Finally Weighed my Yearling...comments?

Eden is approximately 362 grams, which I know thanks to my local pet store having a scale and a converter 😧 So, that being said, how is she doing? Still eating f/t rats. Is she a good weight?

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I'm assuming it is a Ball Python? Around 400 grams in a year, you are feeding ever 14 days I assume?

"Yearling" covers a pretty broad time range. My first bp, who is now about a year old, is about 230g, which I contribute to the fact I had him on fuzzy mice for the first few months I had him. On the other hand, a pair of females I bought as yearlings in October were about 500g when I first weighed them. Not totally sure their exact age, and I suspect I might have been overfeeding them because they're up to 750 now. It seems to really depend on how much you feed them.

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Originally Posted by Ransack

I'm assuming it is a Ball Python? Around 400 grams in a year, you are feeding ever 14 days I assume?

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Yes. Female. year-old in Novemeber. Was eating 2 small mice every other week, now eating small rats steadily for a month.

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Originally Posted by Daigga

"Yearling" covers a pretty broad time range. My first bp, who is now about a year old, is about 230g, which I contribute to the fact I had him on fuzzy mice for the first few months I had him. On the other hand, a pair of females I bought as yearlings in October were about 500g when I first weighed them. Not totally sure their exact age, and I suspect I might have been overfeeding them because they're up to 750 now. It seems to really depend on how much you feed them.

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I'm just concerned because, locally, the yearlings raised by the pros are coming in at 500g!

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Originally Posted by SCWood

I'm just concerned because, locally, the yearlings raised by the pros are coming in at 500g!l

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It's all about feeding. If you put as much food into them as they'll take, they'll pack on the weight. You may face some issues with obesity, but they'll be ready faster I suppose. I watched one of the newer episodes of SnakeBytes and I think Brian said he could get his snakes to up to 700g in their first year (I might be misremembering, someone chime in here?), but I personally wouldn't try for that myself.

Her weight sounds fine. Keep doing what you are doing. Don't try to compare with the sizes of others as their growth rate varies from snake to snake.

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Her weight sounds fine. Keep doing what you are doing. Don't try to compare with the sizes of others as their growth rate varies from snake to snake.

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I second this^
every ball python grows at different rates. How often you feed plays a big part but as long as the animal looks healthy (not skinny but not obese) that is all that matters. Some people may have larger yearlings because they feed more often to get them to breeding weight faster and some people just have some fast growing snake. I feed rats every 7 days regardless of age. My 7 month female is just shy of 400g, my 6 month male is just over 300g, but I have a 8 month old male that is only under 200g. That male I got as a problem feeder and has continued to be a problem but he maintains his weight and is healthy. There is a chart someone posted from a breeder that recorded the weights of an entire clutch as they grew and averaged them out. It's a pretty decent reference but idk where I saw it

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Originally Posted by aLittleLessButter

I second this^
every ball python grows at different rates. How often you feed plays a big part but as long as the animal looks healthy (not skinny but not obese) that is all that matters. Some people may have larger yearlings because they feed more often to get them to breeding weight faster and some people just have some fast growing snake. I feed rats every 7 days regardless of age. My 7 month female is just shy of 400g, my 6 month male is just over 300g, but I have a 8 month old male that is only under 200g. That male I got as a problem feeder and has continued to be a problem but he maintains his weight and is healthy. There is a chart someone posted from a breeder that recorded the weights of an entire clutch as they grew and averaged them out. It's a pretty decent reference but idk where I saw it

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If I fed rats weekly, I'd be evicted for power feeding. ..

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Originally Posted by SCWood

If I fed rats weekly, I'd be evicted for power feeding. ..

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Why? Feeding once a week isn't power feeding