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Obese, Other Problem, Or Normal?

A

amandaxhaku

New member
My cornsnake is about 2 years old and 4 ft long. I feed him weenlings about once every 10 days. Around this time he starts getting frisky and I know he wants to eat. However, I have begun to notice that he seems almost too fat. Some scales are stretched with skin in between where he's the biggest around (almost 2 inches in diameter).

This could be perfectly normal, I'm not sure, but another thing has me more worried. There seems to be a bulge around his "private" area, and below that, the tail is skinny compared to the rest of him. I have read somewhere that this is simply a physical characteristic, but this is the first time I have seen it.

Today I took him out of the terrarium to crawl around on my arms a bit, and give him a closer look. When I placed him back inside, he crawled halfway in, then froze for a good couple minutes. I couldn't get him to move. Eventually he went the rest of the way in.

His terrarium is 30 gallon with 3 hide spots and 2 branches for climbing, but I rarely give him exercise outside of it. His behavior seems normal enough now.

Does anyone have any explanation or suggestion?

Thank you,
Amanda
 
A picture would help of the snake and the area in question. Snakes that are overweight tend to get what are known as "hips". My suggestion would be to get an inexpensive scale that weighs in grams and monitor his weight. You can go to once every 14 days if you are concerned with weight gain as long as you are monitoring his progress.

Here are a couple of threads on weight issues:
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125343&highlight=hips
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124104&highlight=hips
 
Honestly the bulge at the vent then a rapid taper tail says female to me are you sure of the gender? the tail method isn't very accurate but to a trained eye its a pretty good marker. popping or probing is more accurate. I'm not a big fan of popping. Do you have a way to weigh your snake in grams? If not take him and an empty box to the post office have them weigh the box go outside put the snake in it flap fold the top and go re-weigh it you can also do this at kinkos, office depo or similar places.You should probably take it in for a vet visit if you suspect its overweight and see what your options are for getting its weight down.
 
None of my female corns 'bulge' at the vent. The rapid taper occurs *down* the tail, not from vent directly to tail.
 
by bulge I meant body tapers smooth to the vent then drops slightly to the tail and by rapid tail taper that's self explanatory its ment as it reads otherwise I'd have said the vent tapers rapidly to the tail. All my females that have been probed have what I'm describing maybe I'm not doing a good job of it??? not jumping you just trying to clear up what I ment possibly you misunderstood by my explanation.
 
That's not described as a 'bulge' typically. A bulge is something that sticks *out* from the normal shape.
 
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Here is a picture.

I will feel very silly if is goes away when he poops (yes he is a he), but I am worried!
 

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I guess. I would call that a lump tho. I have seen a few snakes so plump the tail looks like a pencil sticking out of a cucumber. Regardless of terminology I would weigh the snake and or see a vet. When I bred Rat snakes I noticed regardless of feeding schedule being every 2 weeks during the off season some would gain weight at a higher rate then others even tho meal size was the same. Its like we humans metabolism's are all different. I would have to lessen food size to regulate there weight. During breeding I would feed up the females.
 
last reply was to Shiari was typing it as you posted the pick Looks a bit thick in the body but I have seen plenty of snakes that look like your pics with no heath issues related by this I mean the look where the body meets the tail. Has he Pooed lately? My thing is take them to the vet if in question they will know best because they can actually see and touch the animal. From your pictures I don't see anything I haven't seen many times in perfectly healthy snakes. I have raised snakes for nearly 25 years. I'm by no means an expert
 
I would try soaking him in Luke warm water. Sometimes it will make them poo. That's what it looks like to me. But weighing him is a good idea to be sure he is not overweight.
 
I'm new, so new we don't even have a snake yet lol but I know everyone here likes to see snakes weighed in grams but not everyone has a scale like that. If you have a good digital kitchen scale to weigh your snake on you can use this site here to convert oz to grams.
 
you can use a converter yes tho it would be for larger snakes 16 Gram + Babies wont register If you have a Good source for gram scales is Kinkos, office depo any place that has office or letter supplies you can also find them in some places that sell kitchen ware. And Harbor Freight
 
I'd like a full body pic, it looks like he may poo but mine don't look quite the same when they have to go. He almost looks chunky lol
 
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