BP Rescue, Stunted Growth

[Embee]

Would appreciate any experiences and/or feedback. We recently adopted a four-year-old female BP (female, according to the breeder the original owner purchased her from). Squeak's living conditions were deplorable: dirty tank, too hot most of the time, and she was only being fed perhaps once a month, if that. She is about the size that our male BP was when he was four MONTHS old: 2 - 2 1/2 feet, and skinny, though not overly so; her spine is prominent, but I've seen worse. Nonetheless, she is gorgeous and as sweet as can be. She is now living in a clean 40 breeder with proper husbandry and is being fed medium mice, once every 5-6 days. She is a willing and happy feeder. In the four weeks since we took her in, she has perked up and is a touch more plump, though no signs of impending shed as of yet. Obviously, give her age and sex, she should be at least as big, if not bigger, than our male of the same age, who is closing in on four feet and is plenty robust. My question is this: with continued proper care and feeding, what are the chances that she will grow to full size, or much at all? Though we'll love and adore her in any case, it would be so wonderful if she had a chance to grow to her full, deserved glory... many thanks, ~Em

[rabernet]

Would appreciate any experiences and/or feedback. We recently adopted a four-year-old female BP (female, according to the breeder the original owner purchased her from). Squeak's living conditions were deplorable: dirty tank, too hot most of the time, and she was only being fed perhaps once a month, if that. She is about the size that our male BP was when he was four MONTHS old: 2 - 2 1/2 feet, and skinny, though not overly so; her spine is prominent, but I've seen worse. Nonetheless, she is gorgeous and as sweet as can be. She is now living in a clean 40 breeder with proper husbandry and is being fed medium mice, once every 5-6 days. She is a willing and happy feeder. In the four weeks since we took her in, she has perked up and is a touch more plump, though no signs of impending shed as of yet. Obviously, give her age and sex, she should be at least as big, if not bigger, than our male of the same age, who is closing in on four feet and is plenty robust. My question is this: with continued proper care and feeding, what are the chances that she will grow to full size, or much at all? Though we'll love and adore her in any case, it would be so wonderful if she had a chance to grow to her full, deserved glory... many thanks, ~Em

It's been my experience that they will grow to their normal size once fed properly. In other words, she shouldn't permanently stunted.

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[AlexisFitzy]

I think it really depends on the animal. Some grow faster or slower than others. My female normal Eva was a very slow grower but this year she's going through a growth spurt and growing a lot faster. So your snake will definitely grow to full size she has plenty of time to grow and live a nice long happy life. She will be small for a while but soon she'll hit a growth spurt and get bigger and bigger every day


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[decensored]

I agree with Robin, I got a two year old male once from someone who got it and was too afraid to feed it. It was 300 grams at 2 years old. he was fine once he got proper husbandry and feeding

[Embee]

Thank you so much for the replies! One thing that has astounded me from the get-go is that, considering how she was living, she is so beautiful and docile. Aside from her size, she doesn't appear to have any other issues.

This is all very encouraging, to say the least...

We'll just keep her happy, fed, and loved, and let the growth take care of itself, in its own time.

Thanks again!


~Em

[LooptyLoo]

Thank you so much for the replies! One thing that has astounded me from the get-go is that, considering how she was living, she is so beautiful and docile. Aside from her size, she doesn't appear to have any other issues.

This is all very encouraging, to say the least...

We'll just keep her happy, fed, and loved, and let the growth take care of itself, in its own time.

Thanks again!


~Em

You and I are in the same boat! I just rescued a 6 year old female BP who only weighed 300 grams. I really thought she'd be defensive, but she is unbelievably sweet. She's gained 100 grams so far.

So glad she is in your care, now!

[Embee]

How wonderful that you've already seen some growth, Loopty Loo! Another BP finally getting the care she deserves...

Have ordered a scale so I can more closely monitor Squeak's gains and, also, monitor our male who, after four years of excellent feeding, has gotten a bit finicky. I think it's just a natural slow down being that he's grown so well and is now tapering off, but we're trying to find a new feeding rhythmn there...

Best and thanks again, all. We are feeling very hopeful here!

~Em

[Neal]

Yea she'll be fine, just get her up to size then try to switch to rats once you get her feeding good.