Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 2 yr old 3ft male Anery seemed like his body was getting nice and thick, but his head size wasn't really changing.

Recently, instead of giving him 2 small, (I think you'd call them hopper) size mice, I picked up a pack of medium to large ones, unsure if he could eat them, but thought it would save money in the long run. Well his past 3 feeds he's taken them without any trouble, and his head is growing.

Do you think it would have grown in proportion anyway, or is it the stretching to eat the bigger mice, encouraging the bones to grow. Just curious, I like him looking more in proportion instead of a little head on a chunky body.

you're only feeding your 2 year old 2 small hoppers? my 1.5 year old reverse okeetee is on adult mice... and this week I am trying rats...

Anyway, if he can down 2 small hoppers, try a large hopper/small adult. In my opinion, there should be a slight bulge after eating. When he eats those small hoppers is there a bulge? If there isn't a noticeable bulge, then up the size. Others may have differing opinions, but that's my opinion. I'm by no means as experienced as others on this forum.

Remember, corn's heads are small looking anyway. I have a 5 month old Irian Jaya carpet python with a bigger head then my 1.5 year old corn.

>>My 2 yr old 3ft male Anery seemed like his body was getting nice and thick, but his head size wasn't really changing.
>>
>>Recently, instead of giving him 2 small, (I think you'd call them hopper) size mice, I picked up a pack of medium to large ones, unsure if he could eat them, but thought it would save money in the long run. Well his past 3 feeds he's taken them without any trouble, and his head is growing.
>>
>>Do you think it would have grown in proportion anyway, or is it the stretching to eat the bigger mice, encouraging the bones to grow. Just curious, I like him looking more in proportion instead of a little head on a chunky body.

I have wondered that too. Though I never continued with the smaller prey to find out I think it is funny that they grow that way. Dogs do also. Get tall, fill out, head grows, legs grow.....especially my Bullmastiffs it was like watching aliens sometimes.
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Sonya

I never thought of it that way since I have never really had a small-headed corn problem. However, I also feed them the appropriately sized prey.

I always felt that there was another factor in the appearance of corn snakes. For some reason, I have noticed that corns which fully constrict their prey seem & look much stronger than corns that don't constrict at all.

I have always wondered if these non-constricting corns would even be able to survive in the wild. Probably not! I am not sure if it is an instinct that's lost through genetics/breeding of mutant strains. I usually try to tease feed my corns with a warm frozen/thawed mouse to get some type of constricting response.