Couple of questions

[Galataya16]

I have two questions about my ghost Spec. Thanks in advance for the help

1) Spec hasn't gained any weight. She is still 14 grams. She lost a little (dropped to 13 grams) in the travel here but picked it back up right away but hasn't gained more. Is that normal?

2) while I was feeding tonight she picked up the pinkie right away and hind end first and the front leg of the pinkie got pushed up and Spec spent about five minutes trying to manipulate the arm in the side of her mouth. I finally intervened and pulled the arm off the pinkie. She picked it back up and ate it no problem. Is that what I should have done or was that the wrong thing to do? Should I have just left her?

 

[hypnoctopus]

I've found with my babies that they grew very quickly in their first month on pinkies, but as they get to about 12 to 14 grams, their weight gain slows down unless you start feeding larger pinkies or multiple small pinkies. My pinkies are all really small, so I sometimes feed my babies 1.5 pinkies.

As for your second question, because she is a good eater, I don't think there was anything wrong with removing the arm, but I also think she would have gotten it down on her own eventually. If you have a shy or sensitive eater, I wouldn't risk disturbing them. Sometimes mice are frozen in a weird position or the snake tries to eat them the wrong way, but mine have always figured it out eventually!

 

[BLeach711]

Mine usually figures it out eventually if he gets a leg stuck at an odd angle. Sometimes he just moves it around a lot until he can get it in. I've never had it be a real issue, just time consuming

 

[smigon]

Sometimes mice are frozen in a weird position or the snake tries to eat them the wrong way, but mine have always figured it out eventually!

I know, sometimes they look like Superman, sometimes like Mighty Mouse (pun sort of intended). Sometimes my snakes sniff at the nose only to go around to the backside of the mouth and clamp on. Oh, silly corn! :shrugs:

 

[Galataya16]

Yeah, they are definitely in CRAZY positions and Spec is a dork and always starts from the back when most of the time it would be so much easier for her to start from the front. I'm lucky enough so far that both of my babies are really great eaters. No problems or worries really so far with them like with the first one.

So do I bump them up earlier then the munson plan suggests or do I keep feeding them pinks until they get up to that?

Thanks again everyone, you all rock!!

 

[Popcorn715]

How much do the pinks weigh? I had some that were 1g and then the larger ones were pushing 4. That's a big difference!

I would feed 2 for a while if you're not already.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk

 

[smigon]

So do I bump them up earlier then the munson plan suggests or do I keep feeding them pinks until they get up to that?

Thanks again everyone, you all rock!!

The Munson plan is a little aggressive for babies some would agree, but it also depends on the weight of the pinky. Like Popcorn said, they really differ in size. I prefer feeding one properly sized mouse than two smaller ones, but in the stage you are in you have to go with your gut. If one pinky doesn't make a bulge in the belly, go ahead and feed another 1/2 or whole one.

A good rule of thumb is to feed them a meal that is 1.5 times the widest part of the snake.

 

[Galataya16]

I haven't weighed all of them but did some and judged the rest by size. I have some smaller ones that are around 2g or so, the last one I fed was larger and I'm betting one of them that is in there is 4-5g because it's quite large. I was more just judging on size to snake but I did start off each one with meals on the smaller side just to ease them in a little after they got here. Didn't want to stress them to much. But Spec's last pinky was larger and I weighed her tonight out of curiosity (she was fed on the 8th) and seshe was 17g. I even double checked lol. She just seemed so much larger all around, even her head. Was kind of weird cause I didn't really notice last night. So she must have been saving up to gain it all at once lol. She almost looks like she could be starting to go into blue but I even checked with camera flash and her eyes didn't seem milky. So I'll keep an eye on her. Thanks again all, for your help.

 

[smigon]

They will amaze you at their weight difference as they grow. I have one 5+' corn who weighed in at almost 1000g this week, and I am only feeding him 1 adult mouse every two weeks. This wasn't even his feeding week, but I still weigh them all anyway. Then next week I might weigh him and he will be at 950g. He is not fat at all, very active, but the people I rescued him from fed him only rats for over a year, but as soon as I got him he went on a weekly mouse diet (he was about 750g when I got him) and he still was gaining much more weight than I wanted so he is down to every other week on feeding.

 

[Galataya16]

Holy smokes, he sounds huge!! Do you have pictures on your profile? would love to see And boy, do pinkies range in sizes! I fed two to Hades tonight because they were so small, tiny pinkies but he gobbled them up faster then heck and the one I fed to Spec was really large compared to those two! She ate that one really well too and didn't even hesitate! They were both happy snakes tonight And I weighed Spec again before I fed her and she was at 15 Grams but she did poop so we are still making progress Thanks all, again, so much!!