day, lol! Any and all data points to add to it would be welcome. I'll take a shot at length by age and weight by length later if I can get together some more data.

[smigon]

Here are the weights of three of my corns, all relatively the same age within a month or two, all born approximately 11/10. The first (Scarlett) I purchased, the next two (Gus and Boots) were rescues, but both from the original owners. Here are a few samples of their growth rates as long as they have been with me.

12/27/12 Got Scarlett - 25g
4/14/13 Scarlett - 23.5g
5/23/13 Scarlett - 45g
6/15/13 Scarlett - 60g
Got Gus - 25g
7/14/13 Scarlett - 80g
Gus - 29g
8/13/13 Scarlett - 99g
Gus - 39g
9/12/13 Scarlett - 115g
Gus - 50g
10/22/13 Scarlett - 135g
Gus - 65g
11/25/13 Scarlett - 140g
Gus - 70g
12/25/13 Scarlett - 144g
Gus - 85g
1/25/14 Scarlett - 144g
Gus - 86g
Got Boots - 755g (NOT a typo!!!)
2/26/14 Scarlett - 166g
Gus - 92g
Boots - 824g
3/19/14 Scarlett - 176g
Gus - 96g
Boots - 830g

When I got her, Scarlett was about 12", now is about 25". Gus was 12", now about 18". Boots was about 4.5'.

Scarlett was always on the Munson Plan, Gus was fed 1 pinky/week for 1.5 years, then on the Munson Plan, Boots has almost always been fed a medium rat. I am going to start mixing it up with him, he is very active but I would like to get him down to XL mice.

[ahzryn]

Scarlett, Gus, and Boots are all November 2010 hatchlings? Or am I reading that wrong?

Also, since I doubt Gus shrank, should that be 28? :)

Thanks for the additional data!

[smigon]

Scarlett, Gus, and Boots are all November 2010 hatchlings? Or am I reading that wrong?

You read right, but the only one I have absolute proof of is Scarlett since I bought her from a reputable breeder. Gus and Boots were rescues, surrendered to me from their original owners. Boots was bought by a mom for her kids who got tired of him and she is the one who surrendered him to me, I was very thorough in getting his (and Gus') histories, so I don't think she had any reason to lie about his age.

Also, since I doubt Gus shrank, should that be 28? :)


What, you've never heard of breeding Shrinking Teacup Corns??? :laugh:

Doh, that's why when you are in bed trying to fall asleep you shouldn't crunch data and numbers! He did grow, but I had the numbers backwards and sideways! Thanks for the catch!

[LinguiniDreams]

The "Official Thread" for growth/size data has a lot more information, including a chart I posted with all this data graphed out visually for us to see: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1724272#post1724272

If you decide to post your data (or more data), please post it on the other thread and I'll add it to the graph. Thanks!