Rescue laying belly up and looking really bloated?

So I rescued this girl on 3/29. She has gained a significant amount of weight since I have had her. She was 1300 g after two weeks of appropriate feedings (lg/med rat every 7 days) and weighs in at 2200 g now.
Is she gravid? I hope not...
Would being constipated cause her to lay inverted on the hot spot. She looks just like a gravid girl about to pop.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/23/saruzapu.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/23/uvada3u7.jpg

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Over 1000g in 2 months...? I'd say you may be overfeeding her just a bit lol... Maybe not tho. Idk

Probably needs to poo. When was her last shed, do you know?

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Over 1000g in 2 months...? I'd say you may be overfeeding her just a bit lol... Maybe not tho. Idk

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i wish i could get my girls to grow a thousand grams in 2 months by over feeding. lol

I would say large rats are a bit much. Looks like she's just extremely full.

I feed all of my adults small rats weekly. A medium would be the max appropriate imo. But that's just me personally....

Yeah, definitely looks like she may be packing on more weight than is healthy. You should try reeling back the feedings a bit or offer smaller prey.

Is she still eating currently?

Large rats does definitely seem too large. I feed my 7lb (about 3200g) boa 1 large rat every 14 days and it leaves a nice fat lump. So I couldn't imagine feeding a 1300g ball (even a 2200g ball) that

My 1400g male can't even work up the courage to nail a med rat, I don't see how you got a large in her lol

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This is not healthy. Has she pooped or shed at all? It seems as though she is trying to digest all of the rats inside her. Raise the humidity, check her temps, and leave her be until she poops. A large rat once a week is a bit much, slum it down to a small rat per week, after she poops.

Would turning the heat up a couple degrees (89F) help the digestive process?

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If she hasn't "gone" in a while, try soaking her in a few inches of water that's 80-84*F. That often helps get things moving with mine.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

Would turning the heat up a couple degrees (89F) help the digestive process?

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Yes. Heat stimulates metabolic movement.

I think she needs a lap-band...or Jenny Craig.

In regards to telling me that I am over feeding, I use the "15% rule".
A large rat from my supplier is 175g-295g. At 15% a 3000 g girl should be eating a 450 g rat every 7 days?
At 15% her weekly meals should be 330 g. She had not been fed properly at her previous home, so I had been giving her smaller rats than her girth.
Here is her feeding record:
4/16 ~ acquired
4/23 ~ lg rat (175-295g)
4/30 ~ med rat (90-170g)
5/5 ~ med rat (90-170g) (noticed mild swelling and brightened colors)
5/14 ~off feed
5/21 ~ off feed
I acquired this snake at 1300g. From a rescue situation on CL.
She was housed alone at the seller's house, but had been given to him from a "friend" who did house snakes together. Supposedly, she is over 2 yrs. and had been fed 1 mouse/monthly.
She is about the body length and head size of my 5 +yr old girl 3000 g girl so I do suspect she is older than the previous owner said. Regardless, she appears gravid and after gently palpating her I can definitely feel 6 distinct oblong-sized masses. I believe they may be eggs.

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The 15% rule only applies to babies, not adult snakes.

She has passed feces/urates every week since 4/16 up until last weekend.
Qt hot spot is set at 91 degrees.

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Oh...What is the rule for adults?

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I think the biggest rat ive fed my 1800g ball is like 150g. The 15% rule is stupid to begin with imo. It only applies to babies really

Then biggest I feed any of my ball python s is a 80-100g rat.

1300g sounds like a perfectly fine weight for a 2 year old snake. Did that initial weight concern you that much?

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For balls I think people normally stop at medium rats.
I would imagine a large rat would only be for the extremely large girls.

This is just how I do it, but for me I feed the balls the 15% rule every 5 days until they are 750g. From then on I feed a small or medium rat every 7 days

Also, I have a 1300g female that is 3 years old. She has ate perfectly her whole life, some are just smaller

I'm no expert by any means, but honestly she does appear to have that triangular back present in gravids. I know that he said she has never been housed with a male. But even if people say they don't house or put snakes together, accidents do happen. It appears she is in shed in this picture. Its possible she could be gravid. She might slug out if she has never been with a female. But stranger things have happened. There are several reasons for rapid weight gain but with her feeding schedule, i don't see a huge problem. I don't worry about over feeding my females. Males a little more so but not my girls. If I had females that would take large rats, then you better believe I would be feeding them large rats. She could possibly be building follicles too. I know females can and will continue feeding up to ovulation. Maybe she is building now and that is some of her excess weight gain. We have a vanilla female that is still eating but is gaining weight and getting pudgy. We also have a normal het albino that all the sudden gained like 200g and she has only eaten one small rat in the last 3 months. She is exceptionally more pudgy than usual. But it is about her time to start building as she usually lays in August.

My .02 cents....

And another thing, everyone's opinion of what qualifies as a large rat varies. What I might consider a large rat, might be someone's medium or jumbo rat...

Have you tried palpating her?

I dunno..to me she just looks full of rat. And since she has been eating lots of rats, that is a reasonable assumption.

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This is her before she really started swelling. Is this what you mean by triangular back?
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/23/7azaby2a.jpg

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Have you tried palpating her?

I dunno..to me she just looks full of rat. And since she has been eating lots of rats, that is a reasonable assumption.

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Yes, I have palpated her very gently and I feel what I think are eggs. I cant feel follicles high up where they would normally be, just the big oblong masses.

3 rats in 5 weeks is really too much food?

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Read the following link...it will explain it better for you. He calls it a ridged back

http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

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Originally Posted by charlene.payne

Read the following link...it will explain it better for you. He calls it a ridged back

http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

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Thank you. I have bred for 3 yrs now and I am familiar with that page it has helped tremendously when I 1st started.

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Sorry, she doesn't look gravid to me so much as way overfed.

A female about to lay eggs will almost never eat. Not for weeks or even months before she lays. I would give her about 14 days before feeding again to see if her appearance changes. Personally, I'm not seeing the ridgeback at all. Girls get that within a week or so of laying, and it is VERY pronounced. Since she is swollen so far down near her vent, it looks to me like she needs to poo like a st. bernard. I could be wrong of course, but from 1300 grams to 22oo in a month? Even a gravid girl doesn't gain that much that fast. If she were gravid, she would slowly gain over a period of 4 to 6 months, not one.

Bump up her heat just a tad, and give her a solid 14 days with no food, just to see if she changes. She won't be harmed by the lack of food. In fact is she's having trouble with the heavy food load, it will be good for her. If she doesn't poo a schnauzer sized poo in that time and shrink down some, you can feed her again. but don't go so big. It is much better to feed smaller prey items than larger. Even my 6' long 3500 grams female doesn't get a large rat. Her's are around 100 grams, sometimes a little bigger. She does just fine on those.

To be honest, I kind of hope she is gravid, because baby snakes are very cool. But considering you sound very nervous about it, for your sake I really hope she's not until you are ready.

Gale

Thank you Gale! I will follow your advice and see what happens. Thanks a bunch guys. I would much rather sound stupid or inexperienced than end up sorry that I didnt ask. Thanks again and I will keep everyone posted.

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