Weight gain

My female ball python, at one year and four months old was 288 grams empty. Four weeks later she has gained 134 grams and is weighing in at a whopping 422 grams. I've been feeding her 15% of her body weight every five days. I just got my male pastel today, he is weighing in at 388 grams at four months old. He looks fat the way a ball python should, not obese but a very healthy weight. He is only two feet long but he has the same girth as my female who is two feet eight inches. Now I know that she is underweight. I know that with a good healthy fat snake you should be fed 15% at most on a regular basis. Can I bump her up to 20% just until she is the girth that she should be at her size?

Yes, I'd have to say 288 grams for a 2010 is VERY small. Is she eating mice or rats?

Personally I would give it a shot. Also use rats over mice, more fat content.

She was not much bigger than a hatchling in when I got her in late January. She was born late July same as my pastel. She is two feet and eight inches so she's the right length but she is underweight. I've always fed her every seven days except for when she broke her jaw in June she didn't eat for two months and here and there when I couldn't get mice maybe two times one was a couple weeks and one was a month but I have a steady supply now. I do not think it is necessary to do a fecal to check for parasites since she has gained 134 grams in four weeks.

Also I just got her on rats two months ago.

thats so crazy! my 5 month bp weighs 260g, sorry to burst in there but i was trying to find a comparison and i guess i found it

I picked up my bp at 3 months old and he weighed in at 50grams at the shop. Not sure the guy weighed him right.
I weighed him 2 weeks later and he was 96grams. Few days later after he pooped and urated he wwnt down to 86grams. Hes slowly coming up to 4 months old and i jus switched him over to rats today with no hassle. I feel like my guy is SUPER underweight..... after reading everyones post here.... :(

I know my female is underweight. My male is four months old, and after she pooped they are the same weight and he has more girth. She is 6-8 inches longer than he is and he has more girth. I tried to bump her up to 20% tonight but she just finished shedding and only ate one weaned rat at least she got 10% of her body weight. I may even consider 30% starting next week and take it back to once a week instead of five days so I can pack some weight on her, she should be at least 600 grams right now.

At 16 months old, I have some snakes that are well over 1000 grams.......sounds like you are feeding her rats/mice that are WAY TOO SMALL.........at almost 3 feet, she can eat large small rats, or small medium rats.....something in the 100-125 gram range......a weanling rat is about 25 grams or so...give or take.......way to small......

Jason

Yeah, since joining here I've realized just how drastically behind one of mine is. She doesn't /look/ underweight - but apparently she is. I've bumped her up to 25% and shes doing great. I'm trying to get rid of the frozen mice I have, so I can buy rats the next time around - that should help significantly as well.

I would say to keep it on a 5day rotation at 30%. I feed Ryn 2x 35g mice every 5-6 days (depends on if she wants to eat or not). Once I get rid of the mice, I'll buy rat pups and continue the same thing.

30% sounds like it might be more helpful for yours. She may need the extra - though how are you feeding her? 1 rodent at 30% or 2 rodents at 15% each? and if the 2 rodents - do you do continuous feed, or do you let her finish one and strike at another?