Should I keep a close eye on this?

Hi! Ally snakes have been gaining good weight. I got my Ball Python on June, 2, 2013, and he's gained approx 110 grams since I've gotten him. I weigh my snakes probably every two, three weeks, before I feed them. All of my snakes have been gaining weight consistently, and then I weighed them a few days ago. They're all the same weight, and my corn snake has lost 1-2 ounces. Should I continue my regular feeding and keep an eye on this? I was super surprised that none of them gained any weight. Maybe that's normal, and maybe I'm over thinking it, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. I just.don't know why weight gain was consistent, and steady, and now all my snakes are the same weight, and one lost weight. Anyways... Thanks in advanced.
Previous weights + new weights
About two weeks ago:
Ball python: 10 ounces (= approx 280 grams, I think)
Male BCI: 2 ounces (= I think that's approx 80 grams)
Female BCI: 2 ounces.
Corn snake: 11-12 ounces (approx 300 grams)
Now:
Ball: 10 ounces
Male BCI: 2½ ounces
Female BCI: 2 ounces
Corn snake 9½-10 ounces.

sounds like you may be under feeding. My BP's spinners were born in july and they have been gaining weight steadily. They are getting close to 300 grams. What is your feeding schedule looking like? I do not have enough experience with your other species to give you advice on them but ball pythons should steadily gain weight.

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Originally Posted by decensored

sounds like you may be under feeding. My BP's spinners were born in july and they have been gaining weight steadily. They are getting close to 300 grams. What is your feeding schedule looking like? I do not have enough experience with your other species to give you advice on them but ball pythons should steadily gain weight.

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My BP and Corn are 280 & 300 (approx) grams, both eating adult mice, BCI's are close to 100 grams, on hoppers. I feed on Thursdays. What's the next size up (in rats) after adult mice? I've noticed that they've continued to wonder after feeding, like they're still hungry but everyone on another forum said not to feed anymore than I'm feeding.

And adult mouse is pretty close. An adult mouse is around 25 grams. When feeding BP's specifically you want to be feeding 10-15% of their body weight. At 280 grams the smallest prey item you want to feed (without feeding multiples is 28 grams) but for a young animal you want to be feeding as close to 15% as possible. I like to feed my babies and juvies between 3-5 days as well. This year I feed 10% of their body weight every 4 days up to 300-400 grams.

The appropriate size in rats, if feeding once a week, would be a weaned rat.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...ed=0CD4Q9QEwAQ

hope this helped. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by decensored

And adult mouse is pretty close. An adult mouse is around 25 grams. When feeding BP's specifically you want to be feeding 10-15% of their body weight. At 280 grams the smallest prey item you want to feed (without feeding multiples is 28 grams) but for a young animal you want to be feeding as close to 15% as possible. I like to feed my babies and juvies between 3-5 days as well. This year I feed 10% of their body weight every 4 days up to 300-400 grams.

The appropriate size in rats, if feeding once a week, would be a weaned rat.

http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h...ed=0CD4Q9QEwAQ

hope this helped. :)

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Well here is something that concerns me... I've heard that an average 5 month old BP would be somewhere around 500 Grams. I've had my since June, and I think he's a yearling because he's about 2, nearing 3 feet. However he's only 280 grams. I am feeding him what everyone has told me I should be feeding him, but he's not too heavy. I've had him for about four months, so I know that he's most definitely at least like 8 months old (that'd be the youngest I'd say that he is) because I've held, and seen hatchlings, young BPs, and adults. He seems to be in the sub adult area.

200g-300g BPs I feed weaned rats @ around 40g.
400g-1500g BPs I feed small rats @ around 80g

EDIT: 500g for a 5 month old BP is very rare.

it could be underfeeding.

intuitively, its hard to see how much heavier rats are. a hopper mouse is at 7-15 grams, a weaned rat is at 30-45 grams. that 3 to 1.

adult/jumbo mice and rats diverge even more. extra large mouse: 25-45 grams, extra large rat: 275-375 grams. thats close to 10 to 1. when a very large BP is hooked on mice, a feeding can really be 7 mice in a row.

for a young BP, rule of thumb is that the food they get every 7 days should be around 10-15% of body weight. so your BP is well in the range of weaned rats, and would need 3 or 4 hopper mouse or one really big extra large mouse.

also i would suggest you switch to grams completely. ounces are becoming more and more obsolete. feet and gallons are still going strong, but ounces are really unusual by now.

here is what i found and use as reference for the weights:

http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_rats
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_mice


but i dont know about the weight loss of your corn snake, that seems really unusual, there may be an underlying issue here. maybe something like an infection or internal parasites. maybe its just a fluctuation, but the numbers look almost too dramatic for just a random fluctuation.

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Originally Posted by Rickys_Reptiles

200g-300g BPs I feed weaned rats @ around 40g.
400g-1500g BPs I feed small rats @ around 80g

EDIT: 500g for a 5 month old BP is very rare.

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Thanks!! I'll keep this feeding chart in mind. So should I keep an eye on these guys, or just continue our routine, and not stress about this?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pythonfriend

it could be underfeeding.

intuitively, its hard to see how much heavier rats are. a hopper mouse is at 7-15 grams, a weaned rat is at 30-45 grams. that 3 to 1.

adult/jumbo mice and rats diverge even more. extra large mouse: 25-45 grams, extra large rat: 275-375 grams. thats close to 10 to 1. when a very large BP is hooked on mice, a feeding can really be 7 mice in a row.

for a young BP, rule of thumb is that the food they get every 7 days should be around 10-15% of body weight. so your BP is well in the range of weaned rats, and would need 3 or 4 hopper mouse or one really big extra large mouse.

also i would suggest you switch to grams completely. ounces are becoming more and more obsolete. feet and gallons are still going strong, but ounces are really unusual by now.

here is what i found and use as reference for the weights:

http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_rats
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_mice


but i dont know about the weight loss of your corn snake, that seems really unusual, there may be an underlying issue here. maybe something like an infection or internal parasites. maybe its just a fluctuation, but the numbers look almost too dramatic for just a random fluctuation.

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Ball Python and Corn snake are both eating adult mice. Only my baby BCI's are on hoppers. The reason I personally think she's lost weight is because she's been zipping around her cage for a week or so. She's sensitive to environment change.... VERY sensitive. If she poops and I change her bedding, that's enough to stress her out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by B.O.S Reptiles

Thanks!! I'll keep this feeding chart in mind. So should I keep an eye on these guys, or just continue our routine, and not stress about this?

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Well, assuming an adult mouse is 30g (which I'm not 100% sure of) then I'd say it's time to switch to weaned rats. After 3-4 weaned rats you can start to feed smalls. This is for your BP, I'm not 100% sure about the other species. It may look like your 300g'ish BP is going to explode when you feed it a small.. don't worry, it won't. Feed it a small, then skip a week, then feed a small, then skip a week. After that you can feed smalls every Thursday again.

This isn't a rule - this is what I would do.