How big is too big?

[Alexandra V]

No, I'm not talking about feeders -- I'm talking ball pythons. What I mean is, does anybody have any tricks or ways of telling when a ball python is getting overweight?

I work on a pet help website, dealing with exotic pets, and I get a few new ball python owners who ask me how to tell if it's underweight or overweight. It's a lot easier to tell if they're underweight by the shape of their body, but it's not terribly helpful when I tell new owners to just "eyeball it, and if they look disproportionately fat, then they're fat" because nobody has any set weights for ball pythons, but a new owner might not have a feel for the proportions.

Help would be appreciated

[Vypyrz]

One way to tell if a snake is overweight is when they are laying straight, you can see the skin between the scales, as they are stretched apart...

[kitedemon]

They also make larger circles, ie they can't turn back on them selves.