Is my baby gaining enough weight? (Am I feeding her enough?)

[Libby]

My female normal is just under 11 weeks and the scale I ordered arrived today. She weighed in at 119g, which seems a little low compared to some of the other weights for comparable ages I've seen posted.

Her breeder recommended feeding her once weekly, and I've been giving her a F/T African Soft Fur every 7 days, plus an additional mouse after she shed and was acting all stalky. (Not sure how to describe it, but she was in the hunting pose she gets into under her branch when the mouse zombie starts to do a jig.) Out of curiosity, I weighed one of the mice, and it was 12g, almost exactly 10% of her body weight. We're planning to switch her to rat pups when we restock the freezer in a few weeks.

Oh, and she's just over 21". I've discovered the easiest way to check her length is to use my quilting mat, since it has a grid on it.

Is she too skinny? Should I switch to feeding every 5 days?

Thanks so much to everyone here. You have all been wonderfully helpful in raising our new baby!

[dchapman10]

I'm pretty new here so hopefully the experts here will jump in. I've had mine for about two months now and he is 125g. He is probably close to 3 months old though I would say. Length from what I read really doesn't mean much. The weight seems to be more important. 10% is good, but since he seems hungry still I would try 15% of his weight. I've heard 10%-15% and since it's a little one I would lean towards the higher side, especially if it still seems hungry. You could also try feeding every 4 or 5 days. Hope this helps!

[Solarsoldier001]

My 8 week old when I first got her weighed 58 grams. After feeding her for 4 weeks more she weighed 111g. So I don't thinks it's of any really concern. If you'd like feed her a bit bigger if you feel she's not gaining enough. Is she eating every week? If she is I wouldn't worry too much


1.0 Pewter (Dexter), 1.0 Butter Het OG (Butters), 0.1 Pinstripe (Honey), 0.1 Lesser (Pepper), 0.1 Butter Het OG (Aurora), 0.1 Spider Het OG (Betsy), 0.1 Mojave (Maya)
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[Libby]

Thanks so much for the reassurance! I was under the impression that some breeders like to feed their snakes on the upper end of the recommendations to try to get their snakes up to breeding weight sooner, so I had been sticking to the 7 day schedule, since I have absolutely no intention of breeding.

I think I'll move up to every 5-6 days until we get larger feeders, then switch back to the 7 day cycle.

[JKPCONSTRICTORS]

It sounds like she is perfectly fine. I know a lot of breeders who feed their baby snakes huge meals every four or five days to have them up to weight for breeding the year after they're born/hatched. If you try to compare your snake's weight with theirs it will make yours look like a runt. If you aren't interested in breeding her I wouldn't worry about her weight too much, especially while she's this young. If you feed her every five days and don't breed her she'll just end up overly obese.

[Kaorte]

Nothing wrong with feeding every 7 days as long as the meal is appropriately sized. They all grow at different rates. For instance, I have a lesser male who was hatched in may and is already over 400g. He is a fatty.

[Sand]

I've had some that seemed like paint dried faster then they gained a gram.. and others that would give weeds a good run for their money.. I normally offer every 4-5 days for those under 500-700g if they are hungry they take it, if not.. someone else takes it normally.. Yours being over 100g in 3 months time seems like it's going pretty well IMHO.

[Libby]

Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to answer! Our baby is strictly a pet, so I just want to keep her as healthy as possible. She has turned out to be wonderfully calm and gentle when handled and we couldn't be happier with her.