Almost 2 year old bp and only 345 grams?

So I have a male bp named Xander. I've had him for about 7 months.
And just a couple weeks ago I decided to weigh him. And he was 345 grams.
Which made me come to the revelation that he shld be at least 3xs his weight. When I got him I was told they had had him for over a year. I've had him for 7 months. So at 1 year and 7 months hes only 345 grams!? There are 2 year old bps that are well above 1000 grams. He's about 29 inches.


Is that even possible?

Also any suggestions to help him put on some weight? I have been feeding him regularly every week one regular mouse. And he always eats. IS it possible that he wasnt fed much when he was younger which stunted his growth?

http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/z...el11/005-1.jpg

If you have been feeding him weekly (appropriate sized prey) and he eats for you each time but does not gain weight I would suggest making an appointment and have a fecal done.

Is inability to gain weight could suggest internal parasites.

yea he is a bit skinny.... ive heard that feeding rats helps quicken weight gain

idk what it is but people say once they started feeding rats there bps started gaining weight alot faster than with mice.


so maybe you should try and get some rat pups or maybe the next bigger size.... im not sure on what its called..maybe hoppers?.... well good luck with xander:D:D

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Originally Posted by Deborah

If you have been feeding him weekly (appropriate sized prey) and he eats for you each time but does not gain weight I would suggest making an appointment and have a fecal done.

Is inability to gain weight could suggest internal parasites.

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yea ive had that happen to a corn snake of mine about 2 years ago.....it sucks.

One small mouse seems a little under for a ball that old. I would try and get him on some rats, or at least more than one mouse.

Also, a fecal should probably be done just to rule out any parasites.

There is not much meat on a single mouse.I would try to bump him up to rats :gj:

Are there any other signs of intestinal parasites?
He has gained weight since i got him. He has doubled his girth. and grown a few inches.

I'm prob gnna order him some rat pups since i've switched him to f/t.

Thank you!

I think rat weanlings would more his size :) My rat weanlings are usually between 40-50 g's. That's perfect for him. I would try and get a scale for him. Just to track his weight.

I have a scale :]

I'm gnna def make the switch over soon. Also prob brng him by the vet. Cuz in a month he will be in the temp care of my friend who owns 3 other snakes. Because I have to leave my baby and go off to college :/

Im in the same boat. Got my ball 3-4 weeks ago. He was over 3 years old and weighed 390g. Not sure of his diet so i started with feeding a large mouse every 4-5 days, after 2 weeks of that i decided to go up to a small rat. He now weighs 470g. Either switch to smaller rats or start feeding multiple mice or a mouse multiple times a week. The snake will digest a small meal rather quickly. Mine would be hungry after a large mouse after 2-3 days. A rat holds him over for a week.

Yay thank you so much! I now have hope. Hopefully after i switch him to rats. I'll come back in a month and he will have plumped up. lol

I'm so glad your snake is doing better also :]
The fact pl underfeed snakes or their lack of care of feeding them at all urks me. :weirdface

we got one that is bout a year and weighs 171grams.Healthy eats like no tomorrow he was in half of an egg he is full girth wise and he loves hugging his furry friends.we humans come all shapes and sizes to so i dont worry as long as he eats.

I guess we just got the runts of the litter :]

I have a 5 year old BP girl that is finally getting up to the 600 gram mark. She's been a picky eater. I picked her up last Feb.

Her conditions were never right, and she's still a shy eater at times, but she's doing a lot better now.

I'd definitely be switching to rats if i were you, too.

Good luck!

I have a girl I produced who was returned to me after about 2 months of serious neglect (boy was I pissed). She has done the same thing--but she does not eat every time food is offered, and she is a strict mouser. She will likely always be terribly small, but she seems to be healthy now, in spite of her finicky appetite and small size. Her weight seems appropriate for her length.

I don't think a 350 gram snake is really large enough to take rat hoppers. Perhaps crawlers. But a jumbo mouse should be the right size. I have a pastel girl who would only eat mice, and she wound up being 960 grams at age 2--she just switched to rats for me. So she didn't really have a bad rate of growth on mice.

I would take a fresh fecal sample from your snake to a vet. Parasites CAN cause slowed growth rate, as they steal nutrients from the snake. There aren't ALWAYS other symptoms.

i believe ball pythons are supposed to eat prey that is around 10% of their weight, so your snake should be eating a rat that is 35 grams or so. i always feed rats to BP's, mice just don't quite cut it.

obviously if you weighed your snake you have a gram scale, so just try to get rats of the appropriate size. when you buy them off a breeder, sometimes they tend to be smaller than what they say, so make sure you weigh them.

My BP took a 70g small rat when it was only 390g. Its so much better to look at your snake and look at your feeder and determine if the feeder will fit in its belly. The rats i feed him are definitly not bigger than his body but are rather long which he takes down fairly easy. Feeding every 7 days also has made him gain 80g in 2 weeks.

I thought It can be unhealthy to feed them more than about 10-15% of their body weight?

I'd be scared it would be too big for him to handle!
He's eating large f/t mice right now. And I think hes at his limit with those.
I'd love for mine to gain that much weight so quickly!

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Originally Posted by Generationshell

I have a scale :]

I'm gnna def make the switch over soon. Also prob brng him by the vet. Cuz in a month he will be in the temp care of my friend who owns 3 other snakes. Because I have to leave my baby and go off to college :/

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I would say go to the vet as soon as possible, on order to eliminate possible parasites right before moving him to your friend! First the stress of moving combined with internal parasites won't be a good combination, and second, your friend won't be happy if your snake brings them to his house :)

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Originally Posted by Generationshell

I thought It can be unhealthy to feed them more than about 10-15% of their body weight?

I'd be scared it would be too big for him to handle!
He's eating large f/t mice right now. And I think hes at his limit with those.
I'd love for mine to gain that much weight so quickly!

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Its not too big for mine at least. A small rat is longer than it is wide and a 30" snake has plenty of room to hold that. Everyones getting hung up on the "10% rule". Weight is just a number, the physical size of the feeder is what matters. If you have to, take a tape measure and measure the largest part of your snake and then measure the diameter of the feeder. If your really worried about feeding rats, then start doing a large mouse every 4-5 days. The snake digests a small meal quickly so it will be ready to eat again sooner.

Sounds like he was way underfed by the previous owner. If he has gained weight for you, he will probably continue too. Unfortunately the pet stores sell babies and tell the owners to give them a mouse every week or two. Well, some owners forget how many weeks have gone by, and when they think of it again it could have been 4 or 5 weeks.

Mice are not a good source of nutrition, they are not dense at all. Switch to the rats not soon, but now. Get that fecal done, just in case. Your boy will explode once you get him on the rats.

There is a chance he may reject rats. If this happens go get 6 mice, keep feeding them until he quits eating them. Then in about a week try a rat pup, he may switch then.

If you want him to gain more weight I'd suggest putting him on rats but from the looks of him he doesn't look unhealthy at all. You cant really compare him to others that you see because most of us (myself included) honestly overfeed our snakes in order to get them up to breeding size, so a comparison to a 1000 gram year old is no comparison at all. If he's eating well every week and you're having no other health problems otherwise then there's nothing to really worry about. If you want him to get bigger quicker then rats would be the way to go but don't worry about his size for his age. Some just grow faster than others too...I've had some that eat the same size meal every week and 1 would be twice the size of the other!