Is obesity ever actually a concern for male ball pythons?

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Originally Posted by rabernet

My 2000 gram lemon pastel male is one of my best breeders. And he's pretty lean looking. I actually DO choose to keep my adults leaner than others do. I do worry about things like fatty liver disease. I know someone who lost a snake out of the blue, had it necropsied and that was the cause of death.

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Fatty liver disease! So it does sound like obesity can be a problem. Was it a male ball python? And were they any signs that this particular animal was clearly overweight, or was it really out of the blue?

But yeah, I'm slow-growing my snakes, too. Not so much intentionally---they just seem to grow a bit slower when you keep them on a strict f/t diet. And if I run out of f/t on a given day, I'll tend to favor the girls over the boys.

My male Mojo Julius is somewhere around 2000g (haven't weighed him in a while), and at only 2 years old has already produced 11 beautiful babies. He's possibly a little chunky, but definitely not obese or unhealthy - just a big boy!! Btw, he feeds on 2-3 live adult mice weekly, and will occasionally take a f/t small rat instead.

I do have a corn snake who's obese, weighing in at a whopping 1190g last time I checked... normal weight for an adult female corn is 500-700g, FYI. :oops: She was already that size when I adopted her, and is probably around 14 years old now. So she's lived to a ripe old age, and aside from a fatty deposit near her cloaca, seems to be in decent health. I've had her on a diet for the last couple of years, but so far it's been futile (and pointless at her age).

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

I do have a corn snake who's obese, weighing in at a whopping 1190g last time I checked... normal weight for an adult female corn is 500-700g, FYI. :oops: She was already that size when I adopted her, and is probably around 14 years old now. So she's lived to a ripe old age, and aside from a fatty deposit near her cloaca, seems to be in decent health. I've had her on a diet for the last couple of years, but so far it's been futile (and pointless at her age).

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A fat corn snake! Fat. Corn. Snake. Now there's something you gotta post pictures of.

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Originally Posted by loonunit

A fat corn snake! Fat. Corn. Snake. Now there's something you gotta post pictures of.

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Yes I agree: I'd love to see pics of her as well! I love the "giants"

Hmm.. I have 2010 male pied who is coming in at 1450 grams now and he really doesn't seem obese at all. He is active and has a great appetite. I could hardly keep him still for this picture. He comes from a WC grandmother who is HUGE, so he definitely has it in his genetics to be big. I can only guess how big she was, but she had to be at least 5000 grams. Here is a pic. Oh, and I would also like to see that fat corn snake!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g2...polloNov11.jpg