I have a dwarf BP...?

Wow; this is weird. My '02 male, Ashes, seems to be a dwarf. He eats regularly and has no internal parasites, and is kept at optimal conditions. But he is still only around 2 feet in length; it seems that he has not grown much in a year!
Maybe he is a dwarf? He has a great appetite, feeding on hopper rats, and a nice muscular body structure. But he still seems to be smaller than he should be.

wow, my bp ist about 8 months old and he/she is 30" already

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Wow; this is weird. My '02 male, Ashes, seems to be a dwarf. He eats regularly and has no internal parasites, and is kept at optimal conditions. But he is still only around 2 feet in length; it seems that he has not grown much in a year!
Maybe he is a dwarf? He has a great appetite, feeding on hopper rats, and a nice muscular body structure. But he still seems to be smaller than he should be.

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"Dwarfism" is a genetic condition. Without breeding him to find out what's behind his genetics, he is technically just a "smaller" ball python. I've found that there is a pretty extreme variability to sizes among both male and female ball pythons.

For example, I have a 1999 male pastel that is well over 3000 grams and a 1999 hypo that is 1,100 grams ... both are fed on the same schedule and are free of internal parasites.

-adam

Adam, do you intentionally keep smaller snakes out of your breeding schedule?

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Originally Posted by IamKaervek

Adam, do you intentionally keep smaller snakes out of your breeding schedule?

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I don't breed any animals that are not physically ready for the stess that breeding puts them through. The animals well being ALWAYS comes first.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

I don't breed any animals that are not physically ready for the stess that breeding puts them through. The animals well being ALWAYS comes first.

-adam

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OK, so size and sexual maturity aren't independant with regards to breeding readiness. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by IamKaervek

OK, so size and sexual maturity aren't independant with regards to breeding readiness. Thanks.

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Is that what I said?

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Is that what I said?

-adam

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So you would breed an adult ball python that doesn't appear to have "normal" growth, but has reached sexual maturity based upon age? Would you only breed him with a female of similar characteristics? Does it depend upon the smaller snake's sex?

Maybe I didn't phrase my original question well enough: Do you intentionally keep smaller, apparently "dwarfed" snakes (not necessarily proven dwarves), out of your breeding schedule entirely, regardless of sexual maturity?

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Originally Posted by IamKaervek

So you would breed an adult ball python that doesn't appear to have "normal" growth, but has reached sexual maturity based upon age? Would you only breed him with a female of similar characteristics? Does it depend upon the smaller snake's sex?

Maybe I didn't phrase my original question well enough: Do you intentionally keep smaller, apparently "dwarfed" snakes (not necessarily proven dwarves), out of your breeding schedule entirely, regardless of sexual maturity?

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You are assuming that I have "dwarfed" snakes?

-adam

how about just answering the question, hypothetically or not? Or you could just ignore me. At this point, we're kind of defeating the purpose. You make it sound like I'm accusing you of something - looking for conflict, perhaps? Bored?