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Runt hatchling growth...opinions?

pinatamonkey Oct 15, 2003 01:03 AM

One of my corns hatched out at around 9", compared to his brothers and sisters which were around 10.5" at hatch. He worried me a bit at first, but he's got a great appetite, and eats on the same schedule as the rest of them - albeit smaller mice.

The clutch hatched out on June 26 - about 3 1/2 months ago. Since then, he's grown a total of 4", while his brothers and sisters have grown about 6.5" since hatching. Tonight he measured 13.2" and 9 grams. His sister came to be 17.1" and 25 grams.

I made a graph of his growth and one of his sibling's growth. He grew very little in the first 2 months - just 0.7". Since then, his growth rate seems on par with his siblings. It puts him about 2 months 'behind schedule' - he's just now getting to the size his clutchmates were at @1 1/2 months.

So, here's some questions:
Do small hatchlings tend to 'catch up' with the norm (or at least the rest of their clutch) eventually? Do they eventually reach the same length, or do they tend to reach a smaller maximum size?

Just curious.
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-audri
Webpage/Pics

Replies (3)

Gargoyle420 Oct 15, 2003 01:37 AM

I dont know about corns but with bearded dragons,ball pythons,Burmese pythons,pitbulls,dobermans,Ive never had a runt that got as big as the rest of the litter.I know it's comparing apples to oranges but it's just my opinion and i could be wrong....Paul.

moonpie Oct 15, 2003 05:26 PM

I just got a baby Okeetee a few weeks ago, and he is very small. He only weighed 10 grams when I got him, and his birthdate was listed as 6/19/03. He is a very good eater though (as well a s biter! LOL). They have a reputation for getting very large as adults, so it will be interesting to watch his growth. I will try to weigh him every few weeks to see how he is doing. On the other hand, I have a creamsicle that was a very large hatchling, and grew extremely fast for a while, but leveled off at less than 4 feet. Keep us updated on how your snake is doing. Be good.
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0.1 Okeetee corn snake- baby
1.0 bubblegum snow corn snake- adult
0.1 creamsicle corn snake- adult

boscoman76 Oct 17, 2003 07:58 PM

Runts are statistically smaller as adults also, but the seem to have better feeding habits.

tom

xtremeherps@yahoo.com

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