Reptile & Amphibian Forums

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends (we are working today in Canada).

Lots of discussion on feeding below...
One poster brought up the subject of stunted snakes. I have seen quite a few in Petshops. Some snakes have been for sale for over a year. They are fed a barely maintenance diet.

For example. I have the clutchmate of three 2006 Southern Pine Snakes that have been for sale for more than a year in a local Pet Store. They are still the same size as mine was a year ago, about 100 grams (4 oz). My Southern is over 700 grams now. It was not power fed. I give her an appropriate size meal about every 7 days. Now she is eating 2 rat pups or 2 adult mice per feeding.

Will these stunted snakes ever recover? I think anyone would be nuts to buy them now. I am sure they are being presented as 2007's(could easily pass).

I don't believe stunted snakes will ever reach their natural potential.

Can these snakes recover? Opinions?

It is my belief that if a snake is to reach its maximum potential in size the first two years of growth must be capitolized on.

Even a snake that has been grossly underfed for long periods will put on size once a correct diet is fed. But achieving what it was genetically capable of as a hatchling will probably never happen.

Just my observations....

Phil
pituophis.org

I've bought southern pinesnakes from breeders before that were "yearlings" and were exactly the same size as they were right out of the egg because they were being fed one mouse pinky every 14 days or whatever just to keep them alive,I didn't know this at the time of buying them,they also just grew a few inches and died of some disease. All the other baby southern pines I got and had will reach almost 4 feet in the first year easy just feeding the right sized rat every time they digest the one before. Heres a pic of a female southern pine at 42 inches that's not even a year old. Kevin

Yep, these chronically underfed snakes are also generally very dehydrated due to poor nutrition and very prone to regurgitation syndrome also. Not a good situation at all.

Nice looking southern btw.

Phil

Thanks,it's only seventy degrees in my basement bedroom with a undertank heat pad on one side of my pine's cages and they love it! They probably think their actually underground. That's exactly what these underfed southerns had was that regurgitation syndrome which they never got over and croked. I used to work at a pet store in Texas where I can say this now,lol,but lots of baby kings would escape as hatchlings and we would find them out back behind the store 4 months later in the bird aviaries where there was mice everywhere and these snakes would be like 2 feet longer,lol,so I know they ate all the time basically and they were not obese by any means. Kevin

I have a corn that was fed a barely maintenance diet for a year at the pet store, he was around 22" as a yearling... I've seen corns that are half that age already rubbing against three feet.
Anyway, I moved him up from pinkies to fuzzies for about two feedings and then straight to small mice twice a week, and he put on size like crazy. It's been around 4 months, and he's now around two and a half feet and quite a bit thicker. Hoping to be breeding ready by next season.
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-Jaime Palma
Mad-City Constrictors