Posted by:
ameratsnake
at Sat Mar 8 01:38:36 2014 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by ameratsnake ]
That animal from what i can see appears very healthy and is of a decent size for its age. I have had a few North American rat snakes (black, yellow, glades, Texas, and gray) that were still slightly smaller than 18" at the two year mark.(although most are closer to 30" All of them were also four and a half to five and a half foot, by the fourth year! Growth rates have a lot to do with sexes, temps, and feeding in my experience. I "power feed" in early spring and early fall, feed sparingly in hot summer months, and go off feed for brumation(stop feeding about two or three weeks before brumation, to let them cleanse) My temps are kept between 78 and 86 degrees during normal feeding seasons and around 44 to 53 degrees during brumation, occasionally rising to 60 during midday. My snakes eat three to four times in a two week period during "power feeding" and once or twice every two weeks during hot summer months.(shed cycles are an exception) Also, male rat snakes often grow much faster than females. hope this helps
[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]
|