I don't think my bp is gaining proper weight

I'd second the fecal exam. It sounds like a parasite could be a possibility.

I guess everyone is jumping on getting a fecal exam. Personally, I don't see how one mouse 3 times a month is supposed to put that much weight on any BP. I feed young animals at least every 5 days, they gain a significant amount of weight with this style of feeding.

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Originally Posted by eel588

I guess everyone is jumping on getting a fecal exam. Personally, I don't see how one mouse 3 times a month is supposed to put that much weight on any BP. I feed young animals at least every 5 days, they gain a significant amount of weight with this style of feeding.

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It won't grow fast on 3 mice a month, but if I read the OP's post correctly, they offers food more often but the snake only eats about 3 times a month. An adult mouse should weigh around 20-30g, which means the snake should still be bigger than it is. There might not be anything wrong and it could be directly related to it's feeding schedule, but it's also possible there is something else going on. Fecal exams aren't that expensive and it's better safe than sorry.

Picked up my female a month ago and she was a bit small. Changed her feeding to every five days on rat pups she gained 80g empty. You said your snake does not always eat. If he does not what do you do with mouse. If he refuses kill the mouse and it in cage right by the exit of his hide.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

It won't grow fast on 3 mice a month, but if I read the OP's post correctly, they offers food more often but the snake only eats about 3 times a month. An adult mouse should weigh around 20-30g, which means the snake should still be bigger than it is. There might not be anything wrong and it could be directly related to it's feeding schedule, but it's also possible there is something else going on. Fecal exams aren't that expensive and it's better safe than sorry.

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Suggesting a fecal with this much info is crazy. The OP says he got the snake at 3 months old its now 6-7 and later he says 8. Well you don't know how hold it was when you got it but you should be able to tell us how long you have had the snake. Lets say 4 months as the average. You said it eats 3 times a month. That's 12 feedings and in that 12 feedings the snake has gained 70 grams. Now my BP retained 50% of his prey weight as actual weight gained. I would suspect the OP's would retain less as its going longer between feedings. But lets assume 50% retained. That places the total rodent weight consumed around 140 grams. That's an average of about 12 grams a mouse. I have no problem believing that the OP is feeding a 12 gram mouse 3 times a month. There are tons of people who come on this site saying exactly the same thing. The OP never said "adult" mouse.

I echo the other good advice given so far. Feed an adult mouse every 5 days. Other people are feeding rodents twice as big (assuming my 12 gram estimate is correct) twice as often. So basically if you feed your snake 4 times what you are feeding it now it will grow faster. Don't bother with a fecal till you have some actual numbers that you can give to a good herp vet.

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Originally Posted by Egapal

Suggesting a fecal with this much info is crazy. The OP says he got the snake at 3 months old its now 6-7 and later he says 8. Well you don't know how hold it was when you got it but you should be able to tell us how long you have had the snake. Lets say 4 months as the average. You said it eats 3 times a month. That's 12 feedings and in that 12 feedings the snake has gained 70 grams. Now my BP retained 50% of his prey weight as actual weight gained. I would suspect the OP's would retain less as its going longer between feedings. But lets assume 50% retained. That places the total rodent weight consumed around 140 grams. That's an average of about 12 grams a mouse. I have no problem believing that the OP is feeding a 12 gram mouse 3 times a month. There are tons of people who come on this site saying exactly the same thing. The OP never said "adult" mouse.

I echo the other good advice given so far. Feed an adult mouse every 5 days. Other people are feeding rodents twice as big (assuming my 12 gram estimate is correct) twice as often. So basically if you feed your snake 4 times what you are feeding it now it will grow faster. Don't bother with a fecal till you have some actual numbers that you can give to a good herp vet.

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I honestly don't think it's crazy to suggest a fecal regardless of how much information there is. Your right, the OP never said adult mouse, but fecal exams should be part of standard care. It's usually recommened that you get fecals done every 6 months if you are feeding live and every year if you are feeding f/t. It is never crazy to suggest a fecal exam regardless of how much information is supplied. They only cost ~$25 and then you can say for sure his slow growth is a direct result of his feeding schedule. Most vets should be willing to do a fecal exam for you without seeing the snake, so I don't see why having numbers to give to the vet is important.

My female who was 105 grams in March or April, is a 2010 bp and was very very small for her age, is now over 500 grams and eating small rats. I'd say 1 mouse a week is not enough, and other than parasites is possibly the reason it's not growing. I'd switch to rats asap, and if you can't feed at least 2-3 mice per feeding. You can't get your feeders from anywhere but Petco??

P.S. I don't think a fecal is ever a bad thing to suggest, it's always good to be certain, however I don't think it's necessary until you change the feeding schedule and/or prey. Like someone else mentioned, it won't grow on only 3 mice a month...

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Originally Posted by Kinra

I honestly don't think it's crazy to suggest a fecal regardless of how much information there is. Your right, the OP never said adult mouse, but fecal exams should be part of standard care. It's usually recommened that you get fecals done every 6 months if you are feeding live and every year if you are feeding f/t. It is never crazy to suggest a fecal exam regardless of how much information is supplied. They only cost ~$25 and then you can say for sure his slow growth is a direct result of his feeding schedule. Most vets should be willing to do a fecal exam for you without seeing the snake, so I don't see why having numbers to give to the vet is important.

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Its crazy because its unwarranted by the evidence. There are plenty of things you should do that can be crazy if you do them without good reason. Suggesting someone should were a seat belt when in a moving, or about to be moving vehicle is good advice. Suggesting someone put on their seat in order to sit in your new car to check it out with no intention of going anywhere is crazy. On top of all that we have no idea what this persons situation is like. Should they get a good reasonably priced herp vet scoped out and maybe do a fecal as part of routine health care? Sure. I think its far more important and likely to help to make sure they are feeding 25-30 gram prey offered every 5 days and check their husbandry to see if there are issues causing refusals.

If a person comes to me with a cut on their hand that won't stop bleeding I am not going to open with a suggestion of some blood work to check platelet levels. I am going to suggest they apply pressure and see if it stops bleeding. Depending on how long it takes to stop I might suggest the blood panel as just a good idea in general and maybe more so considering the issue. Point is there are real things the OP can do today to fix the issue in the likely event that its underfeeding that is the issue and if we are supplied with some real figures we can access the likely hood.

A lot of people fed thier BPs rats. They have more nutrition. They tend to grow faster.

I feed mice, because I breed my own mice.

Chances are my snakes are smaller than what everyone else here would think they should be.

They eat every six days and all 8 are healthy.

I have a 2010 female spider that is about 475 grams. Oh no! (She never misses a meal and is healthy).

A fecal should be part of all quarantine processes. Having tested multiple samples of feeders from 3 suppliers I know a great many feeders carry parasites and some of those are transferable.

If you suspect slow growth, it is time for the exam cheap and easy. It can head off many future problems. I have yearly samples done, and am very careful with the suppliers I buy from and that the prey items have been frozen for at the very least 30 hours.

Growth rates vary, temperature will effect growth rates too, there are many other variables, but the first step is to eliminate the easily tested variable. Call me crazy but guessing genetics and guessing food weigh gain ratios against a 'average' is crazy, eliminate what you can prove first then guess.