how old is my snake?

[mycolorfulheart]

You could approximate from when her baby gets to be 26", you'll never know for sure though.

[Snake lover 3-25]

You could approximate from when her baby gets to be 26", you'll never know for sure though.

ok... i think i'll do that

[stonyloam]

Well we could do snake years, dog years people years. It is said that a dog ages about 7 years for every people year, however this is not quite true, because the first couple of years the dog ages faster, about 9 years/year then slower 6 or seven for the next few years and as it gets very old even slower , 4 or 5. So it averages out about 7/1, depending on the dog of course. Seems snakes would follow the same trend, aging being front loaded. See where I am going here? No? Snakes probably reach peak sexual maturity a little later than dogs, so lets say after their fifth birthday you might expect maximum babies with diminishing returns some years after that as the snake reaches old age. A healthy mature eastern could be expected to have 30 or more babies, which is about twice the yield of your snake. It could be argued that your snake is off-peak, either younger or older than optimum baby snake having age. Since the snake was not huge (24”) and still growing , I would guess younger, four maybe five which is what I guessed before except I tend to think that might be her second bout of motherhood, so maybe four is more likely. Even more likely I don’t know what the heck I am talking about. You can tell I don’t have anything better to do tonight. By the way: glad you got your snake back

Hay Stefan: How old was that pig? I understand that as they mature the wing loading gets too high and they have trouble getting off of the ground.

[Stefan-A]

Don't bother, growth rates depend on environmental conditions, diet and feeding intensity and to some degree it's even individual.

[Snake lover 3-25]

darn...

[stonyloam]

Being a retired scientist, it is fun try to use the old brain to apply the little knowledge and logic that I possess to try to answer a question. I certainly can’t tell you how old your snake is, but I can take a pretty good guess at how young it isn’t. All of the stuff that follows is by observation. Wild snakes in NY are born in late July or early August, about four to five inches long, assume they add an inch or two before they go down for the winter in October. Snakes that I have found that I am pretty sure are approaching their first birthday are about 10 or 11 inches, let’s say about a foot by fall, at age 1. Assuming four or five inches of growth by age two would put them at 16 to 18 inches the next spring (first mating). Chloe was about this size last summer when she had 7 babies (about the date of her third birthday). Two gravid females that I found last summer were significantly larger, in the 20 to 22 inch class, and had about 16 babies each, so a good guess is that they were approaching their fourth birthday. So I am guessing that a 24 inch snake would have been at least four and probably five years old (or older) in the fall of 2006. In any case her expected lifespan probably improved significantly when she was taken into your family. Wow! I agree with Stefan, how bout that?

[Stefan-A]

Wow! I agree with Stefan, how bout that?

I had a feeling something was up when I saw that pig fly by my window..

[adamanteus]

Wow! I agree with Stefan, how bout that?

I agreed with Stefan once..... but then he changed his mind!

[Stefan-A]

"If you can't change your mind, are you sure you still have one?"

[adamanteus]

I'm pretty sure I still have one...... but most of it has calcified now.