New corn just arrived!

[Argentra]

Yay! My new HypoBloodred female corn from SerpenCo just got here this morning!

She's quite alert and very pretty... but also very little! Since Rich told me she was hatched in summer 07, I was expecting something a bit bigger than this:

Just found in the box


The weigh-in: 6g!!


On hand before going home Sorry it's so blurry...she's a squirmer


Because I was expecting a larger snake, I set up a 10g tank for her and had to make a stressful last minute switch: placing the 10g in the bedroom and moving my Anery into it, then taking her 12qt tub and rinsing it three times with really hot water then three rounds with the Chlorhexidine on the tub and some new hides and dish to set that up for the new girl! I hated having to use a tub another snake had been in without bleaching and PAMing (I used Jurrasi-Mite at least, since it can be sprayed indoors with animals around), but I had no choice since I couldn't have put this tiny girl into a 10g!

So, those with corn experience, might you be able to help me here? How old do you suppose a snake that small would be? That cannot be a 9 month old corn! My Anery female is supposedly only 7 months old and she weighs over 62g and is twice the size!

[joepythons]

Yay! My new HypoBloodred female corn from SerpenCo just got here this morning!

She's quite alert and very pretty... but also very little! Since Rich told me she was hatched in summer 07, I was expecting something a bit bigger than this:

Just found in the box


The weigh-in: 6g!!


On hand before going home Sorry it's so blurry...she's a squirmer


Because I was expecting a larger snake, I set up a 10g tank for her and had to make a stressful last minute switch: placing the 10g in the bedroom and moving my Anery into it, then taking her 12qt tub and rinsing it three times with really hot water then three rounds with the Chlorhexidine on the tub and some new hides and dish to set that up for the new girl! I hated having to use a tub another snake had been in without bleaching and PAMing (I used Jurrasi-Mite at least, since it can be sprayed indoors with animals around), but I had no choice since I couldn't have put this tiny girl into a 10g!

So, those with corn experience, might you be able to help me here? How old do you suppose a snake that small would be? That cannot be a 9 month old corn! My Anery female is supposedly only 7 months old and she weighs over 62g and is twice the size!

Well unless she was the "runt" or fed a "maintenance" diet this is just enough to get them thru till they sell.Yea she can be that old.I am not saying Rich is wrong by doing this if infact he does,some breeders have no choice.Did you ask him why she is so small?

[Argentra]

I sent an email to him, and in addition to letting him know she got here safe and thanking him, I did ask why she's so tiny.

Luckily I had that 12qt tub, even tho it was occupied by another snake (a luckily healthy one), and even more lucky is the fact that one of my breeders had 8 pups this morning, so I could take three and freeze them for this little girl. I hated having to kill them like that, but I don't have any other way at the moment...

I would hate to think, tho, that a 9 month old snake could weigh only 6g! He must have confused the hatch time... Well, we shall see what he says.

[joepythons]

I sent an email to him, and in addition to letting him know she got here safe and thanking him, I did ask why she's so tiny.

Luckily I had that 12qt tub, even tho it was occupied by another snake (a luckily healthy one), and even more lucky is the fact that one of my breeders had 8 pups this morning, so I could take three and freeze them for this little girl. I hated having to kill them like that, but I don't have any other way at the moment...

I would hate to think, tho, that a 9 month old snake could weigh only 6g! He must have confused the hatch time... Well, we shall see what he says.

Did you get any pics of her before you bought her?

[Argentra]

Just the one on the web site that showed her as a hatchling. When I asked for any updated pix, he said he hadn't the time since he'd barely been able to get individual pictures of all the 07's on the site as it was.

[NickMyers03]

she looks like a hatchling...

[Argentra]

Well, Rich just wrote back and let me know that she is, indeed, around 9 months old and is a stellar eater but a slow grower. He also said that she is probably from a clutch that all hatched out small.

So I'll give her the week to settle in (which may take the whole time since she's still testing every surface of her tub), then start her on a nice schedule of every 5 day feedings and see where she goes from there.
Guess I won't be doing any breeding for a few years...

[Blue Apple Herps]

Many are fed on a maintenance diet. I don't know if Rich does this, but many of the bigger breeders do. Enough so they stay healthy, but not so much that they're growing like weeds. She very well could be a summer '07 hatchling. What matters now is that she's in your hands, and should start to plump up very quickly for you!

[joepythons]

When I asked for any updated pix, he said he hadn't the time since he'd barely been able to get individual pictures of all the 07's on the site as it was.

See this statement in itself would be enough to make me go elsewhere.I am not pointing out Rich just his statement being in my opinion a poor response to a potential customer.

[Blue Apple Herps]

See this statement in itself would be enough to make me go elsewhere.I am not pointing out Rich just his statement being in my opinion a poor response to a potential customer.

In Rich's defense, I imagine it was hard enough getting the pics he has up, up. When you hatch out several thousand snakes, getting pics of all isn't feasible. I think he can get away with this because of his reputation for producing such high quality animals. I've bought from SerpenCo w/o seeing pics, and have not once been disappointed - his animals are top notch and that alone I think lets him get away with it. Just my 2¢.