Not getting any thinner!

[7legion77]

I'm not sure how it happened, I was following instructions from guides about feeding adults.

Maybe he should still be on hoppers. He's only getting fatter. I think my guy is such a remarkably slow grower that a feeding schedule for him is a lot different than a typical corn snake.

But I've been feeding him adults for a while now, and here's the result:

<img src="http://s7.postimage.org/n1mm5f76j/snake.jpg">


He doesn't move around all the time like he used to, he's turned into a vegetable. Sits in his hide 24/7. I last fed him 3 weeks ago and he hasn't eliminated. Probably also has to do with the cold weather.

 

[7legion77]

Please allow editing of posts!!!

 

[airenlow]

Check out the big orange bar at the top of the page!

 

[MysticExotics]

You can edit...when you're a contributing member

Edit to add: $25 for a year to help keep this forum running is not much considering that you get a wealth of knowledge, meet others, share pictures, & advertise available animals (another perk to being a contributing member).

 

[dave partington]

Looks overweight. SERIOUSLY overweight. Snakes will eat til they burst. They also seem to go through periods of getting longer, followed by periods of getting thicker. A high rat diet, or a jumbo mouse diet, or a diet of mice raised on high fat dog food, will have excessive fat content. Hence the lethargy. Heart's probably ready to burst.


If you're a contributing member, you can edit your posts.

make a link by just posting the url, such as
http://s7.postimage.org/n1mm5f76j/snake.jpg

or using this (screen capture but since you know HTML you'll get the hang of it. Works on all V-Bulletin message boards)

NAME OF LINK

 

[7legion77]

He's only eaten about 4 rats in his lifetime (about 3 years by now). I fed him a lot early on, and then really cut down on the feeding schedule.
Let this serve as a warning that feeding frequency should be determined for each individual snake and there is no "one-size-fits-all" feeding schedule.
I honestly did go with the suggestions I read in Kathy Love's book.
He's just a really slow grower.
Do you think I should just exercise him a lot and feed him a hopper every 2-3 weeks?
Since he's still young I will do whatever I can to mitigate.

 

[Charlotte]

Hoooooly crap he is way overweight. I'd be doing a looot of exercising. Swimming (fill the tub with 1/2 inch of room temp water), snake situps (hold the lower half of their body and hold them upside down, makes them haul themselves up) and yeah a lot less food.

 

[7legion77]

Hoooooly crap he is way overweight. I'd be doing a looot of exercising. Swimming (fill the tub with 1/2 inch of room temp water), snake situps (hold the lower half of their body and hold them upside down, makes them haul themselves up) and yeah a lot less food.

Well that's what I've been doing. An adult mouse every 4 weeks, with a lot of handling and swimming in between.

But I think the real problem is I've is that I've been feeding him prey too large. He's a particularly smaller corn snake when compared to others so he's only gonna get hoppers for a while now.

Shouldn't corn snakes be eating adult mice in at 3 years? Looks like I have a runt (and now an overweight one).

 

[MysticExotics]

How much does he weigh?
Corns do not need rats, they're higher in fat & can cause obesity. Adult mice are typically the largest prey they need & for adult males, on average, I'd say fed every 2-3 weeks.
Do you track the feeding?
You say you follow the guidlines, & you also said fed him a lot early on. What does that mean?
How often & what prey size have you fed during the time you have had him?

I'm not as big of a fan of swimming them, unless it's for short periods of time, & always monitored.
Imagine making an obese human swim for a while. They're not as healthy to begin with. I've heard stories of snakes who have gotten tired & drowned.

If you can add obstacles in the cage, branches & such for him to climb on, as well as take him out & do the hand treadmill, (have him crawl on on your hands & keep rotating your hands so he crawls from one to the other).

Be careful not to over do it, that snake is at a very unhealthy weight & making him over exert himself can cause problems too.

 

[7legion77]

How much does he weigh?
Corns do not need rats, they're higher in fat & can cause obesity. Adult mice are typically the largest prey they need & for adult males, on average, I'd say fed every 2-3 weeks.
Do you track the feeding?
You say you follow the guidlines, & you also said fed him a lot early on. What does that mean?
How often & what prey size have you fed during the time you have had him?

I'm not as big of a fan of swimming them, unless it's for short periods of time, & always monitored.
Imagine making an obese human swim for a while. They're not as healthy to begin with. I've heard stories of snakes who have gotten tired & drowned.

If you can add obstacles in the cage, branches & such for him to climb on, as well as take him out & do the hand treadmill, (have him crawl on on your hands & keep rotating your hands so he crawls from one to the other).

Be careful not to over do it, that snake is at a very unhealthy weight & making him over exert himself can cause problems too.

I got him when he was 2 years old. First feeding was a fuzzy. Kathy Love's book said "1-2 prey items per feeding" and "maximum growth" well I wanted him to grow big (I think a lot of new snake owners make this mistake), so he got 2 fuzzies and then 2 hoppers.
When the pet store ran out of mice, they suggested rat pups. He's only had a few of those in his lifetime, although they were probably too big for him (I was oblivious to the fact that 1 or 2 instances of overfeeding can make a snake permanently obese).

After several weeks, I figured he was ready to eat adults (although I should have realized he's a particularly slow grower and stuck with younger mice).

Then he went on a hunger strike for a while, more than 2 months. I could only get him back to eating by offering a rat pup.

Now he's been eating adults every 4 weeks, combined with rigorous exercise. This is for the last 3-4 months. Instead shedding weight, or showing any improvement, he's gotten even fatter.

I can only explain this by saying that all the adults he's been eating has been faaar too much.

Should anything happen to him, I will immediately replace him with a new corn snake. Probably a Blizzard. Are those hard to acquire?

He's not nearly as fun as he used to be.

 

[dave partington]

Or, for direct layout on the screen...

If it's capitalized in the screen capture, it must be capitalized to work on the forum.

 

[7legion77]

I just hung him up on the chandelier. He seems to be getting quite a kick out of it (and hopefully some exercise.) At least he's still able to move about and climb.

I told him: sure beats sitting in your hide all day doesn't it?

 

[mattsnake]

Maybe that will stimulate his semi-aboreal instincts.

 

[captainjack0000]

How often do you handle him, and for how long?

I don't think one or two overfeedings will make a snake permanently fat. My ghost corn has had leftover rat pups that my python didn't take. I don't think he's overweight at all. I just doubled the amount of time between feedings when that happened.

What is an adult mouse to you? I can go into the pet store and ask for adult mice and one day I might get a 19g one and the next it will be a 33g mouse.

I would encourage "calorie counting" so to speak. Buy a kitchen or postage scale and weigh your snake and your food.

I'm curious to know the length of the snake and his weight. Length isn't as important, but I'm just curious. Can you share that information?

 

[captainjack0000]

Just a Thought

Also, if your snake was overweight when you got him, it might not be your fault exactly that he's chunky now. Doing what the book tells you probably would have you following a good maitenence plan when instead he should have been on a diet.