Please Explain!

[imported_Varanus]

Is there an explaination for why Eastern Brown Snakes appear to have a very slow growth rate in their first few years of life?

Is it possibly due to their diet as juveniles as opposed to adults (as I have been informed)? How old is your average metre long wild texty ( or is that like asking, "how long's a piece of string")?

I keep getting asked by clients "How old is that one" and it would be good to give an informed answer instead of a best guess.

Cheers,

Richard.

 

[Snake Catcher Victoria]

Good question, when they stop eating skinks ect and graduate onto fat, warm blooded mammals and birds they start to put on the size.
In captivity they are weaned onto rodents earlier and put on weight a lot quicker.
I get asked that "how old is it" question all the time.
It will always be a guess, unless the snake is a juvy, yearling or obviously aged.
Its easy to tell if a snake is old or young but guessing the age is really only for the benifit of the punter, so take a guess, make it sound confident and the punters mind will be at ease in the knowlege you know your stuff.
You cant just say.."aww i dunno",
Its easier to tell with tigers, for me anyway

 

[imported_Varanus]

Yeah, guess I'll have to make an "educated guess" (ie; wing it).

Any tips for Tigers, Baz?

 

[jordo]

Any tips for Tigers, Baz?

Count the bands

 

[Shaggz]

lift it's tail and look up it's date.. On a serious note though Barry has the right idea, People want something they can identify with so maybe using terms such as toddler, teenager, young adult etc etc the sort of way that people identify dogs ages by the old doggy year = 7 human years if that makes any sense