My new ball python, is he freakishly small or okay?

Hey! So I got a ball python at an expo. I wanted a blue eyed lucy because they are cute. I saw this little (really little) guy at a table and fell in love -- the breeder said he was a "runt" and was a mojave spider ghost something, I forget, but he was all white for the most part besides some patterning, and blue eyes. I was told he was 3 months old.

Im noticing he is REALLY small compared to other ball pythons his age. He weighs 67 grams. He is a bit wobbley, not sure if its wobble from some morph thing, or he is just weird. He ate his second mouse upside down, but was fine after lol

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...com/xayydx.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...com/wvtvec.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...com/in524w.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/2d98ttu.jpg

I fed him 2 days after I got him, then again 4 days after that because I am nervous he is so skinny. He eats everytime! He weighs 67 grams, and the two mice I fed were about 6 grams so I guess those are a tiny bit too small?

His temps are good and his humidity is fine. Do you think he is really small? is there anytyhing special I should do? Maybe Im just being overly wacky?


He is a cutie though!

Thanks :)

Just feed him once a week as normal? He looks fine to me. Also I'd move your thermostat probe out of the tank, on the UTH is better. With it being in the tank like that it can be moved around and that can mess with your temps.

Size really depends on a few things while this would be the average size of an hatchling out of the egg it can also be the size of a snake that was very small upon hatching, some will hatch as low as 40 grams some even smaller but it's rare, and then it also depends on how fast the animal get started, some will eat right after their first shed at 10 to 14 days some may take 6 to 8 weeks to get started.

Good news is that it can be fixed, if the animal has a good feeding response feed a hopper every 5 days and upgrade has it grows.

Considering your snake is a BEL but the head is cleaner than a Super Mojave it could be a Hypo Super Mojave and if there is spider in it it would definitely explain the backwardness during feeding, as wobbling is something any mutation with spider in it will do to a degree (from severe to mild)

Yeah, a "runt" with snakes is often the smallest egg of the batch and really indicative of nothing else; the animals will bulk up as adults to levels comparable to non "runt" animals with proper care.

More Eggs > Smaller Eggs > Smaller Hatchings, generally. Beyond what Deborah astutely mentioned regarding how quick the animal gets started off on eating. But yours seems to be eager to go, if it's already eating for you rather than going through a multi-week "new home" fast as is common with this species. 10% of his body weight 5 days up until the animal's around 300g, IIRC.

Your animal is a pet and really can't be compared size-wise to an animal designated as a breeder and thus being bulked up. Something else to consider when your animal looks smallish for its age.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Size really depends on a few things while this would be the average size of an hatchling out of the egg it can also be the size of a snake that was very small upon hatching, some will hatch as low as 40 grams some even smaller but it's rare

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yup, i hatched out a normal that was 32 grams, the rest of the chatchlings were 45-50grams, this was a 7 egg clutch though(smaller eggs). My 5 egg clutch hatchlings were 60-70 grams.

I'm a newbie as well and also a BEL owner :)! To give you perspective, Coco was around 60g and had a rough start, and this was back in early September. Now, she's a great eater...actually a piggy ,and she's up to 122 grams, and she's about 4 months old.

Adorable snake too BTW!

This may be a little off subject of this post but could you explain more about the spider gene wobble and backwardness? I have a baby normal ball and when he eats he does a sort of wobble and sometimes feeds backwards like that just not completely on his back.