Fat Deposits???

[airenlow]

A few weeks ago I noticed two small bumps near the vent/tail (region) on my '07 Amel Motley. I thought it may be fat deposits, as he has been gaining a lot of weight in the past couple months, so I cut back his feeding to 1 adult mouse every 10 days and have started exercising him regularly. The thing that's throwing me off is that he isn't obese by any means...298 grams.

I know you can't really see the bumps in this pic but can anybody make an educated guess based on the location? He just ate today but I can try to get better pics in a couple days if you think it will help.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn35/airenlow/DSC_0096bumps.jpg

[Hallie]

First off, he's precious! He looks so much like my Chloe (also an 07 amel mot, but only around 60g).

Second, I would say it probably is some small fat deposits, he does look a tad bit chunky to me. He doesn't seem (of course it is so hard to tell without anything for size reference) to be very long, and might have just gained the girth without gaining the length to balance it out. I have a male amel that is doing the same thing. He's a pretty short snake, and even though he's only eating fuzzies (and I feed pretty conservatively, Munson Plan with some modifications), he was getting unbelievably fat!! Skin between the scales showing and everything. He got put on a 'diet' (spread out his feedings a bit) and gets more exercise now.

I think sometimes snakes are like humans...you know when kids are about 10 or 11 and they really aren't growing much taller, just getting kinda pudgy? Then all of the sudden they shoot up 3 or 4 inches seemingly overnight? Maybe your snake (and definitely mine, because he's gained about 3 inches just over the last few months and completely balanced out his chubbiness) is doing something similar. Of course, I could be completely crazy and way off base.... :crazy01:

[airenlow]

Thanks for the reply Hallie! This still might not be helpful without a visual comparison but he is about 39" long. Do you think I should cut back to the 14 day feeding schedule for a "fat snake"?

[Hallie]

If he were my guy, I'd probably reduce the size of his meals and keep him on a 10 day schedule. Maybe a small weanling or very large hopper instead of an adult...something about 2/3 the weight of the adults you are giving him now. And of course, more exercise...swimming, stairs, etc. :) That's what I did with Fred when he started getting fat, I moved him back from big fuzzies (almost hopper size) to small fuzzies and pushed his feedings from every 5-6 days to every 7-8. I also moved him to a bigger viv and gave him more climbing 'toys' (he loves to climb...silly tree corn...) and started taking him out a lot more to make him move around. In a very short time, he stared gaining length instead of just packing the grams onto his short little frame, and now he looks quite normally proportioned. :)

And off topic!!....here's my girl Chloe (about 6 months ago), pretty close, huh? :D
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j186/Hallie524/Snakes561.jpg

[airenlow]

They do look very similar...she has "better" Motleys than my guy though. ;)

I'll cut him back to 14ish grams of food and see what happens. Because of this little scare, I moved my '08s back to 7 day schedules...just in case.

[Hallie]

They do look very similar...she has "better" Motleys than my guy though. ;)

I'll cut him back to 14ish grams of food and see what happens. Because of this little scare, I moved my '08s back to 7 day schedules...just in case.

I actually like his pattern better than hers, his sides are 'cleaner'...Would you believe she was a pet store find and they wanted like $30 less for her than all their other corns (normals and regular amels)? Crazy!! So I snatched her up immediately of course... ;)

That sounds like a good plan. I wouldn't necessarily cut all your others back just yet. This guy might just have a funky metabolism like Fred does. My 08s are on 5 day schedules, and none of them are chunky. Although, cutting back wouldn't hurt, and it definitely helps the wallet!! :)

[airenlow]

Here is another pic just for fun...

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn35/airenlow/DSC_0346.jpg

Thanks for your help Hallie!

I am still open to other ideas and suggestions but as of right now I'm going to try the schedule listed above.

[Hallie]

No problem Josh! :) I'll be interested to see some other thoughts and suggestions on this too...