Weight Gain/Loss Issue

Are you possibly weighing it full some times and empty sometimes? If you weighed right after eating some of the weight was food and after it digests it and poops the weight will go down a bit. It wouldnt hurt to have it vet checked for parasites too though.

Thanks for the input and suggestions people. I will try going up a size in the rats I'm feeding him and see how that works. It amazes me how some people are able to pack the pounds right on their pythons. I guess I'm afraid of overfeeding him and I don't want him to eat so much he becomes sick or starts regurgitating his food. I will try a rat pup pr two tonight and see how he does with those.

One thing I will say here, these snakes can eat a lot bigger prey than you think they can and still do fine.

I started all mine on weanling mice, an average of 13-19 grams each. Within 3 weeks, it became apparent I wasn't feeding enough. I went from 1 weanling each to 2 each, and then 3. When the weanlings were all gone, { I ordered from RodentPro} The next size up was adults at 20-29 grams each. I've got to tell you, those mice looked WAY too big, but it was all I had so I took the plunge and offered just one to see how it went. The babies inhaled them despite the size change and wanted to know why I was holding out with just one each.

The next week they all got one again, and again, despite seeming just huge for my babies, they had no trouble at all with them, other than being crabby mom was "starving" the babies. From there I moved up to two adult mice each, and I do believe they could have taken three if I had let them. My babies weighed between 200 - 260 grams then.

When it came time to get more food, I moved up to weaned rats, at 30 -44 grams each. When I first got them, they looked even bigger than the mice had at first and got me nervous all over again. But everyone has their rat every five days, and my biggest girls, who now top 420 grams apiece, want to know where the seconds are!

So, don't fret too much. As long as the baby can swallow the prey pretty easily, and have a good warm spot to digest, they'll be fine. At least that's my experience.

Gale

Thanks Gayle and everyone else for the replies. I am going to move up a bit and try a grown mouse with the snake in question. I will see how that goes this weekend as Saturday is feeding day at the "zoo". I'll keep everyone posted!