Had my snake for about 9 weeks now. This is the second one I had. First was a WC snake that I had for about 8 weeks before it escaped because I didn't understand how strong or clever these little creatures are.
Anyway, bought the one I have now and the guy I bought it from is well known down here in Columbia SC, but I'm learning now that well known may not mean Reputable or Knowledgeable. I bought this one because it was about the same length and weight as the first I had (yound adult), and a normal corn. The guy told me that this was a female snake and if so, is Gravid. Then porceeded to say that it was no problem hatching the eggs, just keep them dampend after she lays and they'll hatch and said he would buy back the hatchlings if I wanted to sell them.
Two days later, I joined this site (Thank Goodness) and after introducing myself, I explained all this to the members here.
Susang quickly informed me that If the snake was Gravid, it wasn't as easy as just keeping the eggs moistend and by the way I described her, she really wasn't old enough or large enought to breed. But gave me a lot of advice in case she was gravid and layed her eggs.
She shed on the 2nd of August, and I was waiting for her to lay within a couple of weeks (three at the most). Here it is the 6th of Sept. and no sign of eggs. . . . SO
I found a vet office here on Columbia that has a doc that specializes in Herpotology. Took her to the vet Thursday for a check up because at this point I'm wondering if she is even a she. . . . . . Anyway, Doctor Foy (fantastic vet btw) checked her out for me and she is a 32", 268 gram Female snake and she IS NOT GRAVID. I asked him if he could give me an approxamate age and he said it was impossible to determine. He said not knowing if this was a wild caught or captive bred, it would be impossible to get close. Said some snakes in the wild may not eat for three or four weeks at a time, so they will grow smaller and weigh less that those that are constantly around a food source and eat a couple of times a week. Those of course will grow longer and fater in a short amount of time.
Said even Captive breds are even hard to tell unless you know when they were hatched. He told me some breeders know that most people want baby snake simply because "They're Cute" and knowing this is the bulk of their business, they will purposely under feed the animals to keep them small, so it's hard to determine age by length and weight.
Little information I found out from him too. Voodoo is what I named my snake, and I did so because she has one eye that is blue and the other is Dark/Black. Dr Foy recognized this very quickly and asked How long I'd had her, and if I had noticed any changes in her behavior lately ? . . reason was, because he showed me the blue eye and the scaling around it was different than that on the black side. . .He said this could be one of a few different reason.
* Could be a normal birth defect.
* Could be that she had some type trauma early in her development (bite, injury etc. ..)
* What he was concerned about was that it could be some kind of infection. He said he's seen this type appearance before, and it caused the area to swell and he has had to go in and do some cutting of the scales to relieve the infection. . . . He said because This was noticable when I first got the snake and it's been this way for 9 weeks, and she hasn't displayed any behavior changes lately he feels confident it isn't that type of infection. . but wants me to watch it closely and let him know if I notice it swelling or if her mood changes drastically.
I know this is a lot of info to basically say that unless you know the day it hatched, it's probably going to be no more than an estimation of age. . .you getting yours very young will give you a closer approxamation than if it were an older snake.
