my really BIG boy "Jag"

[zina10]

Finally some updated pictures of my big boy "Jag". (Pastel Yellowbelly)

He fasted from January 15th until last week. Only lost 170 gr during that time. He is back to eating and always looking for more. He is the one that takes large rats like they are nothing. Medium rats leave him cruising around "hangry" (hungry/angry) after feeding.

He always looks so much smaller in pictures then he is. He is difficult to make pictures of, as he is pretty long and heavy at this point and its hard to keep my arm stretched out for long. He is over 60 inches long (can stretch a little longer then my queen bed is wide) and THICK. Even his head is big, lol.

Since he started eating again and had 2 solid meals, he got to come out and "play" for a bit.

There are also pictures of his cage. He is the only one in a "Display" cage. I do believe he preferred his tub, but he settled down after a couple of months in the new enclosure. He loves to lay draped across that "shelf" hidden under that plant. It really looks awesome when he does that. I can never get a good picture of it because of the glare on the glass. And as soon as I open the door, well, he slithers out

Without further ado, "Jag"

[zina10]

and old picture that better shows off his size..






btw. His cage also looks smaller in the pictures then it is. It is 3 feet wide..

[SDA]

And here I was a proud momma for measuring mine in at 46 inches. OMG you have a beast on your hands!

[Finn0208]

Good lord, how did you get him so big!!! I wish mine would get like that and I LOVE his enclosure!!!!


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[zina10]

Good lord, how did you get him so big!!! I wish mine would get like that and I LOVE his enclosure!!!!


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I REALLY think genetics play a big role with size. Obviously, so does feeding, but no matter if one over or under feeds, the animal will only reach is genetically pre determined size. It may be obese or skinny, of course.

I bought 5 hatchlings that year. 3 females and 2 males. So they were all roughly the same size/age.
They were on the same feeding schedule. Sure, the odd one refused here and there because of shedding, but mostly, they all ate the same amount of food.

From the very get go Jag grew faster and bigger. As a matter of fact for a couple of years I was convinced he was actually a female. Since I wasn't breeding, I never bothered to "check" before last year. But yup, he is all male !!!

Even in the wild there are regions where Ball Pythons just seem to grow bigger. Not just "fat" but overall bigger. Even their heads are bigger then other BP's at the same age. Throughout my years of keeping BP's I had 2 other such giants. Both were normal females and both were rescues. One was truly huge. She was twice the weight of "Jag" and longer. I kind of wish I had kept her, she was truly something else. I lost all pictures from back then due to a photo hosting site that went out of business and simply disappeared and I had no backups . She was truly majestic.

The other female was slightly smaller, but still bigger then Jag. Also had that LARGE head. I have since seen BP's that weighed the same then those females I had, but they were overweight and did not have that large head.

I believe I have a picture of that second female I had, somewhere. Found them

Here is the "smaller" of those girls..

[zina10]

and here is a "Baby" picture of him He was so tiny and cute..

[skiajl6297]

How much does he weigh? (Also handsome creature, good job mom!)


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[zina10]

He weighs 2400 gr at a VERY conservative feeding schedule. He continues to grow bigger.
If I fed him as much (often) as he wants, he would probably be around 3500 gr now

[cletus]

Awesome pics Zina. I love me some Pastel Yellowbelly. I can't wait till my girl gets that big!

[Finn0208]

I REALLY think genetics play a big role with size. Obviously, so does feeding, but no matter if one over or under feeds, the animal will only reach is genetically pre determined size. It may be obese or skinny, of course.

I bought 5 hatchlings that year. 3 females and 2 males. So they were all roughly the same size/age.
They were on the same feeding schedule. Sure, the odd one refused here and there because of shedding, but mostly, they all ate the same amount of food.

From the very get go Jag grew faster and bigger. As a matter of fact for a couple of years I was convinced he was actually a female. Since I wasn't breeding, I never bothered to "check" before last year. But yup, he is all male !!!

Even in the wild there are regions where Ball Pythons just seem to grow bigger. Not just "fat" but overall bigger. Even their heads are bigger then other BP's at the same age. Throughout my years of keeping BP's I had 2 other such giants. Both were normal females and both were rescues. One was truly huge. She was twice the weight of "Jag" and longer. I kind of wish I had kept her, she was truly something else. I lost all pictures from back then due to a photo hosting site that went out of business and simply disappeared and I had no backups . She was truly majestic.

The other female was slightly smaller, but still bigger then Jag. Also had that LARGE head. I have since seen BP's that weighed the same then those females I had, but they were overweight and did not have that large head.

I believe I have a picture of that second female I had, somewhere. Found them

Here is the "smaller" of those girls..

Wow, that is amazing and I love the pic of him as a baby, too cute!!! That female is huge too and beautiful....mine is three yrs old now and I just don’t think it genetically in him to be bigger than 4ft, he is almost there now.....he seems to shed quite often but I just don’t think he will be a giant.....he’s picky about the size of his rats too, he rly doesn’t like them bigger than a small


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