how old is my little buddy?

hey all,
I just got my little guy from a friend who was moving, he didnt know much about snakes and coudlnt tell me much except basic rules to care for him.
Was wondering based on my pics below if someone could estimate how old he might be and how big he might get in his current tank (20 gal)

-Drew

I'm going take a stab in the dark and say he's probably a yearling. He looks about the same size as my yearling female. You should know that snakes don't necessarily grow based on how old they are, but more of how they are fed. If a snake isn't fed the proper amount of its age, it can be bigger or smaller than the average size.

And a 20 long tank is generally the minimum housing for an adult corn snake, which can reach up to 5 feet, but the norm is 3.5 to 4.5 feet.

Looks to be about two feet long so my guess would be a year to eighteen months, but it very much depends on how much (or how little) he's been fed and his genetic background. If he's been power-fed then he could be younger than a year, if he's been brought on slowly then he could be two. Definitely looks sub-adult to me, which would be less than three (to me, anyway).

Were you told what to feed him and how often? If we know what he's eaten and when, that might giveus a clue as to his growth rate.

The size of the tank has no bearing on how large he'll get. An adult Corn will usually reach between 4-5 feet long. They can be shorter or longer though.

Welcome to the hobby that has no rules! Sorry about that...

I second what the others said, looks like a very healthy normal from the pics and a pretty one at that. Glad you found us Welcome, happy to have you. If you have any questions just ask

Hyper_99 said:

hey all,
I just got my little guy from a friend who was moving, he didnt know much about snakes and coudlnt tell me much except basic rules to care for him.
Was wondering based on my pics below if someone could estimate how old he might be and how big he might get in his current tank (20 gal)

-Drew

Click to expand...

Going by the pics, I'd say 1-2 years. My 08 Amel is a bit bigger than that so closer to 1 year. Nice! You will be very happy you came here, there is a lot on here to learn. Be sure to use the search option. It helps.

I was told that he was feeding two 1g pinkies every five days, I've read a few things about feeding and I dont see much of a lump after feeding, wondering if that is that enough for his size?

Hyper_99 said:

I was told that he was feeding two 1g pinkies every five days, I've read a few things about feeding and I dont see much of a lump after feeding, wondering if that is that enough for his size?

Click to expand...

Can you weigh him? The size of the prey should increase and the frequency decrease as the corn grows, so 2g's worth of pinks every 5 days is really closer to what a hatchling would eat.
The reason you change gradually from pinky/peach fuzzy/fuzzy/weanling up to adult mouse is that the nutritional content is different, so keeping a corn on pinky mice isn't really a good idea if you want it to grow and be healthy.
There's a brilliant book, 'Corn snakes the comprehensive owner's guide' by a member here, Kathy Love, that is a really good source for how to raise your corn. Also check out the FAQ's on this site for an overview.

Sounds like the feeding regime hasn't been bumped up from when he was a hatchling. He's done well to reach two feet long - he could be much older than a year old.

You need to offer a food item that's about one and a half times the width of his body (not his head and not his neck immediately behind his head) and leaves a lump after swallowing for about 48 hours.

As he's a new arrival, I'd keep his feeding regime the same until he's settled in - maybe the first couple of months. After this, I'd try him on a fuzzy.