Overweight Burmese Python?

[Will's Reptiles]

Yesterday I got out my baby burmese python after feeding him on Monday and he seemed a little chunky at the base of his tail/around his vent. I had noticed it a little bit when I first got him but yesterday it seamed way bigger. He is being fed one small adult mouse every 7 days and gets out every day except for the day after he gets fed so I don't know why he would be overweight. I can still slightly feel his spine when I run my find down his back and he seems pretty muscular except for right at the base of his tail. Let me know if you have any ideas what it could be and it is just fat deposits, how do you get rid of them?
Thanks!

[bigsnakegirl785]

Looks like poop to me, the Burm is in great body tone

But why are you feeding mice to your Burm? They hatch out big enough to eat prey bigger than an adult mouse.

I believe young Burms can eat 15-20% like young retics can, so I'd try to find prey within that range.

[Minkness]

It's poop. Handle with care, and get him on rats. =)

[PsychoSnake]

It's just poop waiting to come out. Totally harmless, unless of course you get pooped on. :D

[Will's Reptiles]

Thanks guys for your responses! I'll give him a few days to pass it. I was only feeding him mice because that was what he was big fed before. What size rats would you guys recommend? Rat pups? The only rats my local reptile store has in small and up. And all of the adult mice are at least the width of his body or more.

[Justinbolleurs]

I would say feed him a medium size rat every 10 days or so. I feed my female Nicaraguan boa that is just about 4 feet a medium size rat with no issues

[bigsnakegirl785]

Thanks guys for your responses! I'll give him a few days to pass it. I was only feeding him mice because that was what he was big fed before. What size rats would you guys recommend? Rat pups? The only rats my local reptile store has in small and up. And all of the adult mice are at least the width of his body or more.

Whatever is 15-20% of his weight. From these photos, with nothing to gauge off of, I'd say weaned or small rats.

He'd need to be 155-300 grams for weaned rats, 230-527 grams for small rats, and 400-993 grams for mediums. If he's below 155 grams, then rat pups are appropriate.

The meal should leave a considerable bulge.

[dave himself]

Hi mate this is just my opinion but I think a small rat would be to big a feed for your burm. While mice are not a good idea to get young burms hooked on you could be lucky and when the time comes to get him on rats he'll readily take them with no problems. Now I've just had a look back at your other thread with the feeding photo in it, by the size of the mouse in the photo my advice would be to feed at least 2 of these every 8 days and as soon as you see your boy going into shed stop feeding until he's shed. The reason I'm saying not to feed him such a large meal is you run the risk of a regurge, better to feed a few small prey items until your sure he can take the larger prey item with no risk in my opinion. And the reason I'm saying to not feed him when you see him going into shed is it gives his digestive system a break and a chance to rest. This is just my advice mate and the way I would work things it's not written in stone and everyone has different ways of doing things. It doesn't mean that one person is right and one wrong ;)

[Will's Reptiles]

I quickly measured him tonight and he is 220 grams which means he should be eating something weighing about 35 grams. That seems like it should be a weaned rat. I going to the store tomorrow and if they don't have them I will order some online. Would it be okay to feed him to of the smaller mice while I wait for the mice to arrive? And all of this has really made me rethink my feeding plan, even for my other snakes. I there any weight percentage for boa constrictors? Thanks!

[Andy_G]

The same would work if you wanted to use the weight rule. You could always go by the old rule of thumb that predates the weight rule... 1 to 1.5 times body girth. To each their own. Also...the holding off for feeding comment is one that I definitely agree with, but for different reasoning. A snake in shed with a large bulge will have more difficulty shedding in one piece. :)

[bigsnakegirl785]

I quickly measured him tonight and he is 220 grams which means he should be eating something weighing about 35 grams. That seems like it should be a weaned rat. I going to the store tomorrow and if they don't have them I will order some online. Would it be okay to feed him to of the smaller mice while I wait for the mice to arrive? And all of this has really made me rethink my feeding plan, even for my other snakes. I there any weight percentage for boa constrictors? Thanks!

No, most species should not be put on a weight-based plan, it tends to be too much food.

The 15-20% rule should only be used for retics and Burms, 10-15% for ball pythons and corns.

10% can closely match what a neonate-juvenile boa constrictor needs, but as they age it becomes way way too much food. I wouldn't go over 10% of body weight for a boa constrictor of any age, it's simply just too much food.

I personally think going off girth is the best way to tell, but I've found that my retic needs way more food than my other snakes while she's growing, so I've started making retics the only exception. I believe Burms are generally fed similar to retics, but I'd listen to other Burm owners as I just own the retic as far as giants go.

[AZretic]

Not to sound like a broken record but get him on rats asap

[Will's Reptiles]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I ordered some weaned rats today so they should be here before his next feeding.

[dave himself]

Mate he'll start growing like a weed when you put him on rats
:)