Fast weight gain? good or bad?

Hi I have an odd question, I recently traded for a yellow belly female, Who is 3 years old and weighed around 400 grams, Ive had her now for about 6 weeks and feeding once a week she has put on 300 grams. Is she putting on weight to fast or just making up for lost time? Thanks for any help!

She is way underweight for a 3 year old ball so she will gain weight fast with regular feedings. She is just catching up to a proper size!

I'd say she is catching up, my 1 yr old yb girls weight 900 grams average.
Sounds like she'll catch up quickly ;)

Same deal here. I have a 3 year old female pastel that's 530 grams. She put on about 150 grams in a week. Ate a just-before-wean rat every 2 days.
I was afraid she was over eating...but she kept taking them...and just went into shed...so..

ANY size ball python above a hatchling doubling it's weight in 6 weeks is VERY unhealthy.
Slow down on the feedings.
Ball pythons "retain" roughly 30% of the food they consume, so in order for your animal to have gained 300g in six weeks, you've offered it ~1000g of food. Considering a 300 gram animal eats maybe 50g meals (a responsible, healthy size meal), you've offered that snake ~20 meals (or three feedings) a week?!
Slow it down or you're going to kill your ball python wth love (and obesity-related heart issues).
Good luck.

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Originally Posted by mykee

ANY size ball python above a hatchling doubling it's weight in 6 weeks is VERY unhealthy.
Slow down on the feedings.
Ball pythons "retain" roughly 30% of the food they consume, so in order for your animal to have gained 300g in six weeks, you've offered it ~1000g of food. Considering a 300 gram animal eats maybe 50g meals (a responsible, healthy size meal), you've offered that snake ~20 meals (or three feedings) a week?!
Slow it down or you're going to kill your ball python wth love (and obesity-related heart issues).
Good luck.

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Or maybe, the OP is actually feeding once a week as they stated originally. 400 grams is extremely underweight so that snake is almost guaranteed to retain far more than the 30% figure you've tossed out here. Couple that with the fact that it was probably weighed with a full stomach (etc), 300 grams is well within the realm of plausibility.

To the OP, as long as you're feeding appropriately sized meals once a week, you should be just fine. Your snake was almost certainly significantly underweight and like you said is simply making up for missed meals.

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Originally Posted by Kingofspades

Same deal here. I have a 3 year old female pastel that's 530 grams. She put on about 150 grams in a week. Ate a just-before-wean rat every 2 days.
I was afraid she was over eating...but she kept taking them...and just went into shed...so..

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I would not feed anymore than every 5 days! She needs time to digest inbetween meals!

If the snake is having issues with digesting its food, it will not eat. Has anyone here ever had an issue with a ball python eating when it shouldn't? They refuse meals if you look at them too hard.

Feed her up--she's been horribly starved. She's just bulking up to a normal weight so that she can start to grow a bit.

It's hard to say if she'll ever really grow properly, since she's already so old.

Does anyone have experience with growth rates in undersized ball pythons that are over 3 years old?

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Does anyone have experience with growth rates in undersized ball pythons that are over 3 years old?

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We picked up a couple of ball pythons that were fed a small mouse once a week. One was 2 years old and the other was 3 years old. They went from 600 grams to 2000 in the first year we had them. They also doubled lengthwise. So they WILL grow to the proper proportions.

Ive got an underfed snake too and its been gaining like crazy since ive had him. He eats 80g rats once a week and hes about 600g right now. Underfed animals in general will put on weight rapidly when put on a stable diet. Just like people. Get a person who is sick and cant eat very much, they can lose 5-10lbs in a few days to a week. But once there better and eating the right proportions again, the weight goes right back on in just a day or two. Your snake is just catching up on lost time and meals.

Wow that's just crazy to hear that a 3 yr old -female- ball was that small!

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Originally Posted by Coils

Wow that's just crazy to hear that a 3 yr old -female- ball was that small!

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My 3 y.o was only 360g when i got him. They cant get much bigger when the owner neglects to feed them anymore than an adult mouse each week. Rats pack on weight incredibly fast.

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Originally Posted by SnakeKB

My 3 y.o was only 360g when i got him. They cant get much bigger when the owner neglects to feed them anymore than an adult mouse each week. Rats pack on weight incredibly fast.

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My 4 year old male bp weighs 2100+ grams and is fed only mice. Bp's grow just fine fed mice or rats on a regular basis.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

My 4 year old male bp weighs 2100+ grams and is fed only mice. Bp's grow just fine fed mice or rats on a regular basis.

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But do you only feed one mouse for a snake that large?

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

My 4 year old male bp weighs 2100+ grams and is fed only mice. Bp's grow just fine fed mice or rats on a regular basis.

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Wouldnt it be better to feed 1 appropriate sized rat instead of multiple mice at a time? I dont know about you but i dont want to spend a ton of time with feeding one snake when there are many others that need to be fed as well.

Theres no doubt a snake can get big on mice alone but if the snake takes rats and they are available, then your better off using them.

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Originally Posted by mykee

ANY size ball python above a hatchling doubling it's weight in 6 weeks is VERY unhealthy.
Slow down on the feedings.
Ball pythons "retain" roughly 30% of the food they consume, so in order for your animal to have gained 300g in six weeks, you've offered it ~1000g of food. Considering a 300 gram animal eats maybe 50g meals (a responsible, healthy size meal), you've offered that snake ~20 meals (or three feedings) a week?!
Slow it down or you're going to kill your ball python wth love (and obesity-related heart issues).
Good luck.

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I feed all of my snakes once a week only, every Friday. She started on mice then went to mice scented rats. I haven't checked the weight on the rats but they are "small" rats. So shes eatin, 7 times with me now. The owner who had her before wasn't trying to starve her she just wouldn't eat for him at all. Ive seen it. But she started after coming to my house.

my new girl was 950g when i got her.. she is 3 years old. with proper feeding, in 3 weeks she has gained roughly 300+g.

I should also note she was covered in mites.. so that likely caused her to loose a bit of weight.