Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a 1.1 pair of black milks and i think my female my be a little over weight. she seems to have a bit of a "double chin" or atleast it looks like her neck is starting to get too big for her head. hes about 10 months old, about 29" and eats an adult mouse once a week ( has been since about 8 mons old), am i being a little overzealous with her feeding?

on the other hand, i have a male, same age, about 27" who eats 2 rat pups about once a week who just seems a LITTLE bit underweight, but for all i know he may be normal while my female seems huge! should i keep feeing him this way and maybe reduce the females feedings for a while or what? sorry no pics right now as they both will not sit still. just like to hear what you guys think. thanks.
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* 1.1 Black Milksnakes
* 0.1 Jungle Carpet Python
* 1.0 Ball Python
... and sadly had to get rid of all my boas

Well, she may be getting overweight. Another way to check that can possibly give you a clue is that if you hold her, bend or shape her body to form a U, look at the area where the snake's body turns, and if there is any skin folds, that is another sign. Also, if her scales look somewhat stretched out all over, then that is another sign. It is just hard to tell without a pic to see, but I also understand about them not wanting to sit still.

If you are referring to her with eating one adult mouse a week and she is only 29 inches, then that may be somewhat excessive. Again, without seeing her or the adult mouse you are referring to, it is hard to say. I will say that where I get my adult mice from, an adult mouse would be way too big to feed to any milk or king I have that is or was 29 inches. But, you may be referring to a small adult or medium.

Thing is, with some snakes, once they get the weight on, it never comes off or is very hard to get it off. Also, snakes are individuals. Some get overweight right away, and some never seem to ever retain weight and always have a leaner look and build to them. I have seen both sides of this.

With my collection, I now feed some snakes with higher metabolisms more often than the ones with lower metabolisms. Thru the years, I have noticed that I could have fed some snakes more often or with somewhat bigger meals, or fed some snakes less, as I have had some snakes get fat when it really didn't make any sense, according to their food intake. Some snakes get a meal every 5 days, some every 7, and some every 10-14 days. It is one of those things that you learn with each individual snake over time.

My motto is that it is always better to have a leaner snake with a good weight than a fat or overweight one. After all, to parallel this example, for us humans, it is healthier for us to have less weight than we should. Snakes that are overweight may be more open to possibilities of having health issues due to it as well.

If she does seem to be fat, then skip a feeding or two, depending on how often, and see how that does. Or, make her food items smaller.

Take care!
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Genesis 1:1

I agree. You see very different metabolisms in individuals. I've cut back on the size and frequency of this girls feedings because she was showing a little skin between the scales. The male, who is the same age, digests his food much faster so I feed him a little more frequently. He looks nice and sleek. Ironically the female seems to be growing faster than him despite less food.

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Genesis 1:1