Anything to worry about??

[wizbit13]

I got hold of some digital weighing scales yesterday, so is the first time I have had the chance to weigh my snakes. I have looked around for the 'average' kind of weight for ball pythons on here and mine seems to be very light compared to most. He/she was born in may so it is 8-9 months old, and weighs 221 grams. It has grown loads since I have had it, and guarantees to eat a rat fuzzy every 5 days, so I can understand why it is so light. Do I have anything to be worried about or should I just continue to feed it as I have been and let it grow slowly??

Cheers

Adam

[BoidKeeper]

You're right that is light. Feed it one rat that is equal to or 1.5 time greater than it's widest girth every 5 days and make sure your temps are correct. You can feed it all you want but if it's not kept at the ideal temps it will not grow as fast as it should.
Cheers,
Trevor

[wizbit13]

Well the rat fuzzies that it is eating now are about equal to the widest part. Maybe just a little smaller. I have got some Rat weaners here but there is quite a bit of difference in size. They are probably about 1.5 times thicker than the widest part. Maybe I will just feed him a Rat weaner and see how he gets on with it.

Cheers

Adam

[BoidKeeper]

1.5 times is fine, equal to is fine to but smaller meals will mean a slower growth rate. What about your temps?
Cheers,
Trevor

[wizbit13]

Temps are 92 on the hot side (belly heat) and 83 on the cool side. He spends all his time under the newspaper on the hot side, rather than in his hides or anything. He seems to like to be in the warmest place all the time.

Adam

[BoidKeeper]

Well you're in the ball park for the temps. Maybe he's small because he has paracites. Have you ever had a fecal done?
Cheers,
Trevor

[wizbit13]

No I haven't. I bought him from a reliable breeder so I cant see that there will be anything wrong with him. I know there is always a chance that he might so I will ring the vet and see if I can get an appointment. At what age/size can balls be sexed at? I would like to find out what it is so I can get that done at the same time hopefully.

Adam

[wizbit13]

Oh and I forgot to add that he was a terrible feeder when he was born and had to be force fed so was not fed as much as he should have ate. Could this make much difference??

[TheMan]

You got it from a "reliable breeder" but it hasn't been sexed??

[wizbit13]

He does not sex them unless you want him too. At the time I never thought I would want to know but now I do!!!

Adam

[BoidKeeper]

Balls can be sexed right out of the egg. If it was a bad feeder in the begining then that is probably the only problem. I have a 100% het for albino male that has been going off food for months at a time and so he half the size he should be. He is a 2003 ball and he looks like a 2004.
Cheers,
Trevor

[wizbit13]

If they are a bit small, like your 2003 one, will they eventually 'catch up' or will they always be small. Cos mine is eating like a horse now.

Adam

[malaysianbloods]

I think that he/she should catch up it just might take a little longer for him/her to reach full size.

[wizbit13]

Originally posted by malaysianbloods
I think that he/she should catch up it just might take a little longer for him/her to reach full size.

Thats ok. As long as it aint gonna be stunted or anything. I have just been looking on www.ballpythons.ca and they have a few on there that would average out about the same ase mine so I dont think it is that small compared to some. There just seems to be a massive difference between some balls for some reason. Guess i'll just keep packing the rats down it and see how it goes.

Cheers all

Adam

[BoidKeeper]

They reach full size they just take longer to get there.
Here are the numbers on the two 100% hets I have.
Male 1 was born July 5th 2003 and weighs-576g.
Male 2 was born June 28 2003 and weighs- 998g.
I have a female that I produced this summer that weighs 368g already and she is lighter then she could be because she has slowed down a bit this winter.
So the moral is they are all different. Some start slow and take off some start strong and slow down. My male that weighs 576g started real strong and then in January 2004 he stoped eating and didn't eat again until Spetember 2004. He ate about 12 times and stoped again. Balls do what they want when they want. Now that yours is eating you should be fine, just keep it around 95.
Cheers,
Trevor

[wizbit13]

Ok cheers for the advice trevor. Will keep a close eye on how is weight is progressing now I have some scales.

Cheers

Adam

[TheMan]

My male had eaten every 4 to 5 days on small rats but has not eaten since 11/26/04. He was 804 grams before his last meal and is now 828 grams. He's a little over a year old now. My female now outweighs him by about 20 grams and she's going on 9 months. I don't think ( and of course i'm no expert) that you should worry about how your bp's size compares to others. As long as it's not losing weight he should be fine.

[nita]

If they are eating and gaining weight although it is a small amount they should be fine. Also at 220g I would up the meal from a fuzzy rat to a weaned rat. For that size I use weaned rats that are the size of a jumbo mouse 40 - 60g. It is working well and the rat eaters are growing well. If you scroll down to the post about my x-mas presents all of the females are rat eaters and between 190g and 206g and they are all eating weaned rats with no problem.