When did your corn "Stop Growing"

I understand that cornsnakes never really stop growing, but once they gain sexual maturity the large growthspurt stops. Basically, it would be that stage where six months later, a neighbor wouldn't be shocked by how much the snake has grown. Also, I'm not referring to width, but rather length.




Some people say that corns are born with a length, and will keep growing until they reach it: No matter how long it takes, that they'll reach that length.



Others say that it's a nutritional matter. You could feed them more or less but the longest snakes come from the best fed mice.


The last group claims its how often you feed and how much.



Which one do you believe, and when did your corn "stop growing"

IMHO, I think that its a combo. There is no universal ratio to food:length, but I think its a matter of nutrition to say if they can reach that genetic length.

I thnk it's a combo as well. I've never measured any of mine so can't give you the metrics. However I do have one female who's really short and stocky compared to the rest. She's solid muscle rather than fat (to the point where I could never feel eggs in her when I used to breed her) but is a good foot shorter than my other breeding females. She comes from a breeder whose bloodlines have a reputation for being extremely robust but smaller. She's been on the same feeding regime as all my others since I got her at a few weeks old. I don't think feeding her more woud have made any difference to her length - it just would have made her fatter and flabby.

However there's no doubt that when I've bought Corns which I consider were power-fed (by others before I got them, I hasten to add), they reached what I'd consider an adult size much faster - even though I slowed their feeding to normal levels when they arrived. These have been inclined to fat since reaching adult size and I have to keep a close eye on their feeding routines. It seems to me that once their metabolism was geared up at an early age, it didn't slow back down again when feeding was normalised. This seems to affect their weight and body fat, rather than their length though. None of them were longer than I'd expect for a Corn. Some of my "standard" fed Corns have been longer.

So in my experience, genetics and husbandry are both factors, but feeding seems to affect waistlines rather than length!

Interesting! Thanks for posting.

i have a male that eats 2 auldt mice a week and is still only 2 feet long and hasnt really gotten any longer in the past 6 months he is shedding but not as much as my females and the are givin the same portions of chow and are still growing... could that be a parasite like worms ive check his viv several times washed it and used emu oil on him and found no mites.