Fast weight gain? good or bad?

[xXMNxHerperXx]

Hi I have an odd question, I recently traded for a yellow belly female, Who is 3 years old and weighed around 400 grams, Ive had her now for about 6 weeks and feeding once a week she has put on 300 grams. Is she putting on weight to fast or just making up for lost time? Thanks for any help!

[seeya205]

She is way underweight for a 3 year old ball so she will gain weight fast with regular feedings. She is just catching up to a proper size!

[snakesRkewl]

I'd say she is catching up, my 1 yr old yb girls weight 900 grams average.
Sounds like she'll catch up quickly

[Kingofspades]

Same deal here. I have a 3 year old female pastel that's 530 grams. She put on about 150 grams in a week. Ate a just-before-wean rat every 2 days.
I was afraid she was over eating...but she kept taking them...and just went into shed...so..

[mykee]

ANY size ball python above a hatchling doubling it's weight in 6 weeks is VERY unhealthy.
Slow down on the feedings.
Ball pythons "retain" roughly 30% of the food they consume, so in order for your animal to have gained 300g in six weeks, you've offered it ~1000g of food. Considering a 300 gram animal eats maybe 50g meals (a responsible, healthy size meal), you've offered that snake ~20 meals (or three feedings) a week?!
Slow it down or you're going to kill your ball python wth love (and obesity-related heart issues).
Good luck.

[Twisted Reptiles]

ANY size ball python above a hatchling doubling it's weight in 6 weeks is VERY unhealthy.
Slow down on the feedings.
Ball pythons "retain" roughly 30% of the food they consume, so in order for your animal to have gained 300g in six weeks, you've offered it ~1000g of food. Considering a 300 gram animal eats maybe 50g meals (a responsible, healthy size meal), you've offered that snake ~20 meals (or three feedings) a week?!
Slow it down or you're going to kill your ball python wth love (and obesity-related heart issues).
Good luck.

Or maybe, the OP is actually feeding once a week as they stated originally. 400 grams is extremely underweight so that snake is almost guaranteed to retain far more than the 30% figure you've tossed out here. Couple that with the fact that it was probably weighed with a full stomach (etc), 300 grams is well within the realm of plausibility.

To the OP, as long as you're feeding appropriately sized meals once a week, you should be just fine. Your snake was almost certainly significantly underweight and like you said is simply making up for missed meals.

[seeya205]

Same deal here. I have a 3 year old female pastel that's 530 grams. She put on about 150 grams in a week. Ate a just-before-wean rat every 2 days.
I was afraid she was over eating...but she kept taking them...and just went into shed...so..

I would not feed anymore than every 5 days! She needs time to digest inbetween meals!

[WingedWolfPsion]

If the snake is having issues with digesting its food, it will not eat. Has anyone here ever had an issue with a ball python eating when it shouldn't? They refuse meals if you look at them too hard.

Feed her up--she's been horribly starved. She's just bulking up to a normal weight so that she can start to grow a bit.

It's hard to say if she'll ever really grow properly, since she's already so old.

Does anyone have experience with growth rates in undersized ball pythons that are over 3 years old?

[m00kfu]

Does anyone have experience with growth rates in undersized ball pythons that are over 3 years old?

We picked up a couple of ball pythons that were fed a small mouse once a week. One was 2 years old and the other was 3 years old. They went from 600 grams to 2000 in the first year we had them. They also doubled lengthwise. So they WILL grow to the proper proportions.

[SnakeKB]

Ive got an underfed snake too and its been gaining like crazy since ive had him. He eats 80g rats once a week and hes about 600g right now. Underfed animals in general will put on weight rapidly when put on a stable diet. Just like people. Get a person who is sick and cant eat very much, they can lose 5-10lbs in a few days to a week. But once there better and eating the right proportions again, the weight goes right back on in just a day or two. Your snake is just catching up on lost time and meals.