Not sure if I should purchase this BP or not...

I am considering purchasing a BP from a small local breeder, but I am concerned about one thing.

He is about 5 months old, and only weighs 70g. I'm no expert, but that seems kind of small to me. The breeder claims that he eats an appropriatley sized mouse weekly.

I have records on my current male, and at that age he weighed about 200g. I realize each snake is going to grow at its own rate, but 70g just doesn't seem right.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

George

Firstly, if you have doubts on whether or not you should purchase the snake, its probably a good idea that you don't.

Secondly, the snake could have been a very small hatchling. I would ask for his hatch date and hatch weight. If you take into consideration that hatchlings can be as large as 70-80g at hatching, then yes, at 5 months they could easily be 200g. A hatchling that hatches out at 30-40g might take a while longer to gain the weight.

That is way to small! My male was about 426 grams at that age! I would take a look at the snake and make sure he is healthy! Did he write this to you! Maybe it was a typo!

Actually, it is "she" -- I suppose she could have left out one digit (I hope), although she did say he was the "runt" of the clutch.

I e-mailed the breeder my concerns, and am awaiting a response. I'll have to wait to see what she has to say.

Thanks,

George

If the snake was a "runt" it is highly likely the hatch weight of this snake was very low. I hatched out a snake last season that was 37g. Tiny little fellow. I would guess it would have taken him a long time to gain weight. He may also have been tough to get feeding.

Thanks for all of the advice everyone.

The only reason I am even considering it is because it is a spider, and at a really decent price. She sent me a pic of him, and he looks nice...

I guess I will have to sleep on it...

Later,

George

Even a runt should be bigger I would think!

I could be wrong, but I'd bet he's selling a problematic feeder. 70 grams is way too small for a 5 month old ball python. If you say an average of 5 grams of weight gain each week for 20 weeks, that would be 100 grams, That would be added to it's original weight of say 50 grams. So at the very least that snake would weigh 150 grams. Remember my weights are VERY conservative too. I would guess a real world average should be somewhere about 20 -30 grams a week for that age.

Way too small for me. There are issues to be sure.
Jim Smith

It probably is a small hatchling with feeding issues. I would want to see it in person before purchasing it and view feeding/shed records for the snake.

My guess is a small hatchling with feeding issues or a bad wobble. I would stay away from the deal.