# Ball Pythons > General BP's >  how to estimate the age ofmy ball python

## raiexel

I recently bought my first ball python from petsmart and I was wondering what was the easiest way to guess its age and sex. It's about 16-18 in long. Any help would be greatly apprieatated. I know i might sound dumb but what is the numbers very one has in front of their snakes.

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## cmack91

the numbers mean, male, female, unsexed, so 5.3.1= 5 males, 3 females, and 1 unsexed.

as for age, its pretty hard to say, but i would guess around 3-4months max.

and for the sex, theres no way to tell for sure just by looking at it. you would have to have it popped or probed. theres a ton of videos on youtube how to do it, so watch a bunch of those.

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## Skittles1101

Age will be hard to determine. If you bought it from Petco/Petsmart it's safe to say that the snake is under a year old. They tend to severely underfeed their snakes, so it may be older than the "average" snake that size.

As for sex, it will need to be probed or popped.

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DooLittle (02-23-2012)

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## DooLittle

> age will be hard to determine. If you bought it from petco/petsmart it's safe to say that the snake is under a year old. They tend to severely underfeed their snakes, so it may be older than the "average" snake that size.
> 
> As for sex, it will need to be probed or popped.


x2

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## Slim

The vast majority of Petsmart/PETCO ball pythons are Captive Hatched vice Captive Bred.  They have a pretty good turnover rate on snakes at those stores, so I would guess your snake is less than 6 months old if you live in a large urban area, and maybe a little more than 6 months if you live off the beaten path.  

LGray is right, most Petsmarts don't know how to feed a BP (or any snake for that matter) so they tend to be small and dehydrated when you get them.  Get your snake on a regular feeding schedule and make sure it's humidity is right, and you'll be suprised how quickly it'll make weight gains.

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## princess17

I had the same question. Got mine from petsmart. I brought her to a reptile specialist. She is definitely underweight. This guy was livid and wanted to march right over to petsmart. They were telling me to feed her 1 pinky a week. The specialist said she should be eating at least 3 pinkies.

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## Skittles1101

Pinkies are too small for any sized ball python. Hoppers +, that's all.

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Family Jewels (06-09-2016),_Slim_ (02-23-2012)

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## RetiredJedi

> I had the same question. Got mine from petsmart. I brought her to a reptile specialist. She is definitely underweight. This guy was livid and wanted to march right over to petsmart. They were telling me to feed her 1 pinky a week. The specialist said she should be eating at least 3 pinkies.


I would bump up the size of the prey instead of feeding multiple.  Sometimes it's hard enough to get them to eat once let alone multiple times in one feeding.  General rule of thumb is 10-15% of the BP body weight or as big as the thickest part of their body.

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## jnoh

> I had the same question. Got mine from petsmart. I brought her to a reptile specialist. She is definitely underweight. This guy was livid and wanted to march right over to petsmart. They were telling me to feed her 1 pinky a week. The specialist said she should be eating at least 3 pinkies.


They told me the same thing.. 1 pinky a week.. her first feeding was a 18 gram mice and she loved it. Someone should educate petsmart or sign a petition. So unfair to all the snakes there... :Wag of the finger:  the other pets are probably under fed as well..

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## raiexel

thanks for the help and i was excited when i got her and forgot to ask how old she was. I was just curious how old she was. I know by looking at all the pics on here I think she's called a ghost by the markings on her. The other problem im having is she dont want to eat im feeding her once a week a f/t fuzzy and i say she smells it but wont take it and she actually put her head on it like a prop. i tried wiggling it and she moves away from it. she did this the last two feedings. Is there any tricks or tips i can try to get her to eat.

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## drezden

Petsmart and Petco are leaders in the field of mass animal abuse.







Their staff are not trained enough for all the different kinds of animals they care for, or to give proper instructions for each. They don't care enough to get their animals from ethical breeders.

These corporations view animals as inanimate commodities, and their only priority is getting as much income as possible regardless of the animals health.

To answer your question though I read somewhere that BP hatchlings are between 10 and 17 inches, so you can make a vague estimate from there. A few months old probably.




Sorry I don't mean to go off on a tangent on your thread.

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## enchantress62

I too got my bp at petsmart and they told me the same thing feed1pinky a week.  The book i bought said even new hatchlings won't eat pinks because it's not enough food smell to trigger their hunger instinct.  That said, offer food once a week but expect it to reject the food from time to time that's normal.  By the way mine didn't eat for 3wks when i first brought her home and will only eat mice.  She is about 4 months old and eats 1f/t adult mouse once a week.

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## Salamander Rising

> The vast majority of Petsmart/PETCO ball pythons are Captive Hatched vice Captive Bred.  They have a pretty good turnover rate on snakes at those stores, so I would guess your snake is less than 6 months old if you live in a large urban area, and maybe a little more than 6 months if you live off the beaten path.  
> 
> LGray is right, most Petsmarts don't know how to feed a BP (or any snake for that matter) so they tend to be small and dehydrated when you get them.  Get your snake on a regular feeding schedule and make sure it's humidity is right, and you'll be suprised how quickly it'll make weight gains.


Iggy came from PetCo Sept. 26 weighing a whopping 139 g.
She's now over 600.

Amazing what properly feeding them will do.

[I'm* still* amazed every time I see her slither out of her hide and display her full, glorious, mongrel self]

 :Very Happy:

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## Salamander Rising

> Petsmart and Petco are leaders in the field of mass animal abuse.
> .


OMG.

I'm going out right now and feed my new pet rats a special treat and huggy Iggy.

I *hate* to think they went through any of that.

 :Tears:

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## KrazyKevin

> thanks for the help and i was excited when i got her and forgot to ask how old she was. I was just curious how old she was. I know by looking at all the pics on here I think she's called a ghost by the markings on her. The other problem im having is she dont want to eat im feeding her once a week a f/t fuzzy and i say she smells it but wont take it and she actually put her head on it like a prop. i tried wiggling it and she moves away from it. she did this the last two feedings. Is there any tricks or tips i can try to get her to eat.


I can not tell from the pic that well but you may have a reg. BP and some BP's will not eat F/T so you may want to try live if she is not eatting also if she is going through a shed she may not eat.

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## princess17

> They told me the same thing.. 1 pinky a week.. her first feeding was a 18 gram mice and she loved it. Someone should educate petsmart or sign a petition. So unfair to all the snakes there... the other pets are probably under fed as well..


I bet anything they sre

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## princess17

*they are

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## Skittles1101

Petco/smart doesn't sell the ghost morph unless you paid ghost morph price (which to Petco standards would probably be about $400). Normals vary widely.

Can you describe your set up in full detail please, not eating is a common response to stress. Could be from the move, or could be from improper husbandry (most likely anything the store employee told you, is wrong).

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_Slim_ (02-24-2012),_The Serpent Merchant_ (02-24-2012)

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## The Serpent Merchant

> Petco/smart doesn't sell the ghost morph unless you paid ghost morph price (which to Petco standards would probably be about $400). Normals vary widely.
> 
> Can you describe your set up in full detail please, not eating is a common response to stress. Could be from the move, or could be from improper husbandry (most likely anything the store employee told you, is wrong).


I'm thinking that this is the case as well. what color are the eyes? you might have a snake going into shed and not a ghost.

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## jjcunaz

Try buying a fuzzy at the least, just to stimulate feeding place the fuzzy on top of the cage to let it defrost, put it on a paper towel. After it defrost use a blowdryer to heat the mouse. I put mine inn a sandwich bag when heating, heat the head a lil more use tweezers and walkk it past the hide. If that doesn't wrk take a small dish and leave it in the cage overnight.

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## Sanders11B

I got my BP from PetSmart as well, he wouldnt eat the F/T pinkies they gave me, it took me almost 3 weeks to get him to eat. I had to give him a live hopper to get him started now he eats fine.

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## Foschi Exotic Serpents

I can't believe they still tell people to feed pinky mice! And only once a week!!! Here.. Look at this pic.. This is extraordinary because his clutch mates are all about 70-90 grams smaller than he is but that's still a good size for 2 month old hatchlings.. 

This is a 2 month old (hatched May 6th) who is taking rat pups like they're going out of style! 220 grams! 


He eats every 4-5 days and his very first meal was a rat fuzzy.. He was an average sized hatchling. I bet even a rat pink would have been too small for him.. 


What's wrong with these corporate idiots??

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## Firemaniv

I too "rescued" my BP from Petsmart and was told to feed it fuzzies by them. I even had to get the snake out since the sales associate was scared to do it.
when I went to get some more fuzzies from the pet supplies plus near me, they were at first confused why I was feeding them to a BP. I can not remember if they told me or I found it on here but I soon learned to get a bigger rodent to feed the snake with.

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## coopaloop2121

to get it to feed, first of all you need to make sure he is hungry obviously... when my ball python (Django- about 4 months old) is hungry he will poke his head of of his hides and search the cage and be more active.... generally feed them in the evenings because this is when the hunt, get a feeding schedule like the same day every week. Get a pair of thongs hold the frozen/thawed mouse about 6 inches away from its head and wiggle it a little bit and if he is truly hungry he will strike it, and when he does wiggle it a little bit, it simulates it fighting. 
   snakes can go awhile without eating but this does not mean that's healthy, if he has not eaten within like 4-5 weeks or so you might have problems with your setup such as humidity or heat. this will cause them not to eat. also if he is about to go into shed or is in shed they will generally not eat with a few exceptions.

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## Sm_Banks

I went to a local reptile rescue to look for a pet snake. I ended up being helped by the Owner/Founder. He did not have any adoptable BP's when I was there, but he had a solution. He told me he worked at Petsmart and they had a Ball Python there that they let the kids hold. I got to Petsmart and was pleasantly surprised that all the snakes were well taken care of and well fed. He was very helpful and understood snakes.

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Skyfire (06-09-2016)

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## Skyfire

> I went to a local reptile rescue to look for a pet snake. I ended up being helped by the Owner/Founder. He did not have any adoptable BP's when I was there, but he had a solution. He told me he worked at Petsmart and they had a Ball Python there that they let the kids hold. I got to Petsmart and was pleasantly surprised that all the snakes were well taken care of and well fed. He was very helpful and understood snakes.


I actually work at PetSmart. Ever since I started wanting a Ball Python I was doing research on them (just bought mine last thursday). I've taught everyone I work with in Petcare how important humidity and everything else is. Unfortunately our current BP hasn't eaten yet in our care (few weeks) but luckily I get to try on Saturday (I've yet to get the chance to feed the snakes at work) and I'm hoping it will eat.

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## Stewart_Reptiles

> I went to a local reptile rescue to look for a pet snake. I ended up being helped by the Owner/Founder. He did not have any adoptable BP's when I was there, but he had a solution. He told me he worked at Petsmart and they had a Ball Python there that they let the kids hold. I got to Petsmart and was pleasantly surprised that all the snakes were well taken care of and well fed. He was very helpful and understood snakes.





> I actually work at PetSmart. Ever since I started wanting a Ball Python I was doing research on them (just bought mine last thursday). I've taught everyone I work with in Petcare how important humidity and everything else is. Unfortunately our current BP hasn't eaten yet in our care (few weeks) but luckily I get to try on Saturday (I've yet to get the chance to feed the snakes at work) and I'm hoping it will eat.


4 years old thread  :Good Job:

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## Sm_Banks

> 4 years old thread


The problem is?

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## O'Mathghamhna

> Can you describe your set up in full detail please, not eating is a common response to stress. Could be from the move, or could be from improper husbandry (most likely anything the store employee told you, is wrong).


This. We need details!

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