Slow growers

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Why do you want to make him grow faster?

Just feed your snake an appropriate size prey once a week and it will grow just fine there is NO RUSH, just enjoy see him grow.

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I second that I was lucky and my girl happened to grow fast well IMO. pushing 1200g at 2 years.

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Originally Posted by sg1trogdor

I second that I was lucky and my girl happened to grow fast well IMO. pushing 1200g at 2 years.

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I have 2 girls from NERD who are pushing 1100g at one year :O
I have yearlings who are 900g and yearlings who are closer to 500g and one little yearling who is 200g!!!
They all grow differently....and they have all been fed the same prey and on the same schedule ;)

I have a VERY slow grower. She is the most picky eater I have ever seen. She is almost 2 years old and is 400g :( No matter what I try she will only eat periodically. lol The only snake that I am biting at the bit to grow to breeding size as she is my only 100% het for albino. I am willing to wait and offer food every week.

Don't worry they will grow at their own pace. Good luck

I consider my self fortunate to have a bunch of garbage disposals that grow like crazy

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Originally Posted by starmom

Do not power feed your snake or your snake will die.

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That's a pretty generalized, and harsh statement. I am not saying that power-feeding is the best thing for an unexperienced owner. However, that statement is not true in any regard.

To the OP. Some good advice was given in this thread. There is no need to rush things. If you want to have a bigger snake, then buy one that is a yearling or older.

Tim, I must respectfully disagree.

The OP just got the snake and wants information on putting girth and size on it quickly.

Being a new snake keeper, this course of action will invariably lead to either regurg or vomiting (depending on where in the digestion process the rodent is when the action happens.) Already being impatient, the most likely scenario is that the new snake keeper will not wait weeks to feed it a smaller prey, but will just carry forth with trying to put as much into the snake as possible.

As I'm sure you know, compounding the issue of regurg or vomiting is the real danger and probability of the gastric fluids going into the glottis and causing RI's.

Also, it is well documented that obese snakes are shorter lived snakes; having death come earlier due to power feeding by their keepers.

I believe that we all have a responsibility to these animals to spread correct husbandry and feeding procedures to new snake owners and existing snake owners; especially those smart enough to be asking questions, as in the case of the OP.

Lastly, you left out he rest of my post. Here is the whole thing:
NO.
Do not power feed your snake or your snake will die.
Snakes grow at their own pace.
Feed appropriately sized prey every 7 days.

I feel that this post is still correct.

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Originally Posted by starmom

Tim, I must respectfully disagree.

The OP just got the snake and wants information on putting girth and size on it quickly.

Being a new snake keeper, this course of action will invariably lead to either regurg or vomiting (depending on where in the digestion process the rodent is when the action happens.) Already being impatient, the most likely scenario is that the new snake keeper will not wait weeks to feed it a smaller prey, but will just carry forth with trying to put as much into the snake as possible.

As I'm sure you know, compounding the issue of regurg or vomiting is the real danger and probability of the gastric fluids going into the glottis and causing RI's.

Also, it is well documented that obese snakes are shorter lived snakes; having death come earlier due to power feeding by their keepers.

I believe that we all have a responsibility to these animals to spread correct husbandry and feeding procedures to new snake owners and existing snake owners; especially those smart enough to be asking questions, as in the case of the OP.

Lastly, you left out he rest of my post. Here is the whole thing:
NO.
Do not power feed your snake or your snake will die.
Snakes grow at their own pace.
Feed appropriately sized prey every 7 days.

I feel that this post is still correct.

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First off, I would like to apologize to the OP for slightly derailing the thread.

Starmom. I understand your disagreement, regarding the issue as it concerns a new and unexperienced keeper. I stated that in my post. I do not want to get into what may be deemed "correct power feeding", as I believe that is a topic for advanced husbandry. However, I do believe it has a place.

I will agree that if done improperly, regurgitation can occur. I have not heard of an RI caused by gastric fluids, but I am not staing that i can't happen.

As for leaving out the rest of your thread, I fully agree with what I left out, and did not need to comment on it. I only captured the part of your original thread that I disagreed with.

Each of us is entilitled to an opinion, and I agree that you are giving a new owner the best possible advice.

Respectfully,

FWIW, on the advice of Kara and other breeders that I respect, I DO feed my babies every 5 days. Only when they are a year old do I move them to once every 7 days.

Some will even argue that you can't power feed ball pythons, because they WILL fast to catch up if they are fed too much.

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Originally Posted by Argentra

I know it's frustrating to have a slow grower. :) My young normal female is about 14 months old and only recently topped 500g, and I have a female corn snake (raised on a maintenance diet, unfortunately) that is almost a year old and is still the size of a hatchling!

Take heart, feed them one properly sized prey item every 5 days at most, and just enjoy them no matter the size! :)

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That is how my 07 corns are, I cant get them to grow for there lives...lol. My ball is also a slow grower, she is an 06 and 550. She is picking the pace up thought, with a huge gain, so I imagine she is ready to really grow.

Starmom, I am curious where your wealth of experience comes from? Also, where are you getting your information from? Do you have any scientific data to back it up? I've always fed hatchlings every 5 days without a problem.