Is my yearling Coastal normal?

[Becky27]

Hey guys.

I'm just after a bit of info regarding my little coastal Lucifer.
I was just scrolling through some old threads and came across one where people were showing off their coastal's and I'm now a bit concerned that he's too small for his age and maybe not growing properly :cry:

He's currently 1 year and 3 months old
I just got a rough length measurement of about 55-60cm
At almost 12 months old, he only weighed about 35g (am looking for my scales to get a more updated weight)
He's currently eating 3 pinky mice about once a week (I've tried pinky rats and he tries to eat them but they're still just a little too big and he spits them out again)


Is he a bit behind? Should I feed he less more often? I'm just not sure :?
Any help/thoughts would be appreciated.


There not the best pics but hopefully they can give you some sort of idea.



Cheers,
Beck.

 

[Rlpreston]

Hey guys.

I'm just after a bit of info regarding my little coastal Lucifer.
I was just scrolling through some old threads and came across one where people were showing off their coastal's and I'm now a bit concerned that he's too small for his age and maybe not growing properly :cry:

He's currently 1 year and 3 months old
I just got a rough length measurement of about 55-60cm
At almost 12 months old, he only weighed about 35g (am looking for my scales to get a more updated weight)
He's currently eating 3 pinky mice about once a week (I've tried pinky rats and he tries to eat them but they're still just a little too big and he spits them out again)


Is he a bit behind? Should I feed he less more often? I'm just not sure :?
Any help/thoughts would be appreciated.


There not the best pics but hopefully they can give you some sort of idea.

View attachment 309405View attachment 309406

Cheers,
Beck.

He does seem very small compared to my coastal of the same age, and he was a pain and went off food for a length. Someone else might have some more input on size though.

Is there a reason you haven't graduated to larger mice yet? There's not much in pinkies to fatten them up. He should be having one larger size rather than three small ones.


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[Becky27]

Yeh, I've tried velvet mice and pinky rats and he attempts to eat them gets the head in his mouth then spits them back out and wont touch them again??

 

[adderboy]

Imbricata are generally smaller than "coastals", but I have some three-month-old imbricatas that are almost as big as your coastal which suggests it is below normal expectations. RIprestron suggests you should feed larger food items and I agree - get it onto weaner mice asap. It's easily big enough to eat these and there is far more nutrition in them than in pinkies. You should notice much more rapid growth after that.

 

[Becky27]

Cheers guys, I'll give him another crack at larger mice

 

[kitten_pheonix]

If he wont take them straight away just keep at it he will get hungry enough to eat them, that and you cannot feed an adult jungle pinkies anyway so may as well fix the issue now, if he still has issues try a week old quail.

 

[notechistiger]

A lot of people will start their hatchling coastals straight on pinkie rats.

Yes, your coastal is small. In saying that, don't stress too much. Baby snakes will grow and grow no matter how much food you pump into him, so get him started on some bigger stuff and feed consistently and he'll catch up. Even if he's a little small as an adult, it's not much of a concern if he's healthy

If he's taking three pinkie mice, start on fuzzy or velvet mice instead. Leave the rats for a moment, it could just be he's being picky and refusing rats (rather then them being too big).

I suspect you might be stressing him out when attempting to feed. Are you waving it around on his face or maybe hovering over him while he's eating? Try just placing a velvet mouse in his tub and leaving him entirely alone for the night (no peeking!). Even if he spits it out, he might decide to give it another try later. If you're concerned about leaving a dead mouse in his enclosure all night, don't worry about it. Their stomachs are far tougher than you think and if you are indeed stressing him then this is one of the best ways to get it to work.

 

[montysrainbow]

Give him time my willow was the same when i 1st got her but shes beefing up now and never refuses a feed. I think keep trying the rats and dont stress. They are all different

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[Pythons Rule]

maybe try feeding it on Fuzzy mice for at least 6 feeds then upgrade to Hopper Mice, if he is still abit to small for hoppers keep feeding him fuzzies. just feed him every 3-4 days