Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've recently aquired a Nelson's milksnake (purty albino one), and it's taking peach fuzzy mice right now. I'm curious at what their growth rate is? How long until it will be able to take small adult mice if I'm feeding once a month? I'm shortly going to be ordering the frozen feeders for all my critters, and I want to make sure I get enough of the pinks/peaches/fuzzies/etc for the next 6 months. I know what I need for my boids, I just don't know milksnakes, ratsnakes, and kingsnakes well - and I have at least one of each!

Also, how long does it take for a milksnake fed once a week to reach adult size (normally)?

Thanks for your help!

~Krystie

I'd begin with a better feeding schedule: once a week is more what you're looking for to maintain a healthy animal. One feeding per month is going to be a starvation diet for a growing snake. With such low caloric intake, you'll likely stunt the growth of the animal, and what little it does grow will be very slow.

As far as time to adulthood - nelson's and other tropical milks are much faster growing than their North American counterparts. On a reasonable feeding schedule, your snake should be adult within 3 years, give or take. Some individuals grow more quickly than others, and food intake influences growth greatly (more food = faster growth. Food items should be roughly 1-1.5 times the diameter of the snake as a general rule.

-Cole

Cherry Co., NE L.t. multistrata

I agree with the other post. Feed it once a week and it should grow to be adult size around 3 years. Its hard to say when it will be able to take small mice with the limited info you gave us, but I usually bump up a size when I have to feed multiple mice in the same meal. So right now, if one fuzzy is a big meal for it, you won't be feeding it small mice for at least 6-8 months.

Here are some pictures of a female I have - they were taken in Sept 05, April 06 and October 06 (sorry about the order). I fed her more than once a week though (usually once every 3-4 days) and when I swicthed her over to rat pups in mid-06, she took off.

Good luck!

Dave

DNS Reptiles - Updated

I MEANT once per week. *shakes head* My toddler has been running around chasing imaginary crickets and mice to feed her imaginary snakes and frilled dragon...

Thanks for the info. my milk snake is a bit bigger than the one in the first pic ( I think - tho my hands are small and yours might be the opposite), and it seems happy and active whenever it's out.

I love these critters - so much fun, but don't require tons of time each day - just a check each day to do maintenance. Maybe that's why I have so many. *cough* 63 various non-furred plus a toddler, a husband, and working on paying on 4 more boids (my husband is most of this... lol).

~Krystie