Growing lengthwise but not chub-wise...

[p3titexburial]

Hey everyone, been a while--college life is kicking my butt.

Anyway, I've had my female BP for a couple of months already and something's odding me out. For the first three weeks of bringing her home and feeding her (she was at 108 grams) 1 large adult mouse every 5 days, there was basically no change in her weight. Then after that BAM sudden growth spurt and she's at 421g now. (which quickly started her on 2 large adult mice every 5 days, sometimes 3 if she'll take it.)

Only, she's still somewhat triangular and is perpetually hungry. 2 days after her feedings she'll be up and hunting for food.

Now my male is filled out nicely and is as chubby bubbly on this routine as I can hope and he grows very proportionally. As of now, the female is LONGER than him (even though she's way younger) but still thinner and triangle-ly.

Once I run out of mice I'll be switching over to rats.

But I'm afraid it might be some internal parasite that's sucking up all her nutrients or something.

Any ideas? More food? Sooner feedings? Vet visit?

[Ash]

I suppose there wouldn't be any harm in a vet visit. Nobody ever regretted knowing for sure whether there was a problem or not. However, if it were me, I would leave it be for a while, unless you really think it's an emergency. It sounds to me like your girl is putting all her energy into growing big quickly and your boy is just putting on weight. If you think she's hungry, I'd say just feed her more. Maybe she's going to be a really big adult. I can't see it for myself so it's hard to judge whether there's a problem. She might just be a particularly active/voracious individual.

[Big Gunns]

Sometimes Balls can be like people, some get plump, and some don't(most will on your feeding schedule though). Check your husbandry on this Ball, if it's too hot, or it feels insecure, this could cause your snake to constantly move around. This could lead to it's apparent "triangle-ly" shape. BG knows what you mean, usually a snake is skinny when they look like this.

BG would keep an eye on it, it may be something internal. It couldn't hurt anything to take it to a QUALIFIED Vet and get a fecal done if you're really worried. That's the only way you're going to know for sure.

[Carusima]

Yeah it doesn't hurt to get a fecal done, they are cheap anyways. But this sounds normal. I have two BPs out of all mine that are like this. Very long and slender, they don't get chubby just longer. Then I have a few that are proportional and one that is really chubby and short. I agree, they are like people, it ranges.

[jjmitchell]

@ 400 grams I would try a small rat

[p3titexburial]

I'm switching over to rats as soon as my large mice gets used up (still have about 20 to go.) I bought a whole bunch of them and didn't realize that wow, baby BPs grow like MONSTERS and they grew out of just one of them around halfway through.

Temps are at 91 hot, 84 cool and humidity was low last week so I added a humid hide for each of them (winter's settling in.) She's not... restless, or active in a way where she's uncomfortable, just quite, quite hungry. She only comes out of her hides at night so she's not visible during the day. Sometimes I'm apprehensive about opening her tub because she follows my hand when she catches the heat signature and flicks her tongue rapidly scenting for food. She also positions herself into prey striking mode (where they lean forward in the s-shape rather than retracting)--if I do have food she snatches it before I can put the thing down. (heart attack, anyone?)

I think I'm less worried now hearing that they can have much larger ranges in their body type. Scared me a bit. I think I'll also bump her up to every 4 days and see how that's going to go for her. She's grown a LOT... but just... not horizontally.

I think a fecal is in order--I'm gonna head to the vet after finals week for it. Seriously, better safe than sorry. It's also really reassuring that I'm not going crazy and hypochondriatic or anything.

^_________^;;

Thanks!

[harm286]

I would try rats now. You will see da diff. at about 2 months or less.

[p3titexburial]

I would try rats now. You will see da diff. at about 2 months or less.

Will do!

--

Ugh. Oh boy. Just when I mentioned low humidity I went and checked on them and the male is showing signs of an RI. Vet appointments (for them both) have now been moved up to today. *headdesk* I got some jinxing luck here.

[AmandaRisher]

Whoo hoo Im on finals this week and next too!! Good luck!

[GoBoilers]

I have a female, too, that is an eating machine--she's ~ 4 months old and will easily eat two adult mice or one large rat per feeding. She's about 3 times larger than my male who is about 3-4 weeks older than her! To be honest, for the first few months I let her tell me when she was hungry and fed her accordingly which averaged 2-3 times a week. My theory is also along the lines of baby BPs being designed for one thing and one thing only: to grow (ie. reduce the chance of becoming someone else's meal). It's just my opinion from observation, but I wouldn't be surprised if being little is stressful from the standpoint of being an easy prey item, so, for the most part, I let her eat as much as she wanted. Now that she's pushing 500 or so grams, I've reduced her feedings to once every 5 days or so as she doesn't seem quite as frantic about finding food!

Interestingly, my boy will eat twice a week at most and is satisfied with that (Betty would've seriously eaten every day if I let her). So I don't wonder if maybe the sex of the snake also influences growth rate?

Just my theories! I'm sure everything is fine!