87 grams? Seriously!?

Well, like the title says, my approximately 4 month old BP weighs 87 grams (empty). This sounds way too small to me. I haven't accurately measured him, but he's about 15-16 inches long. How much do hatchlings weigh? I can't remember where, but I thought I read that newborns weigh 85 grams when they HATCH. So, here I am, staring at my monitor, thinking "Whaaaaat..?".:O:weirdface

Help? Opinions, suggestions, anything. Even how much your snake weighed at that age would help.

Thanks in advance, everybody!

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Originally Posted by Moofins07

Well, like the title says, my approximately 4 month old BP weighs 87 grams (empty). This sounds way too small to me. I haven't accurately measured him, but he's about 15-16 inches long. How much do hatchlings weigh? I can't remember where, but I thought I read that newborns weigh 85 grams when they HATCH. So, here I am, staring at my monitor, thinking "Whaaaaat..?".:O:weirdface

Help? Opinions, suggestions, anything. Even how much your snake weighed at that age would help.

Thanks in advance, everybody!

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Are you feeding prey that is too small? Prey should be 10-15 percent of the snakes bodyweight.

Do you know how much he weighted as a newborn? He could have been a twin or a runt...

I have a het hypo that I hatched in 2004 or 2005 that just recently passed 300 grams. Eats like a pig, too.

And sometimes they just grow slow and/or are destined to be small. I got a lesser hatchling at Daytona last year...and he's still pretty small, even though he's a great eater and never misses a meal. He just grows slow and I doubt he'll ever be a hefty snake.

I just got two new hatchlings at Daytona that had had one meal each. Right now one weighs around 160g empty and the other 120g empty.

Not exactly sure how old they are but I think they are def less than 4 months. Up your prey size and maybe frequency.

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Originally Posted by Hock3ymonk3y

Are you feeding prey that is too small? Prey should be 10-15 percent of the snakes bodyweight.

Do you know how much he weighted as a newborn? He could have been a twin or a runt...

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I bought him from a rescuer just a month ago, and he said the snake came from a reputable breeder. I don't have any info on the snake before that. (Actually... I just remembered. There was a second baby, which I'm guessing came from the same clutch, but he showed me a weird rib defect the baby had and said he was going to hang onto that one to see if anything changed. Could one defect affect the whole clutch?)

I feed him two hoppers every 7 days. I kinda wince when I say "two", because I've heard that called power-feeding, but he seems to enjoy it and looks so satisfied afterward. I have a scale, and actually meant to weigh the prey before dropping it in, but it completely slipped my mind. :irkd:

Should be on rat fuzzies that would be better. Well this is due to the mouse hoppers around me being about the size of a mouse fuzzy.

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Originally Posted by Moofins07

I bought him from a rescuer just a month ago, and he said the snake came from a reputable breeder.

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How do you buy from a rescuer?

My lesser female was 346@ 4 months,my spider girl over 400. These 2 were in the 60-70g range when hatched to give you something to compare with.

Just start weighing the food, making sure its 15% of your snakes weight. And start monitoring your snakes weight, I would feed every 5 days, instead of two every 7. If your concerned about power feeding, just make sure the two mice equal 15% of the snakes weight. And as mentioned before, he's probably a runt.