growth stunted?

[doortech9]

hey everyone

i bought my corn at a petshop and he claims that he is 1.5 years of age. just comparing with some of the pictures and weights ive seen on this forum i think that he is a little small for his age. they were feeding him single skinny little pinkies and within the last month and a half i have moved him up to small fuzzies. he is around 2 feet long and about 21/22 grams. im sure underfeeding will result in poor growth at the time, im wondering if a snake only being fed small amounts to keep it alive is damaging in the long run? he is gaining now but will he reach full potential due to him being underfed in the past for so long?

[alan]

I've not had a young snake, but I know from this forum that your snake was not eating enough.Here is a sample feeding plan by one of the moderators of this forum.

[doortech9]

i am currently following that very plan. what im wondering is has his adult size been compromised by underfeeding?

[Nanci]

I was given a snake last spring who was two years old and weighed 26 grams. I didn't do anything special with her, just fed her like everyone else. A year later, she weighs 320 grams, which is reasonable for a three year old. In her case, she wasn't permanently stunted and caught up quickly to the weight she should have been. I don't know why she was so small- the person who gave her to me had bought her sight unseen from the breeder, and had only been told she was small for her age. No kidding...

[Leisson]

this is my experiances with stunted snakes which may not apply to all snakes... there is many variances that come into play for stunting... the main things is finding out what and how it was feed its 1st year. as thats where the you can will cause permanent stunting, if it has only been feed like that since they got him i would say that he's been stunted and more then likley will not hit his proper potentials, the only thing i can really suggest to help him get back close to what he should be would be a 5-6 day feed schedual increasing the food 1 size every 3rd to 4th meal untill your corns on proper sized meals for his/her size, its what i do with all my rescues that i take in. and being only 1.5 years he may never hit the propers as the 1st 2 years are the most important for growth

[daneale777]

hey everyone

i bought my corn at a petshop and he claims that he is 1.5 years of age. just comparing with some of the pictures and weights ive seen on this forum i think that he is a little small for his age. they were feeding him single skinny little pinkies and within the last month and a half i have moved him up to small fuzzies. he is around 2 feet long and about 21/22 grams. im sure underfeeding will result in poor growth at the time, im wondering if a snake only being fed small amounts to keep it alive is damaging in the long run? he is gaining now but will he reach full potential due to him being underfed in the past for so long?

Thank you for asking this question. And thanks to everyone else who answered it. I was also recently wondering the same thing, as I just got a new amel who was also underfed. Someone else had rescued him from the person who was only feeding once a month, but she wasn't a corn person, so she sold him to me. He is supposed to be two to three years old and is about three feet long and 200 grams. He did seem a bit small, but not thin. It has taken me several feedings to even get him up to medium mice. He didn't seem to think he could take them down for quite a while. He ate a couple days ago and actually took both a medium mouse and a fuzzy. I'm hoping to keep putting more weight on him, but was also wondering if he's permanently stunted.
So, thank you. And good luck with your guy. Keep us updated.
Do you have pics, by the way?

Sincerely,
-Daneale

[doortech9]

great feedback everyone! ive been giving him as much as i think he can take. i give him one fuzzy every five days, but they are quite small. they weigh between 3 to 5 grams and i have been working up to the bigger ones, as a month ago he was only on .5-1g pinkies :S. whats the best rate of growth i can expect , best case scenario? he has gained a few grams in the last month and visually he appears fuller bodied. he has lost some of his tone though, appears a little more squishy than he used to be, and im concerned that maybe im feeding him too much. i have posted a few pictures in the photo section of the prey size im offering him. good bank of information\experience on this site

cheers

[Leisson]

how long is he currently?

[Susielea]

Here's a link to the Munson Feeding plan, a really good guide for feeding corns, as it goes be the weight of the snake, not the age :)

http://cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50106

Feeding prey items by the weight of the snake and not the age of the snake, will help to ensure that you're not feeding too big a food item. The general rule is to feed a food item no bigger than 1 and a half times the thickest part of your corn, otherwise you could be risking a regurgitated feed, which you really want to avoid if at all possible :)

Hope that helps some, best wishes,

[doortech9]

as he weighs 24 grams would it be suitable to feed him two 4 gram fuzzies? ive read its ok to feed double pinks to obtain a portion weight appropriate for the snakes weight, and recommended in the munson plan. i wonder though if the double fuzzies would be too long, though they weigh quite close to the recommended portion. he takes back these small fuzzies easily and with enthusiasm, and is done with them and has voided within 4 days. on usually the third night following a feed day he is poking his head out at night and usually does his rounds either looking for food or for a way out.

to answer your question leisson he is about 24 inches long give or take a few.

cheers

[diamondlil]

The loss of tone you mention is a little worrying, so slow and steady would maybe be better. A gradual sustained growth would be better than over-stressing the snake for faster growth, IMO. As the snake was chronically underfed for so long, a weekly feed of appropriate size will get it catching up nicely. (And yes, two 4g fuzzies would be as good as one 8g one)