Longer digestion times

[quixoft]

Of my 6 corns, one of them seems to have a much longer digestion time than the others. Here is the info :

2 snakes at around 25 grams eat 2 large pinks as the fuzzies are still a bit too big. Digestion is done in 1-2 days depending on the actual size of the pinks

2 snakes at around 10 grams eating 1 average to small pink, digestion is again done in 1-2 days depending on the size of the pink.

1 snake at 15 grams eating 2 small pinks, and again digestion done in 1-2 days.

All of this is perfectly normal and I leave them all for 2 days before handling which has worked out perfectly.

My question involves the 6th snake. He is 15 grams and eats the exact same as my other 15 gram snake but he still has a very large lump at 48 hours and a noticeable lump at 72 hours and it's even slightly noticeable at 4 days. I generally only get one day of handling for him between feedings. My two bigger, 25 gram snakes are on 6 day schedules while the rest are on 5 day schedules.

He eats like a champ and has had no regurge in 7 feedings and his temps are fine ranging from 70 - 86. He is almost always in the middle hide of his 3 hides in the cold, middle, and hot sides of the tank. This keeps him at around the 75-78 degree mark most of the time, digesting or not. He rarely ventures over into the heat and I've checked that temp a million times and have never found it over 87 on the glass.

I'm assuming he just has a slow metabolism so I'm thinking of moving him back to just one pink or lengthening his feeding schedule from 5 days to 6 or 7.

Anyone else ever experienced slow digesting snakes? I'm not worried or anything as he's eating fine and very active when I have him out. I'm really just curious.

 

[bitsy]

I tend to think that if they're eating and digesting without trouble, then that's a win. Feeding schedules aren't set in stone so if you feel you need to tweak it for your fella then give it a whirl. They're very individual.

 

[Nanci]

You could slit his pinks to make them easier to digest.

 

[WingedSweetheart]

You could slit his pinks to make them easier to digest.

I would try slitting first and if that doesn't help you could either move down a size or feed less frequent (every 7 days).

My first snake I fed every 7 days even as a hatchling and she is now over a year old and the biggest out of all my snakes (118 grams).

My newest snake is only 5 months old and was very tiny when I got her two months ago from a pet store. They were feeding her every 7 days but I soon learned that she needed fed more often. She digested her meals super fast (no lump the very next day). I fed her every 4 days for the first month I had her and then moved it to every 5 days. Now we are up to ever 7 days and she is more normal now in her digestion.

My point is that every snake is different. Sometimes we get one that is a little bit of a freak and breaks the rules as we think of them. As long as your snake is growing and is healthy then I wouldn't worry too much.