Underweight?

[GarterGeek]

How do you tell if a snake is underweight? Bizet, my eastern garter, has always been thinner than my other garter, and he's recently been refusing food.

He went off food at this time last year, and he's still active and curious, so it doesn't seem urgent, but I still want to keep my eye on it.

[infernalis]

can you see backbone?? skin look folded and loose?

if not, chances are you just have a "non plumper"

[BUSHSNAKE]

sounds like hes looking to breed, at this time of year males will go off feed cuz theyre more interested in breeding

[Selkielass]

I thought they bred early spring as they cam out of brumation... Is there a second round of babies delivered in the fall?

[BUSHSNAKE]

i just had a male breed for the first time about a week ago

[Mommy2many]

As I sit typing, I have all of my male squiggles hanging around their sister.

[GarterGeek]

Thank you for the replies! Bizet went off food at about this time last year, so I'm not really surprised. I was just concerned because he's so skinny compared to my other snakes.

I don't see any backbone or skin-folds. So, I guess he's fine.

I've often heard that reptile problems are often noticed too late, so I'm paranoid. - Better safe than sorry!

[mustang]

Thank you for the replies! Bizet went off food at about this time last year, so I'm not really surprised. I was just concerned because he's so skinny compared to my other snakes.

I don't see any backbone or skin-folds. So, I guess he's fine.

I've often heard that reptile problems are often noticed too late, so I'm paranoid. - Better safe than sorry!

well said, now that sounded like an expert/parent/responsible owner!

[ConcinusMan]

First sign is the skin. At first it becomes rather loose and eventually as the snake gets thinner, folds usually appear on the sides right where the sides meet the belly scales. If the only thing wrong is that a snake was underfed/neglected, and they will eat, they can recover rather quickly and fill out the skin in a short time.