how old is my dumerils?

[Mikoh4792]

Originally Posted by exwizard

I like your question. Before I answer this, I will tell you where I am coming from with this. I keep 11 species of 38 different snakes. They range from Corn snakes and Kings to Burms and a Scrub. I feed different size rats to different size snakes.

2 examples I want to zero in on are Medusa, my 8'+ Burm and Black Betty, my 9' Dum. Medusa is younger than Betty and still has a lot of growing to do, Burm that she is. I have her on small rabbits weekly. Betty is the same size now that she was when we first picked her up 3 years ago. She is much bigger than Dums are supposed to be and will her being 11+ years old, her growth rate has slowed to an imperceptible level. She is on XXXL rats, one per month, if she even takes that.

Yes, growth rates depend a lot on what and how much they eat, but species and age has a major influence in that as well. With most, if not all snakes, most of their growth happens when they are younger and slow down as they age but certain species get much bigger than others overall and those size limits are primarily determined by the species themselves. Of course it's not exclusive to that but it is heavily influenced by that.

Ah I see.

So let's take a female jungle carpet python for example. Both it's parents are around 6 ft. No more than 7.

The female is 3.5ft at a year old(I know huge) from an aggressive feeding regimen. Does this mean that even with a moderate feeding schedule, the fact that she is big for her age means that she will most likely be one of those monster jungles, or can she fed to grow around 6 to 7 ft without underfeeding her? Keeping in mind that she still has a couple years to grow.

[marvelfreak]

Originally Posted by Mikoh4792

Ah I see.

So let's take a female jungle carpet python for example. Both it's parents are around 6 ft. No more than 7.

The female is 3.5ft at a year old(I know huge) from an aggressive feeding regimen. Does this mean that even with a moderate feeding schedule, the fact that she is big for her age means that she will most likely be one of those monster jungles, or can she fed to grow around 6 to 7 ft without underfeeding her? Keeping in mind that she still has a couple years to grow.

My 8'.4" and 16 lbs Jungle Carpet is a flat out monster for a Jungle. Since she was three years of age she gone off of feeding 4 to 5 month's every winter. Even then she will skip a feeding a couple times through out the rest of the year. From 1 year of age when i got her to almost 5 or 6 she would only eat once a month. I offer every other week but she just wouldn't eat. Out of every snake i ever own she is by far the most irregular eater and yet she grown to be a monster. So it really hard to say.