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Fat Spider ?
I just got my second bp yesterday off of kingsnake. I'm worried she is over weight, Her scales looked stretched to me. Also, on her under belly her scales feel... loose I guess is the best way to describe it. Is this normal in large snakes? Or should they be tighter to each other like in younger bps? Should I be worried? If she is over weight, what should I do? I was told she is on small rats. Im most concerned with the scales under her belly. I feel like they could be ripped off easily! :( I couldn't really get a visible pic of the under belly scales but she looks stretched out at certain angles and positions.
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...09/photo-1.jpg
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...09/photo-1.jpg
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Personally, I don't like to see skin between the scales like that, but it's less of a big deal with a breeding female.
If you want to reduce her weight, just reduce either the size or frequency of her prey.
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So Should I switch her to even smaller mice and feed every ten days? Or two weeks? Or longer?
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Shes probably just larger than your used to, referring to your scale question.
What is her weight? Small rats look appropriate for that snake.
A picture of her on the floor would help and a belly shot.
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I'd rather see a photo of her at rest on the ground or in her bin, before I conclude whether or not she's overweight.
Obese females tend to slug out, so it's a good idea to cut them back if they're actually overweight. I've only had to do this with one female, ever.
I didn't get her weight down in time, and, just as predicted--slug fest, only a couple of good eggs in the whole mess. Once trimmed down, she produced a fine clutch the next year.
Trimmed down, by the way, was going from 4000 grams to 3500 grams--she's a big girl.
Unfortunately, there's no rule of thumb on this--you have to eyeball the snake, and make your best guess as to their ideal pre-breeding weight. They need to be nice and chubby, but not obese.
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Obese? Perhaps? Unhealthy? Maybe? But I do know one thing! Thats a big girl! Are you certain shes not gravid?
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Re: Fat Spider ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tfpets
Obese? Perhaps? Unhealthy? Maybe? But I do know one thing! Thats a big girl! Are you certain shes not gravid?
That's what I was thinking
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I don't think so but I don't know She supposedly had a clutch of 8 this season...
Slightly worried :x
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Well for sure that snake has not laid recently. No snake can put that much weight back on that fast. If she had laid in the last few months, she'd still look a little deflated and not completely round.
I hesitate to say she's overweight, I think she's just bigger than you are used to. Ball pythons are heavy bodied snakes remember, and some are heavier than others. If she's on small rats, feeding a girl that size every 7 - 10 days should be about right.
Slugging out is when a female lays a clutch of completely or mostly infertile eggs.
Your girl looks pretty well proportioned. If she is a bit heavy, it is only a little bit. Maybe you should find out when exactly she is supposed to have laid. That might give you a clue.
Gale
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"She laid a clutch of eight good eggs in March of this year." Is what the breeder said.
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Quote:
Slugging out is when a female lays a clutch of completely or mostly infertile eggs.
Slugs are not infertile eggs and infertile eggs are not slugs, they are very different things altogether.
The worst I have seen with a female being over weight is not going at all, slugs are much more common for a female that didn't eat well enough before developing eggs.
That snake is far from obese, just a healthy weight imo.
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Well...slugs are infertile eggs, they're ones that the snake didn't bother to shell. It makes no sense to put in calcium resources for an egg that has no embryo. I think shelled infertile eggs are slightly less common than slugs.
Am I the only one who finds it unlikely that the snake laid a clutch in March? Maybe if she was fed large rats every 5 days, since then? lol...
She is at what I would personally consider to be optimal weight for going into breeding, and I would take care to regulate her food from here to ensure she doesn't really gain any more. She doesn't look overweight, but could become so if she adds much more weight.
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Quote:
Well...slugs are infertile eggs
well yes a slug won't be fertilized, but an infertile egg and a slug are two very different things.
Our big girls put weight back on fast, in 3 months they don't look like they ever laid, so yes it's possible this female laid in March.
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Cool these responses are making me stress less lol. So is a slug just an unshelled baby ball that is still born?
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Okay, technically speaking a slug is not exactly an infertile egg. I was more or less trying to keep it simple.
An infertile egg is just that, a calcified egg that was never fertilized. When laid it looks completely normal, except that it candles clear and never develops a baby snake.
A slug is also not fertilized, but it is not properly calcified, and when laid it looks very different, usually yellowish.
So no there is not a stillborn baby in either kind, they were never fertilized and never developed a baby.
Gale
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