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Snake Doesn't Seem to be Gaining Weight?..

br0k3n-d0ll

br0k3n-d0ll

New member
I was wondering, about how much weight should a corn gain on average and at what rate? Mine is currently 19g (approx.17" long), and has been for over a month or so now. I'm feeding him 2 pinkies(3-4g total) every 5 days. Any opinions or advice?
 
every 5 days is a good schedule for a snake that size. About the only thing I could suggest to get his/her weight to 'jump start' again (because at that size they will sometimes stall before gaining again) ..... is instead of 2 such small pinkies, is to feed an appropreatly sized single prey item. Once they get on abit bigger prey they will grow abit faster. A 19 gram snake should be able to take abit bigger meal. Plus a single prey item is easier to digest :)
 
I had thought about feeding him the mousie the next size up, but according to the Munson plan, you shouldn't feed them peach fuzzies till they hit about 23-24g..
 
i would do a couple more feedings of the double pinks, then bump it up. none of my snakes have ever had an issue with digesting double pinks, but that's not to say it won't happen. i just personally have never had a problem with it.
 
I havent had a problem either but I know it can happen so I try to bump them to small peachies as soon as I can. (A peachy to me is one that is about 10 days old. just thought I would state that because it seems almost everyone has a dif name for dif sizes. )
 
I think I'll keep feeding him double pinks until the end of the month at least. If he hasn't gained any weight still, then I'll try giving him a peach fuzzy next month and see how he takes to that..
 
Wow, I find that interesting I never had a snake stall and hang at a weight not even the tiny little guy that was shipped to me at a very small 6 gms!! Who then regurged and was only eating 1 gm pinks for awhile, even he steadily gained almost a gram between feeds and on regurge protocol he was only able to eat every 7 days.

Not to be an alarmist, but I would be concerned about a parasite load that is preventing him from gaining, such as worms or worse. These are the things I would try and in the order I would do them.

1) Make sure you scale is digital and has brand new batteries(if the batteries are dying the scales weigh less than the actual item is, this I know from experience).
2) Feed the next size mouse(like Cat Eyed Lady said) and if you are afraid it is to large, just cut it in half length wise while frozen and then thaw in a ziploc in the hottest tap water you have, and place the other half in the freezer for the next feed
3) Monitor his weight very carefully, each time you go to feed him, you should see at least 1 gram weight gain.
4) If no weight gain after 2-3 feeds, I would see a reptile vet to have a fecal done and make sure that there is not a problem you are unaware of such as parasite or worms.

This of course is my opinion and what I would do.
 
If he had some sort of worms or something, would you be able to see them in his waste like with cats and the like? He acts fine as far as I can tell..
 
As far as I understand from the vet and the one snake of mine who had a low parasite count, you would not see them, they are microscopic.
 
I'm having the same issue with my normal. He has been at 15 grams for over a month, is about 15 inches. He gets 6 grams of pinks each week. He won't eat every 5 days, only every 7. He also drinks alot of water, I lowered the warm temp to 78 degrees F on the warm side and still lots of water. Neg for worms and mites. He is very thin. I asked the breeder about it and he said it sounds odd but the parent snakes are both thin too and at 4 years old are both only 2.5 feet roughly each. Dad weighs about 350 grams and mom weighs 305 grams. Wouldn't know it by looking though. When I order my feeders this guy will be upped to a slightly larger single food instead of doubles, I hope that fixes the issue.
 
I would definitely get that warm side temp back up to 85 where it should be, he maybe having trouble digesting and properly metabolizing his food with out a proper place to thermoregulate to aid in proper digestion.

As well with the lower temps he will be unable to digest as quickly as he should and that may be part of why he will only eat every 7 days, as he takes so long to get all of his meal through his system that it takes him that long to rebuild up his stomach acids for the next meal.

Snakes are not like humans, they make very little stomach acid and use up the majority of it to digest a meal and then need time to replenish it between meals. Also your lack of adequate warm temps could lead to regurges and eventual refusal to eat.

As for weigh gain, there has been at least one study done that shows if you at least slit a mouse's skin alone the back side, the snake can digest it better and will be able to grow longer and heftier from it. So once you have warmed your mouse, slit the mouse's skin either from nose to tail or with several slits(all along the back) just use a very sharp pairing knife or a pair of cuticle scissors.

The combination of these things should help.
 
I would move it up to fuzzies. Keep the intravals the same (5 Days) and weigh her after she poos. If she gains no weight after a shed then I would call a herp vet
:cool:
David
 
snakemaster24 said:
I would move it up to fuzzies. Keep the intravals the same (5 Days) and weigh her after she poos. If she gains no weight after a shed then I would call a herp vet
:cool:
David
Click to expand...

At 19 grams I disagree with this advice. I'd up the size of pinkies you are feeding or feed a peach fuzzy. I'd try your snake first on two large pinkies.
And yes, sometimes a snake will hold weight at a certain size over the course of a few feedings, but still should progress in size after three or four feedings.
If you are concerned about parasites, have your vet do a fecal float.
 
Just to clarify ...POST #12 was directed at carnivorouszoo(POST #11) and not the original OP.

carnivorouszoo has stated that their snake is 15 gms and has not gained weight in over a month of being feed 6 gms of pinkies at 7 day intervals because it will not eat on 5 day intervals. They also stated that they had lowered the warm side temp to 78 and that the snake was NEG for worms and mites.

Based on that info, I infered that the snake had been checked by a vet for worms and mites. I did not suggest uping to fuzzies for that snake is it is small by weigh and canivorouszoo described the snake as very thin.

I just wanted to point this out because I wonder Pete and David, if maybe you two are confusing the OP and carnivorouszoo or did not realize there are two different snakes being discussed here, so I wanted to clarify that the most recent response I gave was to the most recent question in the thread.
 
I have seen this issue come up a couple times. I'm actually dealing with it, myself. I have a female Granite, that I purchased from a VERY reputable breeder. When I got her, she weighed in at a whopping 12 grams.

I like to follow a slightly modified Munson plan, when feeding. I have seen my snakies grow steadily on that plan. Well, all of them except this one. She at first lost weight, then only maintained weight for several months. She actually didn't grow past 12grams for the first 4 months I owned her.

I decided to take her to the vet for a fecal. That came back negative for parasites. Great news, except that she still wasn't gaining weight. I contacted the breeder and she thought that I was dealing with either an over production of stomach flora or a very high metabolism.

She had me put the snake on a much more vigorous feeding schedule. I was feeding single pups that weighed 3-4grams, every five days. She was pooping them out within 24-36 hours after eating. So I bumped my snake up to feeding every 3 days, slitted every pink and used nutribac. I have done this for the last several months and seen her triple in weight. You could class it as a type of power feeding, but at this point, I think it was necessary.

The first thing I suggest is getting a fecal test done, to rule out parasites. If that comes back clear, then figure out how long after she poops after she eats. If it's a very short time, you are either dealing with a snake with a faster metabolism or the pinks you are feeding are too small. You can safely feed 24 hours after she poops, but don't do this, unless you have a real problem with weight.

Good luck!

Wayne
 
Asbit said:
As well with the lower temps he will be unable to digest as quickly as he should and that may be part of why he will only eat every 7 days, as he takes so long to get all of his meal through his system that it takes him that long to rebuild up his stomach acids for the next meal.

As for weigh gain, there has been at least one study done that shows if you at least slit a mouse's skin alone the back side, the snake can digest it better and will be able to grow longer and heftier from it. So once you have warmed your mouse, slit the mouse's skin either from nose to tail or with several slits(all along the back) just use a very sharp pairing knife or a pair of cuticle scissors.

The combination of these things should help.
Click to expand...

Ok, wow. I only lowered the temp because the vet said that maybe he as an individual snake needed a little cooler environment. He did tell me to have it at 80 but I couldn't get it to hit 80, I could get 78 or 83. I'll put it up to 83.

He has ALWAYS only eaten every 7 days. Even for the breeder. He just won't eat more often than that. So its not the temps. Its just him.

I weighed him last night and my worries were nothing I don't think. He's 17 grams now. I think he'll be ok.

However I do think I will try the slitting. Does that work for all sizes of mice? For all snakes? I mean making it easier to digest? :eats02:
 
Yes slitting does help work of all sizes of mice and make it easier to digest period for corns and kings, I can say by experience. Other snakes I can not give you an answer to those questions for.

Glad he is actually gaining, also if you are weighing with a digital scale, if the batteries are getting weak they weigh inaccurately, mine for example will weigh the item as less than it is.
 
Mine uses a litium battery and its brand new so I don't think that is an issue, however I do plan to replace regularly as we use this scale ALOT. Thanks for the info and I will try the slitting. This site is great :)
 
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