Is obesity ever actually a concern for male ball pythons?

[loonunit]

I've heard it off and on: that older male ball pythons can become obese and even suffer from classic heart disease. But is there any truth to it?

... I recently made the acquaintance of an 8-year old male by the name of Monty (yes, of course). His owner adopted him when he was 5 years old, and at least two vets told her that the snake was obese.

So when I met Monty a few weeks ago, he'd been eating one pre-killed rat a month for the last several years. And lately he's been exhibiting some cage aggression.

Well, I had just been feeding my hatchlings f/t hoppers back home. And you know how hard it is to wash the smell of mouse guts off....? Monty has never ever even tried to bite anyone. But wow, he bit me. This was one of those astonishing bites where the snake won't let go, and even starts constricting your hand while you're jamming a pencil into his mouth.

So the first thing I did (after applying first aid to my finger and cleaning up the blood) was go home and get a package of 25 frozen rats for Monty. He ate 4 in the first sitting, and his owner reports that he's eaten another 7 in the last two weeks.

Now I'm kinda questioning the "obesity in older males" wisdom. My own males are pretty young, but I've had some of them go up to 5 months without eating. So I'm afraid to curb their eating in late summer too much. Because that's when they're storing up fat for breeding, right? And old Monty was clearly starving.

Is "obesity" ever actually a concern in ball pythons?

[AK907]

Sure obesity can be an issue, but I don't believe its common. We feed our balls very well and none are even close to being obese. I'd hate to know how much it would take to overfeed a ball.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

I never let my adult males get bigger then about 1,000 grams. I think it is the size they are supposed to be. Any bigger and they are not as good of a breeder.

[JLC]

I never let my adult males get bigger then about 1,000 grams. I think it is the size they are supposed to be. Any bigger and they are not as good of a breeder.

I think they're supposed to be whatever size their genetics say they are supposed to be. 1000 grams might work for some, but I've seen plenty of very healthy male ball pythons bigger than that...including my own. He's around 3000 grams (a guess, because my scale only goes up to 2500g and it says "error" if Turk even looks at it cross-eyed)....and he's actually pretty lean. It would be tragic for him if his owner tried to "not let him" get past 1000 grams.

[loonunit]

I never let my adult males get bigger then about 1,000 grams. I think it is the size they are supposed to be. Any bigger and they are not as good of a breeder.

Yeah, I keep hearing that---BHB says stuff like that a lot on his vids---but my 2008 black pastel has managed to get up 1300 grams on a single mouse every week, and you've never seen such an enthusiastic breeder.

[King's Royal Pythons]

Sure obesity can be an issue, but I don't believe its common. We feed our balls very well and none are even close to being obese. I'd hate to know how much it would take to overfeed a ball.

X2!

[rabernet]

My 2000 gram lemon pastel male is one of my best breeders. And he's pretty lean looking. I actually DO choose to keep my adults leaner than others do. I do worry about things like fatty liver disease. I know someone who lost a snake out of the blue, had it necropsied and that was the cause of death.

Our snakes in captivity are very well fed, most likely over-fed in our aim to get them up to breeder size, or bulk them up for breeding.

This is simply my own theory, nothing scientific to back it up, but it does worry me enough that I choose to slow grow most of my collection. I'm not racing anyone to be the "first" to produce anything, and everything I breed, it's to produce for ME first - not just to produce to sell the whole clutch off.

[angllady2]

My biggest boy is around 1600 now, and he's not even close to being fat. If anything he looks too skinny. He's a breeding machine though.

While I think the 1000 gram rule may work for some males, there are plenty out there who will get bigger than that. When I first got my Pastel male, he was already 1100 grams, and I was worried he'd be a poor breeder. I asked about it here and found out LOTS of people have males over the fabled 1000 gram maximum, and they all breed just fine.

Gale

[purplemuffin]

I think a lot of it has to go by what we see and know about our snakes. A male at 1000 grams might look bulkier and BE more overweight than another male at 2000 grams. I remember just earlier someone posting about a ball python over five feet who turned out to be a male--I would bet that that male's 'healthy weight' is far more than my male who barely managed to hit three feet no matter what he was fed. The first year we got him he was 500 grams--and he was almost nearing the seeing skin between the scales pudginess! He grew a little length, but he's just a shorter snake(wild caught, possibly didn't get any good food when he was young, possibly had two short parents and genetics are messing with him, or maybe he's just a smaller snake. Maybe he got the 'short straw' )

I know Maru at anything over 1000 grams would be a fat fat fat snake, but I know others would need a bit more weight on their bones!


Know your snake and watch for telltale signs and issues! I see people near me with pet ball pythons that they want to be huge--they got a bp because they thought ALL bps would get to six feet. So they feed it to get it to be that size. Some of them got to grow huge..Others are more like Maru, and once they get to a certain length, just seem to hit a wall--and then they start 'growing' wider instead of longer!

I think it's important not to over or under feed ball pythons, adults or babies. It's amazing, but I have seen obese babies before. And I'm not talking about egg yolk tummies either! Know your snake and what it should look and act like! Find the balance. Ball python males shouldn't look like a fat blood python, but it shouldn't look like a skinny corn snake either. Not that anyone here has done that to their snakes. I think the 1000 gram 'rule' is a good guide to give people an idea of what they should keep an eye on, but we should remember not all animals are perfect or like each other, and be ready to make changes for each individual.

[meowmeowkazoo]

I never let my adult males get bigger then about 1,000 grams. I think it is the size they are supposed to be. Any bigger and they are not as good of a breeder.

That seems like a strange rule to follow. I'm sure with your experience keeping snakes that you're aware of how individual snakes can be. Do you literally withhold food just to keep them from gaining weight?