What is small head syndrome???

[Steve&Jo]

Hey every1 Newbie to the group
I have a Murray Darling here at home, a lovely stud of 2 1/2yrs!
But someone recently tried telling me that he has small head syndrome...
What is it and how do I tell if my baby has it??[/list]

 

[Stevethepom]

its also known as pin head syndrome and its where the head of the snake grows alot slower than the body, and ive heard two explinations of this,

1. the snake is overfed and its body is grower at a faster rate than its head.

2. the snake is being fed prey items that are way too small, so therefore the snake has no need to grow its head.

i`m no expert and i`m sure somebody else will also have an idea.

Cheers
STP
Leader of the Love the Glove Party

 

[Fangs]

A breeder with a lot of experience told me its more to do with Steves second explaination about small prey items.
cheers

 

[lutzd]

Welcome

Welcome to the group, Steve & Jo.

...and thanks for the answer, Steve! I hadn't heard the second explanantion, but it does make sense.

 

[africancichlidau]

Yeah gloves old boy, I too had heard of #1 and lived in fear of it for a while but this is the first time I've heard it related to prey size. Does make a lot of sense though really as nature does some strange things sometimes. So to ensure none of mine get pin headed I'm off now to find the missus cats Thanks for that Gloves old boy , very interesting.

 

[popp]

Sounds like a pretty good reason pom,i also heard second reason explained by a large breeder aswell.

 

[africancichlidau]

Well I reckon if popp & pom have both heard it from different sources then it may just be true

 

[Steve&Jo]

Thanks guys!
We feed him once every 2 weeks and have been making sure the rats are a fair size.
Im glad I found this website with all you smart chickens on it!


So what is the supposed 'normal' size head of a 9ft python?
Im not stupid, just really interested on learning everything!
:?

 

[lutzd]

You'll probably find that the "fair size" could be bigger! I'm constantly surprised at the size of prey my babies can take! :shock:

... and we're the same, mostly - relative beginners, sharing with each other whatever we've managed to pick up along the way.

...and as for "chickens" : MMMMMmmmmmm... snake food! :lol:

 

[Steve&Jo]

Well I was gobsmacked when I was told they eat wallabies in the wild....god damn..... :shock:

What else besides a large rat do you feed yours?
The best Jake did was when he got out of his enclosure and made his way into a different room and devoured the 2 pregnant rats..

 

[Fangs]

A snake that size I guess would feed on anything it wanted

anyone got any spare kids? failing that chickens and wabbits??

 

[africancichlidau]

LOL "fast Food" OR "If mum won't feed me I'll help myself", I love a smart snake BTW where ya from guys?

 

[Steve&Jo]

We are in Sydney! In the pit they call the Sutherland Shire...

Hes very intelligent, a bit too smart for his own good! :wink:
Another silly question. do butchers sell the wabbits??

Im just hoping he doesnt detour past the Scorpions... :roll:

 

[Alexahnder]

i don't think so. I think reptile munchies might sell rabbits sells rabbits. What about just two rats a feed??

 

[roadkill5000]

i wouldnt think that a snake would eat the scorpions but then again if your hungry,your hungry and theres a first time for everything :lol:

 

[saikrett]

hey a shire person!!

 

[dan_lizard]

Yeah for the Shire!!!

 

[pythonss]

pin heads.

Pin heads nearly always come from over feeding. It can be corrected via a controled diet and the head will catch up in growth over time. While its not really considered a serious problem, over feeding of any animal isnt a healthy habit.
Would love to see any information about the head not needing to grow because of food item size. I have never seen anything that would sugest that a snake can stop its head from growing while still maintaining body growth. It is how ever known that the head of reptiles and most other animals wont responde from excellerated growth at the same pace as the rest of the body.
the origanal post said that they had a murray darling? This species dosent have as larger head as other carpet forms..In a later email you were asking about the head size of a 9 foot python. If that is the size of your python i think you will find that it may not be a murray darling as the average lenght for this species is in the 2 mtr range..
cheers paul.

 

[Fangs]

Alexahnder,the reason wabbits and chickens were suggested is because they are bigger than rats so snakey has to work his jaws etc a little harder to swallow it.

 

[saikrett]

do you have any photo's?