Too Small??

We finally got our scale and weighed our BP last night. She's just 141 grams.
We purchased her in April and the pet store said she was about 14-15 weeks. After we
had her home, I started to realize they were probably a bit "off" with that age. She didn't seem
much bigger then a hatchling. (real thin and about 14" long)

Some of you may remember that they also told us that they were feeding her only once
every 2 weeks, BECAUSE she was so small (YES, I understand how that makes absolutely NO sense)
When we got her home, we upped the feedings to once a week and then to every 5 days.

But Im still guessing 141 is pretty small for a BP that is about 5months? Is there any BP's that are
just "runts" of the litter? :) Also, we say "she" but she's never been checked and given
her size, I would guess the odds are more likely she's a he :)

All husbandry seems good. She's a "happy" snake. Can't say that she even appears hungry at feeding
time. (before we moved up to 5 days, she would appear hungry- more active etc) but she eats well. Sometimes
strikes right away, other times prefers to eat after its dark.

Personally, Im happy with a smaller BP. Just curious on opinions.

I had a boob egg that produced a 35 gram baby. It was a rough start for that little snake, but he grew up to a normal size and eats well. So, those runts can grow up to be normal ball pythons.

Glad things are going well for you. 141 grams does sound a little small, but she may just be growing at her own pace. If you are feeding her appropriate sized meals, she should start gaining weight. Keep on the feeding schedule and she should do fine.

I rescued a baby ball python about a month ago. She weighed 44g and they said she was 6 months old. Currently, she weights 64 grams and eats a hopper mouse every 5 days. She's growing slowly but I'm confident about her. Each animals grows at it's own rate. As long as she's pooping, eating, and acting normally, she's fine.

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Originally Posted by snakehobbyist

I rescued a baby ball python about a month ago. She weighed 44g and they said she was 6 months old. Currently, she weights 64 grams and eats a hopper mouse every 5 days. She's growing slowly but I'm confident about her. Each animals grows at it's own rate. As long as she's pooping, eating, and acting normally, she's fine.

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She's certainly doing all those things. Shed twice since we had her (beautiful ones, all in one piece :) and is "trained" to poop in her moss hide :)

Im happy we have a scale now, just so I can monitor growth, and make sure she's progressing and not something like a parasite keeping her "petite" :)

Wow- 44!! that IS small! sounds like she's doing much better now, thanks to you!

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Originally Posted by Lisn123

Wow- 44!! that IS small! sounds like she's doing much better now, thanks to you!

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Yes! She was very thin, dehydrated, and had a retained shed. She hasn't shed for me yet (I got her July 5th) but she's a vigorous eater so I expect to see her go blue here pretty soon and hopefully fix her shedding issues. I'm working on switching her to rats so hopefully she'll gain some weight and beef up for me even more than she has been.

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Originally Posted by snakehobbyist

Yes! She was very thin, dehydrated, and had a retained shed. She hasn't shed for me yet (I got her July 5th) but she's a vigorous eater so I expect to see her go blue here pretty soon and hopefully fix her shedding issues. I'm working on switching her to rats so hopefully she'll gain some weight and beef up for me even more than she has been.

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Im sure she will shed soon. It took ours a long time for the first one. (& for the first poop lol) I think she was just so underfed, she needed all she could, to bulk up a bit :)

OP, that is a kind of small for her age. What are you feeding her? The best advice I can give is to give her 10-15% of her body weight every 5 days and she will catch up eventually. As long as she eats, poops and sheds just fine, I wouldn't worry too much.

And to those who think 44g is small... We hatched a 24g ball this year. She is 2 months old now and tips the scale at 53g as of the other day. Very slow growing, but she is a bottomless pit and is our only ball who readily eats f/t. She is even smaller than our hatchlings that just hatched 4 days ago. Almost wish she would stay this small and cute.

Hey OP, that sounds a lot like when I got my little bp in January. She was 82 grams, they told me she was about 16 weeks old and I thought she seemed awfully small...dunno if they really had no idea of her age, or if she was simply small/underfed. Anyway she's filling out nicely, is a good eater and is now around 650 grams. As long as she's eating well I'm sure your girl is fine, but I'm willing to bet she'll start catching up on her weight eventually :)