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Posted by michael56 on March 04, 2003 at 01:32:31:
In Reply to: Would like some info... posted by sipedon on March 03, 2003 at 23:33:03:
Hey Zac, and thank-you. First, no I did'nt collect them though I wish I could have. I live in Canada, west coast, NO waters here but rivers and ocean! I keep the snakes in my "Florida room" which is no more than a small, heated room built from clear poly in my basement. Room temp is about 73 degrees, each tank is provided with an under tank heater and sunlamp (household incandescent).
All is very basic/simple with no embellishments other than moderate water basins, hides and branches.
The younger snakes have been fed mostly goldfish and trout strips until recently since I've accessed appropriate sized whole trout. Now the yearling pictiventris eat 3" to 3 1/2" trout. The big guys received the same diet (goldfish and 6" to 9" whole trout) except occasionally they were also given some home-made snake sausage.
I just measured the youngest male pictiventris this morning at 22" long. Last January he (Atcheson) and Topeka were about 10" long. I'm careful not to overfeed, in fact I'm more worried about underfeeding either volume or variety. These nerodia could easily pack away a lot more than I've given them.
My baby browns, recieved same day as the Floridas were about 8" tops. This made them approx. half the weight of the pictiventris which are (I guess) 2-3 months older. They're now about 14" and much slimmer than their cousins. But now they are graduating to larger, more massive food items - more meat, organ and bone -which will cause or allow them (I believe) to grow at an accelerated rate as yours will soon. This is only my personal theory when I've envisioned a growth/time graph considering slow steady initial growth to about 1 year (which is usually twice birth size), 2nd year doubles, 3rd year half to double, then rapid tapering off. My red belly has at least doubled her mass in the last year and is just now a healthy, robust female but at 51" a year ago, I don't think she's gained much if any length. Fe, the mature female pictiventris continues to gain girth and length fast!
