My two amel girls!!!

[saxon]

Here are a couple of pics of Edna and Lilo my two '06 Amels.
They were hatched on 17th May 2006.

Lilo was a slow starter but Edna has always been a pig.
Is Lilo likely to 'catch up' with Edna???

[Montage_Morphs]

Lilo looks a perfectly healthy sized snake to me, whereas edna looks overweight. Whats their feeding shedual?

[saxon]

Lilo picks and chooses when she eats. It works out at about every 2 weeks she will take a small mouse. She weighs 105grm approx. 27" long.
Edna is on xl mice/ small rat weaners every week.
She isn't 'fat' there isn't any white between her scales only the white scales she has. weighs 290grm approx. 3ft+. She was fed on Tuesday.

[Montage_Morphs]

She looks overweight to me. And its the rats thats doing it. I don't feed any of my corns rats anymore as it bloats them and makes them "squishy". I would seriously consider taking her off rats.

That big bulge on her lower half looks squishy and fatty to me. My females got like that when I fed rats. They still had it even after pooping. Watch she doesnt develop hips

[saxon]

i've only just started giving the bigger corns rats. Is this not a good idea then?
Edna normally craps about 3-4 days after being fed I'll keep an eye on her when she has.
I followed advice when they were younger and kept them on 5 day feeds until a year old., feeding items the same size as girth.
Two of my corns are huge for their age and even the ones I think are small seem to be a bit bigger than other peoples of the same age.

I've recently cut back on feeding them to slow down their growth.

I don't have any plans to breed.

[Montage_Morphs]

I just find rats make them extremely bloated and sluggish. I like my corns to have nice muscle tone, meaning when I press my thumb agianst their belly I don't want to feel lots of squishy fat, I want to feel muscle.

If my corns are too big for adult mice then they get two at a time, but never rats. My biggest corn is a 5ft 850 gram male snow who only gets one adult mouse every 10 days. He still continues to shed very reguarly and puts on weight yet the mouse leaves no trace in him.

[saxon]

My male classic is already over 4ft and he's only 14months old.
He's the other one who has grwon at an alarming rate. I have his sister and she's only 150grms but he is about 390-400grms.
As I say I'm cutting them both down now to try and stop the rapid growth rate but they are looking all night after their feed.
If I cut them down are they likely to get aggressive?? They are both fantastically friendly snakes and very active despite their size.
I did take the male to Stephen Sharp as I was getting paranoid.
He agreed that he was a big snake but not overweight or fat.

If they are too big should I be aiming at them losing weight???

[Montage_Morphs]

Heres a great diet chart for corns revised by a good friend of mine with vast experience with corns.

-When they're on single pinks (2-3g), I feed every 4-5 days. (Snake = 4-15g)
-Double pinks (3g x 2) every 4-5 days. (Snake = 16-23g)
-Small fuzzies (5-7g) every 5-6 days. (Snake = 24-30g)
-Regular fuzzies (7-9g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 30-50g)
-Hoppers (9-12g) every 5-6 days (Snake = 51-90g)
-Weaned (14-20g) every 7 days (Snake = 91-170g)
-Adult (24-30g) every 7-x days (Snake = 170+)
-Jumbo Adults (40-50g) every 7-x days (Snake = 400g+)

[saxon]

I'm more or less on line with that at the moment with all my corns.
They are all '06's and the smaller ones range from 103grms to 150grms. These are on smalls, 15grm approx.
I have one snow who is 200grms and he is on medium, approx 25grms.
The two big ones, 390grms and 400grms(ish), are on xl mice/ rat weaners which weigh around 34grms.
For the last 3 months I've had them on weekly feeds.
My two big ones are still growing like fury though.

Could I email you a copy of my classics feeding chart since I got him to see if you think I'm overfeeding? I do use him as a dustbin sometimes. Does it seem as if I have been overfeeding him??
I only started weighing them recently.
I've just weighed him and he is a massive 463grms but doesn't look at all fat.


Here's a pic of him.

[Montage_Morphs]

Over 400 grams in a year sounds excessive to me. Im over the moon if I get my corns over 100 grams in their first year, and I feed quite regurarly.

PM me a copy of his records if you like. From that picture I would be feeding him every 10 days on an adult mouse. Theres no point in wasting food more often... hes a male and you have no intentions for breeding.