| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| heatseeker872591 |
Posted - 29/12/2010 : 18:46:29
well my 4 and a half footish corn snake blake, who is undergoing a diet plan for him being over weight last time at 800 grams when he should only be between 600 and 700 grams, well ive put him on a diet plan of one mouse every 3 to 4 weeks and it doesnt seem to be working still, i weighed him today and his weights gone up!!!!!!!!!!! from 800 to between 800 and 900 now. i think its best to space out his feedings even more like 1 mouse once every to to 3 months or something, plus tonight i started his "climbing the stairs" excercise which i been told is a good excercise method, he climbed those stairs easy so i made him do it another 2 times, what i have noticed aswell is that he dont slither about much like he did when he was younger, like my new corn an 09 anery he is often exploring and slithering about the viv which in a way is excercise in itself, but with blake it seems as if he needs a bit of motivation to get him going, he is fine once i get him out and handle him he loves to slither about, i noticed where all the fat reserves in his body are, it is in his rear quarters looks like a sausage but his front end of his body looks normal. i am just wondering if it is a good idea to space out his feedings to like once every 8 weeks or something? im not even feeding him x large mice. just 1 medium mouse per feed. but it did shock me to see he had put on weight. |
| 5 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| jonoandapril |
Posted - 05/01/2011 : 20:07:59
you mite try studing him as that helps the lads get active,lol |
| lotabob |
Posted - 30/12/2010 : 19:04:43
You'll have to get him a playsnake magazine get him back in the mood, and working hard to get in shape for the ladies. |
| heatseeker872591 |
Posted - 30/12/2010 : 16:54:42
many thanks, i been doing the climbing the stairs with him quite regularly now since last night, he does seem to climb them very easily and does enjoy doing it. its good to see him working his muscles. i remmeber last year and the year before from may to august he was constantly slithering about the vivarium being restless constantly up against the glass of the viv which i found out was due to him being male and his body clock was telling him it is mating season but coz he was so active i think that burns alot of calories for snakes to keep their weight down. yet blake hasnt done that at all this year which is a bit strange. ( OR AT LEAST i cant remember him doing it) |
| lotabob |
Posted - 29/12/2010 : 21:09:19
Dieting an animal capable of drastically slowing its metabolism isn't going to be easy. changing the feeding frequency further and further apart alone isn't going to be enough. You also have to keep them active, get them working their muscles for longer than you normally would. The stairs trick as you are doing is a good one having to haul themselves up works their muscles hard, try doing it for longer, more frequently. Swimming is also a good one but not all snakes take well to water. Chuck in a load of new stuff into the viv/faun (?) for him to climb on, keep things interesting and he will explore. Try reducing the food size rather than just leaving longer between feeds, when they don't eat for long periods they will begin to slow their metabolism. |
| Figs |
Posted - 29/12/2010 : 19:10:32
i'm no expert here, but if he's gaining weight from not eating too much could that possibly mean something other than just being chubby?
Like a tumor or something?
Oh poor Blake - hopefully he is just a chunk  |
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