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Skinny snake

L

LouiseB

New member
Hello everyone, I'm a new corn snake owner. My girl is called Cornflake, she's 6 months old, and I've had her for about 4 months. My problem is that, although she's an enthusiastic feeder and I never have any problems getting her pinkies down her, she doesn't seem to put weight on. To me, she looks a bit thin, she has a faint ridge down her back where you can see her spine and she just seems, well, scrawny.
I am now feeding her every 3 days on the biggest pinkies I can get. She's my first snake so I don't really know if I'm getting it right or not. I've had her tested for parasites and it came back clear. Any ideas, or are some snakes just fatter than others?
Thanks :)
 
Have you weighed her to see if she is losing/gaining? If not, I would recommend getting a scale that weighs in grams so you can monitor her progress. Also, you can then follow the "Munson Plan" (which you can find by typing that in the search forum tab) which gives guidance on how much to feed. I got my scale at Meijer in the kitchen section for $20. Also, post pics and others may give advice on if Cornflake is thin. Good Luck!
 
Feeding every three days is a little fast. At 6 months, she's likely ready for a small fuzzy instead of pinks (but her weight is by far the better measurement to go by). Fuzzies are more nutritious than pinks anyway, so if you can find small fuzzies that are about 1.5x her girth at the widest part, feeding her one of those every 6 days or so would be better than multiple pinks.

But again, it'd be much better to get a good scale and go by that.
 
I agree with the others, feeding once every three days is an aggressive feeding schedule. Do you handle your snake at all? Because it's recommended that you leave 48 hours after feeding before handling again (to prevent regurgitation), and then, wow, you've gotta feed him again lol.

As Gralena said, the Munson Plan is a really good feeding schedule that shows you what size prey item your snake should be getting at different weights. Of course, all Corns are different and some will grow more quickly than others. But being able to see the spine isn't good, so I'd weigh her using some digital scales, and then check the chart.

Hope that helps!

David
 
During the first few months, they tend to increase lengthwise, rather than girthwise. They don't usually start to fill out until they begin eating the larger food sizes.

Also, hatchlings' growth can be very deceptive. It's very easy to look at her all the time and think she isn't growing, but you'll find that she probably has. Buying a cheap kitchen scale that measures in grammes will let you keep a running record of her weight and I'm sure you'll start to see the slow increase over the first couple of weeks. Another quick check is to keep her shed skins. They don't accurately give the length (they stretch during the shedding process), but you will see them gradually increasing in size when yuou compare them.

I agree that you need to review your feeding schedule slightly. I'd go for two pinkies every five days and if they stay down, try one fuzzy every 5-7 days.

It's great that you thought to have her tested for parasites and good news that the tests came back negative. I think you just have a normal baby on your hands - keep us posted and good luck.
 
Took ages to reply, haven't been able to get online...
Thanks for all your advice, I weighed her and found she's 26g, so definitely time to move her onto fuzzies. She had her first one today and ate it without any problems, although she did have to inspect it for quite a while first. I think she was intrigued by the fur!
It's very difficult to get consistent advice on snakes, when I first bought her the shop keeper told me to feed her once a week, but all the books/internet articles I found said it should be every 3-5 days (they varied), so I settled on every 4 days. Then, when I took her to see the vet over her weight problem, she told me to up it to every 3 days, which was where I was when i posted here. Anyway, I'm going to try the Munson Plan now. I'm not too bothered about making her some monstrous size, but I do want her to be healthy.
Thanks again!
 
Something else that will help her digest better, and thus grow faster, is slitting the backs of the pinks. Four shallow slits through the skin after thawing, with fingernail scissors. There was a study, with a control group, that compared growth rates of hatchlings eating slit mice to those eating unslit mice and they gained weight significantly faster. You can find it by searching, but it's difficult.
 
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