Estimating age by weight?

[cshouston]

I was wondering if it was possible to estimate the age of a snake by its weight, particularly if it has been a solid, regular eater. At first, I thought my male bp was far too scrawny at 100g, but he eats so well and so readily for me that I started to think it possible that he was just a late hatch in '08. Then I picked up a 700g female, but they had no idea how old she was.

Is there any kind of general "rule of thumb" for determining age by weight? I know that no two animals are exactly alike, but there must be some relatively normal progression that can be averaged out, right? Thanks!

[xdeus]

Unfortunately, no...

Snakes will grow as much as they eat, of course they grow faster in the first year but if given smaller meals they will be quite a bit smaller than one that has larger meals or a better appetite.

At 700 grams, she could be one that ate very well and could get to that size within a year, or she could have had many fasting periods or sporadic eating and could only be 700 grams after many years.

[kc261]

There are at least 3 major factors that can affect a BPs growth rate.

1) - individual tendencies, basically the rate the snake "should" grow at if it is offered sufficient food and remains healthy
2) - how much food it eats, obviously a picky eater or one that just isn't offered enough food is going to grow considerably slower
3) - parasites or illness that might slow down growth

Also, these things all affect each other, for example part of why a BP might appear to be a picky eater is it is just programmed for slow growth, so it can't make use of all the food you are offering it.

I'm going to make some guesses based on the weights of my snakes, but I still have a pretty small number so it isn't the best comparison. But I'd say the 100g, even if a late '08, is probably behind the average weight for his age. The 700g could be either a small '07, or a fast growing '08.

[Jenn]

I picked up a five year old female that had only been fed a single mouse every two or three months for it's entire life. When I got her home I realized that I had an eight month old female that was quite a bit larger than the five year old!

[cshouston]

So, seeing as how they're both smaller than average, would it be okay to feed them on a shorter schedule? Instead of every 5-7 days, maybe every 3-4 days for a few weeks?

[llovelace]

I got a 4 y/o male back in Dec. he was 550g I put him on a 5 day schedule for a little while to put some weight on he's at 803g now. I also got a 3 y/o female who was only 650g back then she's now 1067g. They are back on a 7 day schedule now.

[xdeus]

So, seeing as how they're both smaller than average, would it be okay to feed them on a shorter schedule? Instead of every 5-7 days, maybe every 3-4 days for a few weeks?

I wouldn't recommend it. A 5-7 day schedule is just fine depending on food size. Eating and digesting take a lot of energy and you might risk your snakes fasting after a while.

[cshouston]

Okay, I'll stick with the 5 day schedule for the male and bring the female down to a 5 day schedule as well for the next 4 weeks and then see where they're at. Thanks!

[kc261]

As long as they are eating an appropriately sized meal, they'll grow quite well on a 5 day schedule. There really is no need to push them more than that. Getting a slow start on life doesn't seem to affect them the same way it does with mammals.

[cshouston]

I think the problem was the meal size they were getting. At the shop, the juvenile had been eating 1 hopper every 7 days, but I swear that based on the 1.5x girth rule, he'd be fine eating a regular mouse. The female was being fed a small rat every 7 days, but again... I bet she'd take a medium rat just fine, and that would be closer to 10-15% of her body weight, too. Thanks for the insight; I'm going to start feeding them the slightly larger prey on a 5 day schedule.