Re: General guideline for age/weight ratio.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JulieInNJ
Okay, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities that she's a healthy 2 year old at only 350g's, now that she's getting steady feedings, proper care, etc. That makes me feel better!
Is it possible? Yes but there are a few thing I would check on also
#1 whether she is really a she.
#2 I would have a fecal done as well.
Not sure who you got her from but 350 grams at 2 years would be considered VERY VERY small.
Re: General guideline for age/weight ratio.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
adamjeffery
mice are too small for a snake that size. people always underestimate balls and size of food. i feed babies out of the egg small adult mice. at that size she should be on weanling rats or at the least 2 mice.
she doesnt seem skinny just small for her age. quite small imho. i have 2011 babies that are already that weight. you can tell she is older because she has some length to her. id say step up the size of the food after a few smaller feedings to make sure her digestive system is working properly. one she is eating and doing well i would try and switch her to rats.
id also just like to say she is a very pretty ball. id consider her a dinker. almost chocolate like. very nice blushing nice donuts and not alot of alien heads. do you have a picture of her belly?
is it solid white?
beutiful snake and i hope she gets all that she was missing now.
adam jeffery
Thanks! I'm picking up rats next week at an expo so I'll definitely bump up the size of the feeders. Here's her belly.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/files/2/3/5/4/7/2.jpg
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Deborah
Not sure who you got her from but 350 grams at 2 years would be considered VERY VERY small.
She came from a private home, and that owner got her from a friend, so I honestly have no idea where she came from originally. We have her third hand which is why I know so little about her. I'll ring up our local herp vet to see about scheduling an exam.
Re: General guideline for age/weight ratio.
As there are no real guidlines if she is in the 300 to 400 gram range id say at some point she wasnt fed regurlally. The first 500 grams seem to take the longest to gain. After 500 they tend to take off. Usually they will get to that 500 in the first year or maore if they are on a regular rat regiment. Id get her off mice if thats what shes on and get her on rats. She could be stunted at this point if she is in fact 2 years old but she could still end up putting on alot of weight. About 6 years ago i imported a group of balls females. 10 were ghana balls, and 20 were a mixture of females from benine and togo. The ghana girls got huge fast. I have 5 of them up to 3200 to 4000 grams at full weight going into cooling season. The other balls from benine and togo are a respectful 2500 grams there about. So i would say locale has alot to do with it and all captive balls came from those locales at some point down the line. No heres another example. Last june 2010 i hatched out a clutch of mojaves. 3 females, 1 male and 3 male normals. I kept one female and sold the others. The one i kept is 920 grams right now and she has been on a weekly feed regiment since hatch. The ones i sold to my buddy eat mice every 2 weeks and they are in the 450 gram range so thats the difference between rats and mice. Your animal looks totally healthy and i wouldnt worry unless your plan was to breed her and then id say shes gonna take a while to get to weight but by the time she does she will be sexually mature for sure which is another thing some people dont take into consideration. Some people think just cause the animal is at breeding weight it will breed. The animal has to be sexually mature as well and sometimes it takes longer. I dont like breeding my girls till they are at least 3 years old and 1500 grams. Sometimes i sway a little from that but i try and stick to that.
