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Cornsnake BMI?

sawsehel

sawsehel

Hypnotic
Is there anybody mathematically inclined on this forum who might be able to make a Body Mass Index for cornsnakes?

Something involving the length, age(?) and weight of the snake? Somewhat like the human equivalent. Of course it would ony be a guideline but I really think it might be useful in determining if your snake is overweight or not. When looking at my hatchling I have a hard time determining if she is overweight or not. If she is, then the advice "Prey size 1,5 times the widest part of the snake" really might not apply, am I right? In fact it might just aggrevate her condition. Not that she is overweight. I just don't know. Which is why I posted this thread. :duck:

-sawsehel
 
I don't think I've ever seen an over-weight hatchling...everything they eat is used for growing. Obesity seems to occur in older snakes when their growth rate slows down but the amount of food they eat does not. Other snakes can develop fat deposits specific to a certain part of their body but the rest of the snake is the correct weight.
 
Susan said:
I don't think I've ever seen an over-weight hatchling...everything they eat is used for growing. Obesity seems to occur in older snakes when their growth rate slows down but the amount of food they eat does not. Other snakes can develop fat deposits specific to a certain part of their body but the rest of the snake is the correct weight.
Click to expand...


I totally agree with Susan, you'd be hard pressed to find an "overweight" hatchling.
 
sawsehel said:
Is there anybody mathematically inclined on this forum who might be able to make a Body Mass Index for cornsnakes?

Something involving the length, age(?) and weight of the snake? Somewhat like the human equivalent. Of course it would ony be a guideline but I really think it might be useful in determining if your snake is overweight or not. When looking at my hatchling I have a hard time determining if she is overweight or not. If she is, then the advice "Prey size 1,5 times the widest part of the snake" really might not apply, am I right? In fact it might just aggrevate her condition. Not that she is overweight. I just don't know. Which is why I posted this thread. :duck:

-sawsehel
Click to expand...

The problem with this is that snakes are not like humans which grow(in normal circumstances) proportionally with age and then stop growing. Snakes will never stop growing until they die(metabolism just slows down when they get older). Because hatchlings grow at different rates depending on food consumption and the makeup of the individual snake, you can't really accurately determine the size your snake 'should' be by the weight. Just ask KatieL about her snake size differences.

Hope this helps
 
The only person I can think of that has enough accurate records from a variety of different individual snakes to make a decent "average" curve would be Hurley.

Heck...she may even have an average growth index already...

But as any of us who have raised hatchlings knows...the variance in growth rate from one individual to the next can be staggering.
 
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