length vs weight?

Hey guys,

I weighed ruby last night and she was 400g. she is nearly 3ft long and was wondering if there was a link between the two in relation to a healthy weight? that being said, she seems normal, i was just curious? :)

Also, just changed her water and saw her almost trying to knot herself in a ball, as she fed last night im not expecting a shed! what is it? :confused:

cheers

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Originally Posted by Superdan

Hey guys,

I weighed ruby last night and she was 400g. she is nearly 3ft long and was wondering if there was a link between the two in relation to a healthy weight? that being said, she seems normal, i was just curious? :)

Also, just changed her water and saw her almost trying to knot herself in a ball, as she fed last night im not expecting a shed! what is it? :confused:

cheers

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I don't think you can get a solid correlation between length and weight...especially when they are still growing. And as adults, males tend to be (but not always) a bit leaner than females of the same length. When they're growing, they do so at very individual rates. I've got some that seem to put all their growing energy into length before they start packing on the heavier weight....and one that is staying relatively short, but is a little chunk all the time. So long as they are eating regularly, shedding well, and showing no signs of illness...I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Sounds to me like you just startled her. If she just ate yesterday, she may be feeling a bit vulnerable still and did not want to be disturbed.

Length Vs. Weight is hard to define since all snakes grow at different rates. Even clutch mates that get the same size food at the same time can grow differently. Some grow more in length and then start to bulk up, others get fat and then gain length.

So long as she is getting 10-15% of her body weight in food she should be fine, how old is she? As for balling up I don't have a clue, some BPs will still eat during a shed but from what I understand it's rare that they do. She may have been assuming a defensive posture since you were in "her space" but you would know her better than anyone.

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Originally Posted by JLC

Sounds to me like you just startled her. If she just ate yesterday, she may be feeling a bit vulnerable still and did not want to be disturbed.

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thanks, thats good to know, she was balling up before i changed her water so i dont think i scared her? will try and take a pic? do snakes show signs of being in season even if they aren't breeding? could it be this? she's lying with her belly facing in an back pushed out curled in a circle?

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

how old is she?

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I got her in march this year and was told she was 5 months old so that would make her 14 months old. does this make sense in relation to her weight of 400g?

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Originally Posted by Superdan

thanks, thats good to know, she was balling up before i changed her water so i dont think i scared her? will try and take a pic? do snakes show signs of being in season even if they aren't breeding? could it be this? she's lying with her belly facing in an back pushed out curled in a circle?

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I'm just guessing since I didn't actually see what happened and can't begin to read her body language based on scant computer text. :P All I can say is that nothing you've described sounds alarming or concerning.

At 400g, there is no way she's showing any signs of wanting to breed. They will sometimes just lay in weird positions.