a little on the thin side.

[katieam]

ok so my amel has been eating regulary and i havent had any problems in getting him to eat or having him keep it down, but he is looking a little thin. no pictures now cuz he ate yesterday, but as i was handling him i noticed that i could see his backbone a little. im worried about him. i know you probably cant tell me anything without seeing pics of him, but has anyone else had this problem?

thanks

[LBoz]

Hi Katie! :wavey:

Can you give the board a little more info? Do you have a current baseline weight? What's your feeding schedule? Size of prey, things like that. Hopefully after he's done digesting you can get some pics?

If you do a search on the Munson plan, it will give you a guideline on feeding your snake based on his weight.

[Nanci]

One thing you can do to increase his growth rate and allow him to digest better is to cut slits in the backs of his mice. You cut about four crosswise slits. I use a little fingernail scissors. And I feed babies every five days- any more frequent and you never get to handle them.

[katieam]

well not quite sure of his weight yet (im in the process of getting a good scale). ive moved him up to fuzzies every 7 days, but i just read about the munson plan and i think im going to do that, because he seems to grow REALLY slowly. and pics soon, i promise :D

[Nanci]

You can feed every five days if you want to. I feed that often till they are adults.

[katieam]

yea i think thats what im going to do. i dont think that he has a health problem that is causing him to lose weight, because his tempermant hasn't changed at all.
ill still try to get some pictures of him later.

thanks for the help :)

[Caryl]

Hi Katie. Hopefully your baby is just in need of more nutrition, not actually sick. Another way to help judge whether or not he's getting enough without having a scale, is that you should be able to see the "bump" from the prey item for over 24 hours. If the bump disappears before then, you need to feed a larger prey item. Best of luck!