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Corn snake not growing

S

SecretiveFish

New member
Hello! I purchased a corn snake last year, and after having some difficulty getting her to eat, she is pretty good about eating what is offered except when in blue. Earlier this year I started feeding her every 5 days instead of weekly because she was just not growing and only 11g. It is now October and she has only gained 5 grams for a weight of 16g. She is still on small pinkies due to her tiny size and is maybe 18 inches long. She was also sold as a sulfur stripe corn snake which I have been questioning if is accurate now.

I purchased another snake around the same time who is easily 4x her weight and much longer.

She is active and interested in her surroundings although needs very high humidity to successfully complete a shed without help. Her body condition looks good to me, just so small for an over a yearling corn snake. Should I be worried? I am not sure what else I can/should do.
 

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Hi there! She does not look to be a sulfur, but actually a butter motley. At 16 grams, she could definitely be eating either a large pinkie every 5 days, or 2 small pinkies, or even a peach fuzzie (not a regular fuzzie just yet). They grow pretty slowly on pinkies, especially if the schedule is longer than 5 days. She may also just be a slow grower. I think you will see a little growth spurt once you move up her feeder size, though.
 
I would concur with bumping her up to two pinkies every 5 days. At that size, one small pinky will not offer much for growth. She's pretty and I would also agree with a butter motley. She seems to already display a lot of yellow so she should grow up to be a stunner.
 
Thank you for the reply! Right now the larger pinkies I have are greater than 2x her width but as soon as I can I will switch her! She will continue to be fed every 5 days.

I realized a bit ago that she was not a stripe and probably not sulfur. Do you think she is a pinstripe motley or maybe motley-stipe? I got got, I guess... At least she is actually pet temperament and pretty which is what I was also looking for anyway. One of the baby corn snakes I purchased last year was not pet temperament (unlike what the breeder told me) and had no qualms about striking/biting me. He found a new home this year as I couldn't handle it. It sucks getting taken advantage.
 
Yes, she is a pinstripe motley. Genetically, she could be het motley and het stripe, or she could simply be homozygous motley - the visual presentation of the pinstripe doesn't actually tell you specifically which combo of genes she's carrying (motley/stripe or motley/motley).
 
If you can find a source of rat pinks, try them. They will help bulk up a young snake pretty well.
 
Last feeding I offered her a large pinkie which she had no problem getting down. I imagine she will start growing faster now!

I wish I had asked for help sooner... Thank you all for helping me!
 
Update: She is now a whopping 22g :laugh:! I tried to give her two larger pinkies Saturday, but she only ate one and left the other. She still is not big enough around to handle a fuzzy but will continue to monitor and up her food when she is able.
 
Yay! Glad to hear it! Once they get into the 20 to 30 gram range, their growth seems like it accelerates.
 
Sometimes they seem to start off slow growing, but then hit a big growth spurt.
Give her time, she will get there.
 
Update: I weighed her last night, and she is now 28 grams (hatched July 2020!). She is eating a larger pinkie every 5 days but refuses doubles. My other similar aged snake is 167g for comparison!

When I place my rodent order soon, I will be getting peach fuzzies for her to see if she will eat those.
 
One thing you should likely keep in mind is that just like people, not all snakes from the same species, much less even the same clutch, will grow exactly the same. Both in potential size, nor the growth rate. Next time you are out among a crowd of people, take notice of all the size differences. Snakes will have no less variability among them.
 
Rich Z said:
One thing you should likely keep in mind is that just like people, not all snakes from the same species, much less even the same clutch, will grow exactly the same. Both in potential size, nor the growth rate. Next time you are out among a crowd of people, take notice of all the size differences. Snakes will have no less variability among them.
Click to expand...

Definitely true! As she was only ever intended for a pet, I am kind of hoping she stays small. She is so cute.
 
hypnoctopus said:
Hi there! She does not look to be a sulfur, but actually a butter motley. At 16 grams, she could definitely be eating either a large pinkie every 5 days, or 2 small pinkies, or even a peach fuzzie (not a regular fuzzie just yet). They grow pretty slowly on pinkies, especially if the schedule is longer than 5 days. She may also just be a slow grower. I think you will see a little growth spurt once you move up her feeder size, though.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your reply! I had the same question, and I was already getting worried, and then I found this thread.
 
Update: She finally broke into the 30+ gram range, but then stopped eating again (it has been several months at this point). In the last month I moved her into a smaller tub with opaque walls to see if for whatever reason she was feeling too stressed to eat but still not eating.

She has been a terrible eater since I got her as a young hatchling and really leaning towards there is something physically off with her at this point. She is 3 years old and the size of an average 1 year old corn snake. My other 5 adult corn snakes are all in the average range for adults...
 
The inconsistent eating is definitely very unusual for a corn. Even non-feeder babies, once you figure out what they want, typically go on to be perfectly fine eaters as adults.

Can you post or link a picture of her? 30 grams at 3 years old is definitely very, very small.
 
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