Donkey's not growing????

[beansale]

We got two ribbon snakes from a local reptile store in february. They were almost the exact same size. You couldn't even tell them apart. We feed them together every week, and haven't had any problems with them fighting over food. Unfortunately, Donkey doesn't seem to be growing. Shrek is huge--bigger than I thought ribbons were supposed to get. He's as wide as my thumb, and Donkey is smaller than a pencil. They both eat when I feed them. Shrek eats the comets, and Donkey prefers rosy reds, but will eat comets. I watch them eating, and Donkey just doesn't eat as much as Shrek. They seem to be in great health other than that. Donkey has shed once already. I just want to make sure that i shouldn't be doing something different. Is it normal to have this much difference between the two? I have researched it, and can't find much to help.

[Ravnos]

Ribbon snakes are quite capable of hitting 30" in length. Anyway, comets have more substance to them than rosy reds, that may account for the difference. Or it could be that the smaller one may just be stressed by being kept in such a close proximity to another snake. In the wild they are solitary animals, and generally only come together for breeding and brumation. Stress alone is enough to account for many things, including a lack of growth and the feeding differences. Really though, it could just be that he's a smaller snake, or slower developing. They're like an other animal, some get big, some stay small.

If their size difference gets significant (it sounds like its pretty much there), I would really consider seperating them. Snakes are opportunistic feeders, and while its not common with ribbons, cannibalism is not unknown. Better to be safe than sorry.

Rav

[beansale]

Thanks so much Ravnos. I was hoping I'd hear from you. Every post I've read of yours is amazing and so helpful. I was hoping that I could avoid separating them, but I guess I can't. Do you think it would help if I just separated them for feeding? They seem to spend a lot of time together, either wrapped together in their hiding spot or on their branch up by the top of the cage. Like I said, Donkey doesn't seem ill in any way, just considerably smaller. As far as cannibalism, that is only likely if they are fed together,right? I mean, Shrek isn't gonna just start eating Donkey out of the blue? Now, I'm really worried. I'm gonna go check on them right now.

[beansale]

Okay,just checked on them, and took them out to measure them. Donkey is actually longer than Shrek. Shrek is just so much fatter. He's at least twice the girth of donkey, if not three times. I don't know what, if any, relevance this has, but they have much different lounging habits also. Donkey is laying in plain sight 90% of the time. Shrek is almost always hiding. Do you think that might have anything to do with anything?