Does it seem like you have a dwarf?

[AjBalls]

How many people out there have EXTREMELY slow growing ball pythons? I'm not talking about it hasn't hit 400-500 grams and it's turning a year old. I'm talking about great feeders who just grow very slowly. For example; in the past two ears, I have purchased 5 CH baby ball pythons.

The first one ate every time and just went off feed for the first time and weighs 630 grams.

Second one, was a big more difficult to feed but still hit a good weight.

The last three I purchased, I sold one and kept two. Both eat every time offered. I've had these girls almost a year now. They both eat rat pups. To this day, the LARGER one is 191 grams, while the smaller one is 173 grams. I look at the female pastel I hatched last year who is about 4 months younger and almost 400 grams. Just shocked me. Does anyone else experience this once in a while?

[Epona142]

Actually, yes! I was just thinking about making a thread.

I have a 3 year old CH female that eats great, and only weighs 800 grams. She's nice and healthy, just very small.

Maybe some bps are just slower growers than others?

[mlededee]

I have 3 bps that were very slow growers--all ate every time with no problems but barely grew at all in a year's time. Then one passed a tapeworm. All 3 turned out to have internal parasites (all 3 had come from the same source and I had the rest of my collection tested and they were all clean, thank goodness). Once treated and retested as clean, they all started gaining weight immediately. I'd recommend fecals for your slow growers if you haven't had them done already, just to rule that out as a possible cause.

[bender29]

I'd assume mine is a speed grower... Roughly 5 months old and over 400g on empty.

[ama1997]

I have 2 03 normal females they are sisters. I got them from EBN back in late 03 or early 04. One is a bit over 3000g now. The other is at 1255 the bigger one has went off feed last year for breeding. Then is kind of on and off now but being bred now. The smaller one she just went off food about 2 weeks ago. Her first time off food since I got her. She got a small rat or whatever ever 5 days untill she was a year old. Then went to every 7 days just like her sister. She has just stayed smaller.

[PigsnPythons]

My CH girl is growing at a slower rate than my other snakes, and she is at least 2 months older than they are.

[littleindiangirl]

I agree with Mlededee. If your snakes are growing extremely slow, no harm in getting a fecal and a look over from a vet to rule out any internal problems.