Weighing a Snake

Just wondering as I finally ran out and grabbed a scale (not a great one but it'll do for now) how does one properly weigh a snake.

I popped our girls one at a time into a pillowcase and got weights on them but I'm not sure when exactly you should do this so you are getting what you all call "empty weight". Does this mean so many days after they've eaten and do they need to have defecated first prior to weighing.

I just weighed Brannagh the other day. She'd eaten Saturday night and had pooped a few days before that. I weighed her Monday night so about 48 hours post feeding. She weighed in at 1900 grams! Now I know she's a stupendous eater and all that. She can scarf down two small rats and a wean rat every Saturday and not even show a bulge she's gotten so big and long but it's a lot of weight gain since we got her back in early September.

Could I have been picking up some weight still from her prey or from a large poop inside her? She seriously is not fat or like I said even shows any sort of bulging after eating so by 48 hours post feed is just her normal looking self.

Is it normal for larger females to be this aggressive eating? Brann will take down those rats and still hunt like mad the rest of the night and sometimes well into Sunday. We are sure she's getting enough to eat but she never seems satisfied as much as the other females do.


~~Jo~~

Shoot sorry it ended up being two questions in one post LOL.

Also forgot to mention Brann was 3 feet 11 inches when we got her back in September and in shed. Since then she's shed again and visibly is longer though measuring her is rather ummm difficult so I'm not sure how much over 4 feet she actually is today. She's completely outgrown the big dog dishes we made into hides for the bigger females....off to the farm supply store again I guess!


~~Jo~~

Sounds a lot like Sesha to me lol - shes never met a rat she didnt like. You may wind up with a mondo female on your hands as well.

On the weighing - I have tried to be as consistent as possible in terms of when I weigh and do it the day before they are all fed. While the feeding schedule is on a concrete schedule there certainly doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason on the elimination "schedule" oddly.

I've noticed even after feeding a 80g rat, that within a couple of days, (first handling after feed), there's only about 20-30g increase in weight from the "empty" weight. They certainly do digest quickly. I've also seen weight increases from two days after feeding to one day after pooping. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to any of Jake's weight gain. But he's packin it on quickly!

i don't have any set schedule for weighing, but i generally try to get a weight a day or two before feeding if they have defecated that week. i also like to weigh after a shed--they are likely to have pooped along with the shed and mostly likely didn't eat during the few days before the shed occurred.

it is amazing how quickly they can grow though. one of my girls (norah) put on 600 grams in 2 months over the summer and then another 400 grams in the 2 months after that. she'll be getting to know a certain male albino of mine this winter for sure. :P