BP Growth Rates

[Oh_no_its_a_snake]

I have a female Normal het Utramel 50% het Caramel that has been growing at a rate of about 2.8333333333 inches per month and is 143 days old(she hatched on 10/18/21). I heard they grow like weeds the first 12 months....but what's the growth rate reduction from 12-36 months? How should I calculate her average growth rate per month over a total 36-month period? I divided 2.8333333333 by three and then multiplied by two, then multiplied again by 36 to get her adult length minus her hatch length.

[nikkubus]

Females slow down a little bit at about 6 months, but still have a pretty rapid growth for quite some time after that. Males slow down a lot faster because they just don't need the same structure and reserves to breed.

I have never measured my snakes in inches, as it's pretty difficult to even do, and instead opt to go by weight, body shape, and skull size. So I may not be the best of help trying to convey growth rates to you in inches. They stop putting on much length, from what I understand, around the same time they stop putting on much weight though.

Generally as a rough figure, my snakes tend to retain about 50% of the weight of what they are fed up until full maturity. How much that actually is changes over time, since the prey size changes, and the feeding frequency changes. Very early on I'm feeding every 3-5 days, very small meals and they are putting on a few grams a week. At around 6 mos, they are eating weekly and putting on 20-40 grams a week. This continues until either they are put on maintenance diet or conditioned for breeding, which have the opposite effect from each other of coarse. Males usually drastically slow down after 1000-1200 grams, where females start to drastically slow at about 2000-2500 grams.