Is my BP underweight?

Hey guys,

Ive had my BP for about 2 months now and I've been told its about 3-4 months old. Im just curious what a young BP should weigh. Im not sure if it is a boy or a girl but I will be getting it sexed this weekend. It currently weighs 130 grams. I am feeding it a hopper every 5 days.

Thanks

:) a picture would help out as well! 130 grams looks very different depending on the length of the snake!

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Originally Posted by purplemuffin

:) a picture would help out as well! 130 grams looks very different depending on the length of the snake!

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Im new here and not really sure how to post pics but I will try

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Originally Posted by abrunsen

Im new here and not really sure how to post pics but I will try

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http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...post-a-Picture

I hope this works

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/basila.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/basila.jpg/

I think that one worked^

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Originally Posted by abrunsen

Hey guys,

Ive had my BP for about 2 months now and I've been told its about 3-4 months old. Im just curious what a young BP should weigh. Im not sure if it is a boy or a girl but I will be getting it sexed this weekend. It currently weighs 130 grams. I am feeding it a hopper every 5 days.

Thanks

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Just for reference my male pastel is about 4-5 months old and is like 200 grams. So that sounds about right. As long as he/she is eating regularly and doesn't look insanely skinny i wouldn't worry too much.

He/She looks great :gj:

Looks alright to me. Stick to a 5-day or 7-day schedule with an appropriate meal and you should be fine.

I agree they look fine but you might want to move up in food size soon though.

She/he looks good but I like to see my younger ones a bit more plumper/rounder. For reference, I have little ones (~100-200g) on at least rat pups/large adult mice on a 5 day schedule.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

I agree they look fine but you might want to move up in food size soon though.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

She/he looks good but I like to see my younger ones a bit more plumper/rounder. For reference, I have little ones (~100-200g) on at least rat pups/large adult mice on a 5 day schedule.

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I agree with them, i missed the part about you feeding hoppers. I feed mine adult mice also.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

She/he looks good but I like to see my younger ones a bit more plumper/rounder. For reference, I have little ones (~100-200g) on at least rat pups/large adult mice on a 5 day schedule.

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This. :gj:

Wow, thanks everyone! I bought her/him from PETCO and they suggested pinkies so I'm guessing she has been underfed for quite some time. I just moved her up to hoppers about 2 weeks ago and I just bought a 3 pack of them. I have 2 remaining. Should I just feed her both of the remaining hoppers next time I feed her? Not to question all of you guys, but are you positive I should feed her adult mice already? The hoppers leave a decent size lump in her body when she is done eating. I just don't want her to start refusing because she is too small. I can post a vid of her eating if that would help with size comparison?

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Originally Posted by abrunsen

Wow, thanks everyone! I bought her/him from PETCO and they suggested pinkies so I'm guessing she has been underfed for quite some time. I just moved her up to hoppers about 2 weeks ago and I just bought a 3 pack of them. I have 2 remaining. Should I just feed her both of the remaining hoppers next time I feed her? Not to question all of you guys, but are you positive I should feed her adult mice already? The hoppers leave a decent size lump in her body when she is done eating. I just don't want her to start refusing because she is too small. I can post a vid of her eating if that would help with size comparison?

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PETCO does under feed their snakes. Pinkies are too small for even hatchling BPs. Snakes can easily eat up to 1.5X their width. When I get a BP that is under 100g I feed hopper mice every 3 days until they reach 100g then they get a rat pup once every 5-7days. At 130g she can handle a rat pup or adult mouse. It may seem huge but they can take it. :)

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Originally Posted by Kinra

PETCO does under feed their snakes. Pinkies are too small for even hatchling BPs. Snakes can easily eat up to 1.5X their width. When I get a BP that is under 100g I feed hopper mice every 3 days until they reach 100g then they get a rat pup once every 5-7days. At 130g she can handle a rat pup or adult mouse. It may seem huge but they can take it. :)

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Thanks a lot! Im still wondering what I should do with my remaining hoppers though? Should I do what you suggested and feed again in 3 days or will that mess up her feeding schedule? Or should I just give her 2 hoppers in 5 days? I will switch to adult mice after that. I don't think any pet stores near me sell rat pups :/

I have a female pastel that was born July 24th of 2011. That would put her at just over 3 months old. She weighs about 125g. I would say yours is doing just fine!

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Originally Posted by abrunsen

Wow, thanks everyone! I bought her/him from PETCO and they suggested pinkies so I'm guessing she has been underfed for quite some time. I just moved her up to hoppers about 2 weeks ago and I just bought a 3 pack of them. I have 2 remaining. Should I just feed her both of the remaining hoppers next time I feed her? Not to question all of you guys, but are you positive I should feed her adult mice already? The hoppers leave a decent size lump in her body when she is done eating. I just don't want her to start refusing because she is too small. I can post a vid of her eating if that would help with size comparison?

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Your ball isn't bad at all, maybe just a little thin. My wife and I have rescued some severely neglected animals over the years and yours isn't bad by any means.

Rule #1 in keeping reptiles: Never listen to the guy at the pet store who makes minimum wage. 99% of the time he has no idea what he is talking about, nor does he care. He just wants to make a sale.

Small adult mice would be perfectly fine, although do yourself a favor and get her started on rats now. Rats are better, plain and simple. There are a million threads about it. At 130 grams your ball will have no problem eating large rat fuzzies. Basically you want her to be eating 10-15% of her body weight every 5 days. So a 13-19 gram rat would be ideal for now. That said, you have two mouse hoppers left. Hoppers are usually in the 8-12g range, so by all means, if your balls wants the other one, give it to her. It won't hurt her.

Edit: I noticed you weren't sure where to get rats. Try craigslist, google and small mom & pop pet stores. Most mom & pop stores, if they don't already carry them, are usually willing to order them when they make their next shipments. Being as you only have one ball, there is no sense in ordering in bulk from a place like Rodent Pro.

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Originally Posted by AK907

Your ball isn't bad at all, maybe just a little thin. My wife and I have rescued some severely neglected animals over the years and yours isn't bad by any means.

Rule #1 in keeping reptiles: Never listen to the guy at the pet store who makes minimum wage. 99% of the time he has no idea what he is talking about, nor does he care. He just wants to make a sale.

Small adult mice would be perfectly fine, although do yourself a favor and get her started on rats now. Rats are better, plain and simple. There are a million threads about it. At 130 grams your ball will have no problem eating large rat fuzzies. Basically you want her to be eating 10-15% of her body weight every 5 days. So a 13-19 gram rat would be ideal for now. That said, you have two mouse hoppers left. Hoppers are usually in the 8-12g range, so by all means, if your balls wants the other one, give it to her. It won't hurt her.

Edit: I noticed you weren't sure where to get rats. Try craigslist, google and small mom & pop pet stores. Most mom & pop stores, if they don't already carry them, are usually willing to order them when they make their next shipments. Being as you only have one ball, there is no sense in ordering in bulk from a place like Rodent Pro.

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Thank you very much! I realize that now (about Petco associates) but at the time I thought they were knowledgeable. When I went to go get my BP I was gonna do a tub setup and they refused to sell it to me unless I bought a 20 gallon tank for it. They also told me I should feed it a pinkie once a week. I started reading on BP.net and obviously I found out I need to move up the sizes. I just didn't realize it could eat an adult mouse. I will try and get her/him on rat pups as soon as possible though. Thanks for all your help.

I just called the Petco near where I live and they sell small, medium, large, and jumbo rats. Should I start by feeding adult mice and then move up to small rats?

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Originally Posted by abrunsen

I just called the Petco near where I live and they sell small, medium, large, and jumbo rats. Should I start by feeding adult mice and then move up to small rats?

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I try to feed weaned rats before I move to smalls. Are there any other pet stores near you? Not a Petco or Petsmart. If not, then you can feed adult mice and eventually double up on those each feeding and then go on to small rats. I don't start mine on smalls until they are about 600g. The small rats I get are about 60-80g each.

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Originally Posted by Kinra

I try to feed weaned rats before I move to smalls. Are there any other pet stores near you? Not a Petco or Petsmart. If not, then you can feed adult mice and eventually double up on those each feeding and then go on to small rats. I don't start mine on smalls until they are about 600g. The small rats I get are about 60-80g each.

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Im in college and have no form of transportation off campus. I have to take a city bus every time I need to go get food for my snake. So unfortunately Petco is my only option.

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Originally Posted by abrunsen

Im in college and have no form of transportation off campus. I have to take a city bus every time I need to go get food for my snake. So unfortunately Petco is my only option.

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Then you will need to hold off on rats and feed adult mice for the time being unless Petco will order some rat pups for you, but I doubt it. BPs can live on mice just fine, rats are just easier which is why so many prefer them.

Petco should have a 3 pack of f/t adult mice. If you dont see it I would ask. Or if that really is your only option, then I would say to feed live cause petco does have feeder mice. Just be sure to keep an eye on your BP if you feed live.

If you can't find pups or even weaned rats I would stick to adult mice (maybe even multiples per session if she'll/he'll take them) until she/he is ready to move to small rats. Note that some won't transition easy from mice to rats so you may need to "trick" her to take rats if she gets picky but she could transition in no problem.

Does your town have a zoo? You could talk to the reptile "keeper" there (if the zoo has reptiles) and they may point you to a local feeder breeder if that could be an option for you down the road. That's how the bf and I found a local feeder rat supplier.

Don't feel bad about PetCo telling you that about pinkies. When my husband and I got our very first BP in 2004, they told us the same thing. We fed it pinkies and tiny little mice from July to December, once a week. Then on December 14th, I got my first snake bite. It was because she was so hungry that she thought I'd be giving her more food.

You are definitely in the right place! Your BP is very cool looking. Do you have a name for him/her yet? :)

Petco's "jumbo" rats are smaller than the average adult mouse. They are a joke in terms of size. Your bp should have very little trouble eating a 20 g petco rat.