How to Tell Age?

[d.neat.oh]

Hey guys!
I finally have a good measurement on my little guy, Vash. He's roughly 20.83in (52.91cm), and I've had him for 1 month. I was so excited to get him that I forgot to find out his age beforehand. They had been feeding him pinkies twice a week (once every 3-4 days) before I got him, and he's been doing well with that since.
I'm just curious if anybody has an estimate of how old Vash is. I haven't had the chance to weigh him yet (hopefully I'll be able to tonight), just to make sure I can continue with this schedule or to see if it's time to bump him up. The expo is coming to town in a couple weeks, and I want to stock up on food while it's cheap!
Any help is greatly appreciated.

-d.neat
1.0.0 corn snake
1.0.0 Papillion
0.1.0 Husky/Brittany Spaniel Mix
1.0.0 Maine Coon
1.0.0 Ragdoll

 

[d.neat.oh]

P.S. I'm aware of how difficult it is to accurately guess the age of the snake going off of its size. But I've been looking at posts, and the pictures people have of amels that are similar in length (aged somewhere between 5-7 months) are all much thicker than Vash. Am I underfeeding him?
As always, any thoughts are appreciated.


-d.neat
1.0.0 corn snake
1.0.0 Papillion
0.1.0 Husky/Brittany Spaniel Mix
1.0.0 Maine Coon
1.0.0 Ragdoll

 

[DollysMom]

A weight would help even more. They've been feeding him well, so though anything is just a guess, he's probably on the larger side for his age.

 

[Karl_Mcknight]

most of us feed by weight. A growing snake eats 10% to 13% of its body weight weekly. There is a feeding plan known as the Munson Plan that you can find online and also right here on this forum. Snakes that weigh 40 grams for example would eat about a 4 to 6 gram mouse. A snake that weighs 100 grams would eat a 12 gram mouse, a snake that weighs 300 grams would eat a 30 gram mouse, etc......

Once they are deemed adults (2 to 3 years of age) you go from weekly feeding to every 10 to 14 days to maintain a healthy weight. You don't want them to get fat.

As far as guessing the age of a snake, it's impossible. Some corn snakes will max out at 3 feet long and some can make it to 6 feet long, even though they may be the same age.

You might try to contact the Breeder or Seller that you got your snake from and they might be able to tell you the age. If the snake is 20 inches long, I would "Guess" it to be between 3 months and a year, but to nail an exact age will be impossible without actual records of it's Hatch date.

My snake was 3 months old when I got him and he was about 21 inches long and weighed 70 grams. He's now about 15 months old and is almost 3 feet long and weighs over 200 grams. But I have seen other people with snakes of similar age that are smaller and some larger.

 

[d.neat.oh]

Well I finally have a weight and length for Vash. He's roughly 21.51in (54.64cm) long and 35.8g!


-d.neat
1.0.0 corn snake
1.0.0 Papillion
0.1.0 Husky/Brittany Spaniel Mix
1.0.0 Maine Coon
1.0.0 Ragdoll

 

[jagodzinski]

Like Karl said, its basically impossible to tell - as evidenced by varying growth rates of different snakes. Babies can grow at vastly different rates, but if I had to make a guess based on his length and weight - I would guess most likely under a year, but pinning down a time frame tighter than that would be very difficult. Probably older than 4-6 months, but super hard to tell.

Where did you get him? If he's from a breeder you could contact them - they should keep records.

 

[d.neat.oh]

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't have a card for the people I got him from, and I can't remember the name of the group... I'm hoping they're at the reptile expo in my town this upcoming weekend (I have a photographic memory, so if they are there I'd recognize their logo).
I was too excited when I got him to remember to ask..
From everything I've collected from the different forums he could be anywhere from 4 months to 10 months, depending on his individual growth rate (I'm hoping he's in the middle of that spectrum, though. If he's only 4 months old he's bound to be a big one!). If we can't find the people again, I think we're going to just say he's around 7 months, that way we have a standard deviation of 3..
Thanks for all your help and input!


-d.neat
1.0.0 corn snake
1.0.0 Papillion
0.1.0 Husky/Brittany Spaniel Mix
1.0.0 Maine Coon
1.0.0 Ragdoll

 

[daddio207]

Have you gone on http://www.massreptileexpo.com/ to see if you recognize the name?
Fun expo. Haven't vended at it but go to it when I can.


We have a corn that was 2 years old when it was that size so there are A LOT of variables!

 

[d.neat.oh]

The expo I went to was in NH, so I've tried cross-referencing the vendors that'll be in town next week. But there's a ton that didn't have website links, and they only offer the name. I can't remember the name, but would recognize the logo if I came across it.

-d.neat

 

[daddio207]

Gotcha!
I hunt down every corn for sale at the NH expo but that one doesn't stick out in my mind.
Mojo Herps (on Facebook) sells the most corn snakes there anyways.
Have fun at the Expo...

 

[CornySnakeUser]

To be frank, I'd guess between eight and ten months. Eight and a half at a rough estimate. Do you have a weight?

 

[d.neat.oh]

He's 35.8g at 21.51" (roughly 54.64cm)

-d.neat

 

[d.neat.oh]

Gotcha!
I hunt down every corn for sale at the NH expo but that one doesn't stick out in my mind.
Mojo Herps (on Facebook) sells the most corn snakes there anyways.
Have fun at the Expo...

I contacted Mojo Herps, they didn't have any amels this past show... But I think I may have figured it out (for the vendor).. Waiting for a response so I can find out if they're the right people! Fingers crossed!!!!

-d.neat

 

[albertagirl]

My 5 hit that weight between 7 and 12 months, but I have no idea if that's typical or not, so I'm not sure how helpful it is.

 

[daddio207]

I contacted Mojo Herps, they didn't have any amels this past show... But I think I may have figured it out (for the vendor).. Waiting for a response so I can find out if they're the right people! Fingers crossed!!!!

-d.neat

Great !
Let me know who. I know enough of them to know if they are prone to stretching the truth or not LOL........

 

[d.neat.oh]

I thought it could've been Jabberwock Reptiles.. but no luck with them either. They didn't even have any corns with them at that show lol. Still waiting to hear back from Harris in Wonderland and the operators of the expo. If I can get my hands on which vendors were setup where I'd know exactly which one it was. Oh the struggle. ��

 

[daddio207]

I thought it could've been Jabberwock Reptiles.. but no luck with them either. They didn't even have any corns with them at that show lol. Still waiting to hear back from Harris in Wonderland and the operators of the expo. If I can get my hands on which vendors were setup where I'd know exactly which one it was. Oh the struggle. ��

Do you recall what else they were selling?

 

[d.neat.oh]

Not Harris either. Lol. I'm literally just going down the list. I remember they were on a corner, facing the back and the side aisle the entrance was on, very close to the crickets (I'm petrified of bugs, so I keat looking over), I know they had ball pythons also, and I remember that vash was the only amel left around 3:30p at their booth, but he was labeled as albino, there were no genders on the display so I had to ask, they were able to pop him, and they had their corns in stands as opposed to the tubs, they also had a sunglow corn (or maybe it said day glow? I just remember considering that one and not knowing what it meant - didn't understand morphs at that point only colors lol). The guys working had black shirts on, and I was nervous about buying from them at first because they weren't making people who handled their snakes use hand sanitizer (thankfully vash seems healthy anyways, I know the chances of them getting sick are higher at the shows).
Again, I'm not too concerned about his age. More curious than anything... my boyfriend thinks the guy said he was either 5 or 6 months at the show, but if it's possible to be more precise I'd prefer it.
Damn my excitement lol. I had no idea how overwhelming the NH expo would be (I had only been to the one in my town which is considerably smaller).

-d.neat

 

[d.neat.oh]

I finally tracked down every single vendor from the expi... took hours of research, but I'm fairly certain I found the guy! Out of the list, only 3 vendors had amels, and out of those only 1 that had them marked in the same range as him (price range that is). Anyways, the vendor (Rick Krumrine) didn't know an exact date. But, he did know all of his corns at that expo were hatched in July. Looks like Vash is 10 months old!!!

-d.neat