Isn't he rather... small for his age?

[m1lkhoney]

I adopted a ball python from a woman who admitted she didn't really feed him or use heat for most of his life. She estimates he's between one and two. Most people who meet him think he's a few months old. His backbone sticks out. (He is now being fed regularly, of course.) Am I crazy or is he tiny for his age?




(Sorry for his dull coloring, he was about to start shedding in a few days in this pic)

[redshepherd]

Yeah, he's tiny! Ball pythons more or less grow at the rate of how well they're being fed, so it makes sense for him to be small with how poorly his previous owner was treating him... Glad you have him now!

[Willowy]

Well, yeah, if he wasn't fed he won't grow! Glad he's in a better situation now.

I got a BP from a girl who said he was over a year old, and he was the size of a hatchling. But now he's pretty big and I've only had him about a year now. So once you get him in good conditions and on regular meals he'll catch up.

[m1lkhoney]

He's my good boy. He's on two hopper mice a week according to his specialist vet (I hope that's right, but he DEVOURS them... my snake, not the vet). And I have a calorie supplement for him that makes him a bit bonkers hyper but dear goodness he's such a tiny noodle in my eyes. He hadn't been touched by a human for a year. He's made such progress and I love him so much. I just wanted to see if I was overestimating his tiny-ness... maybe being a bit dramatic or something. He's my first snake ever.

[chrid16371]

I agree that if he was taken care of he would probably be much bigger. You can't compare age with size though. My new snake is 8 months old and eats fuzzie rats and she came from a very reputable breeder so ik she was taken care of, when my super pastel was 8 months old he was eating small rats lol so you can see how 2 snakes that were taken very good care of are significantly different in size at the same age.

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[m1lkhoney]

Should I be feeding him more than 2 hoppers a week? Anything larger surpasses his girth but he does look around for more food, I think, once he eats his first mouse...

[Willowy]

That's probably good for right now. Once he gets bigger try a small adult mouse or rat fuzzy. How long have you had him?

[m1lkhoney]

I have had him for about a month, I think.

[cchardwick]

All my snakes seem to grow at different rates, I tend to feed my females the biggest adult mice since I want them to grow big to lay eggs. I raise my own rodents so I have a lot of different sizes, I'm still wishing I had more large adults for everyone. My rats just bred for the first time so pretty soon I'll have enough!

just keep feeding every week, I'd probably move up to bigger mice or one more if I were you.

[chrid16371]

Are you feeding every 7? If so you can switch to every 5 days and that will help get some weight on him.

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