help with thin snake

[harm781]

I received my male breeder about a month and a half ago, he is thin in my eyes around 300 grams and a little over 4 ft long! My question is how can I help with weight gain without onsetting a regurg.? I know if you feed to much to soon a snake regurgitates so what is enough without being to much? He eats great and strikes at almost anything that moves.

[Shiari]

Just feed him what he should be. Joxer was underweight when I got him. I fed him 1 adult mouse every 7 to 10 days and he put on weight just fine.

[Nanci]

You could slit his mice. Actually, I think being a tad on the thin side is better than being a fatty snake.

[bitsy]

He's a little on the skinny side, but it doesn't look unhealthy or life-threatening. As Nanci says, rather too slim than too tubby.

I'd go with Shiari's suggestion. If you want to bulk him out a bit, go for a slow steady feeding regime. Powerfeeding more frequently with multiple/larger items, will just make him pile on flab rather than build up muscle and good body tone.

Make sure you monitor his weight like a hawk. Once they start to get larger, it can creep up on you - I've had it happen. One of my males went from "Aww poor li'l scrap" to "Eeek what a bunter!" in six months, without me noticing. I only picked it up when I compared photos.

[tspuckler]

I find snakes gain weight more quickly when fed rat pups. Though I don't think the snake that you posted is all that thin. I'd simply do as the other folks suggested - fed it an appropriately-sized mouse on a regular basis.

Tim

[Susan]

There have been excellent responses, but they are all assuming he is thin simply because he wasn't fed enough. I personally would make sure there isn't a medical reason why he is thin. You've mentioned regurges, so has he regurged for you in the amount of time you've had him? If so, how much and how often have you been feeding him?

[harm781]

He did I fed him the day after I got him because he had shed that night. And then I handled him two days later which I believe is why he regurg . He's been on weanlings since then with no reoccurrence about 4 weeks now. I also moved him to an aquarium instead of a tub so I could make it a little warmer with heat pad since he came from California and I'm in NY a big difference when my house is 73 degrees and the warmest I got the tub was 76. I think he's gained about 30 grams since and I fed him 2 days ago and he's already pooped once so I think he's back on track I was just worried since when I got him he was just at 300 grams and he is at least 4 1/2 ft long. All I was told was he was fed once a week when the other snakes he came with were all good weight. Thank you for all the help he does seem to be doing a lot better and is probably just under ideal weight now.

[harm781]

Just wanted to give an update. He is now 386 grams. His backbone seems to have disappeared. At a little over 4 ft he is looking great.

[bitsy]

That's great news - thanks for the update!