Need some Advice on my GTP's

[Matt]

I have a couple concerns I wanted to bring up and see what people thought...

I bought my GTP's a couple months ago now as "Adults"
They didnt look quite full grown yet, but i was told they were about 3 years old. I have no way of forsure knowing how old they are, but my concern is their size for "apparently" being 3 yrs of age.
I finally got around to weighing them the other day, and the male is 600 grams and the female is 400 grams.

now, they dont look unhealthy and they both eat on a pretty regualr basis, nothing seems wrong at all and they have decent body weight for their size.

my concern is that, they SHOULD be much heavier at this age, correct?
...but then again, i dont know forsure how old they are :(

is it possible that their growth could have been stunted at youth?

at this weight, i have already ruled out breeding this year, but i would like to shoot for next....any suggestions?

your imput on this is appreciated, thanks!

[Sonyr]

Matt:
By your descriptions, the male is quite big, but the female isnt big enough. all my 21/2 to 3 yr old female chondros are at least 800 grams. at 3 yrs of age, they should be at least that heavy, IMO of course. If your animals were WC, then maybe that explains their size, but if they are c.b.b., theres not really a reason why they shouldnt be bigger.

About how long are they? take a guess. About their growth being stunted, i wouldn't think that to be the case, but then again, I dont know.

As far as breeding, you're out this yr for sure. id suggest stepping up the feeding for the female. maybe keep your heat a little bit hotter to help with the metabolism......

hope that helps some.

[Matt]

sony,
length of the female Im guessing about 2.5 feet long.

again, i dont know anything for sure, but when i bought them, i was told they were bred at VPI, I fully trust the person who sold them to me, so i believe they are cb.

i dont mind missing this season for breeding, i just hope that she is ok, she misses the odd meal and im worried that she wont gain any weight.

thanks for your help sony

Matt

[Sonyr]

only 2.5 feet? i dont think thats possible. that sounds way too little for a 3 yr old. from VPI? i think thats about the time they got out of chondros, but for being that old, it doesnt compute....she should only refuse food when she's in shed or when she is stressed somehow.

[Matt]

well, how long should she be now?

geez man, now your worrying me :(
i hope theres nothing wrong with her

[Sonyr]

Matt:
I'm not meaning to worry you, but it just doesn't sound right. Of all people, I'm sure that they wouldn't breed an animal and sell babies without in depth feeding charts and what not. That's just the kind of people they are. As far as the size of your female...like I said earlier, I'd guess it should be a minimum of 3 1/2 feet to 4 ft, and at least 6-7 grams. I would resex it though to make sure its a female. Everything you're describing, such as : the length, weight, skipping meals......really sounds like the attributes of a male.

[Matt]

well...
i will re-sex it and double check, maybe it is a male.....that would be a bummer :(
like i said, i was TOLD, it was from VPI but have absolutely nothing to back that up. maybe it isnt.
oh well, she ate again last night and im going to feed her every 5 days and try to put some serious weight on her
as long as they are both healthy, im not going to complain to much right now!

thanks for the help sony!

[LTownsend]

Matt:

I'm pretty sure I know of the animals you are talking about....if so, I bought the other three, a male and two female biaks, all three years old, and captive bred from VPI. I thought they were a little on the small side as well, in particular the females when I picked them up, but they all appear healthy and eat with no problems, so I'm not too worried about them. I did get a copy of the CITES paperwork where it does state they were captive bred in 1999 in the U.S., but it doesn't say who produced them anywhere on the document. I wouldn't worry about them too much as far as being a little small; it's sometimes best with GTP's to wait until year four or five, and for females to be at least a 1000 grams to breed them anyway. Both of my females from that group are around the 600 gram mark and eat voraciously at feeding time. I wormed all three of them with panacur and flagyl, just in case their smaller size was attributed to any internal parasites; you might want to consider it as well....it doesn't hurt, and G.T.P's can be more susceptible to illness due to internal parasites than say a Ball Python if it isn't treated. I doubt this group has any parasites, but I wormed them anyway, just to be on the safe side. The only thing I wouldn't do that I saw you mention, is feed them too much. Every five days for a G.T.P is a little on the heavy side, and could cause problems if you're not careful. If the meals are too large, or too frequent, they can prolapse on you quite easily. It is typically more of a concern with juveniles, but can happen with adults as well if fed too much. I would suggest sticking to a 7-10 day food cycle, keeping the meals around the size if their midsection (small 3-4 week old rats) and maybe consider administering some worm medication just to put your mind at ease.

Lance

[zappaguy]

if i were you i would weigh them and document the weight and then put them on a proper feeding regime. document when the eat,poop+shed.after a couple of monthes re-weigh them,if no weight gain or limited you could have a parasite issue to deal with and then thats a whole new ball game. e-mail me privately and we can discuss this more in-depth if you wish.

[Sonyr]

I really don't think they have any worms, so I wouldn't subject them to meds for "potential worms". They might just be small animals. Greg S. has has a beautiful female that is 6 or 7 yrs old, if I'm not mistaken, and it won't get to 1,000 grams. So might just be a case of that. But the idea of weighing them and getting them on a rigid feeding regimen and re-weighing them in a few months is a good idea.