'Skinny' Blood

Hi. New here!
I currently have a (roughly) 4.5 yr old female blood python. I used to have a good sized collection but downgraded to just focusing on one.


When I got her I was told she was about a year old. She was being fed mice when she was plenty big enough for small to medium rats. So after a few months I stepped her up to rats only. She eats every time I feed her which is every 7-10 days. I've noticed she is nowhere near as girthy as other bloods her age. Could something be wrong?

Maybe a pic would help to see how skinny she may (or may not) be?

Has she had any other health issues in the past and have you ever gotten a fecal done to check for parasites?

Pics would be great. She may not be quite as "skinny" as you think, depending on the other bloods you've seen. I've definitely noticed too many obese bloods!

Like Daybreaker said, fecal check. That's always the first stop if keeping on weight despite appetite is an issue.

I too would love to see a photo. You often see these guys obese unfortunately, so yours may very well just be at a healthy 'normal' weight. Hard to say without a visual though.

Do you know her weight? Have you been feeding a certain percentage of her body weight or just eye balling it?

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...eyxx/image.jpg

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...xx/image-1.jpg

I don't know her weight. Just been eyeballing the size of the food. I've only recently been comparing her to others. This is the only blood I've had so I may be completely wrong here. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks :)

What kind of drain is it next to? It looks huge next to her.

How sure are you of her age and sex?

You have a close length of her?

That's a shower drain. She was much smaller when I got her. Have had her 3.5 years. I suppose saying 4.5 yrs old is an estimate. Id say she's 3 ft and 5ish lbs

She doesn't look super skinny to me but looks like she could use some more weight on her. Are you sure she's a female?

Here's my T+ girl to compare (leaner than my other blood):

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...ps236c3bf8.jpg

And my SSTP who's more bulky than my albino:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i3...psbc0d1d59.jpg

I think she may be a he.

It really doesn't look to skinny to me. Like Daybreaker said maybe alittle more weight but I don't think it is unhealthy looking in any way.

My blood female is between 3.5-4.5 years, over five feet, and around 15 pounds.

Here is my oversized sausage in a poor quality tablet camera pic.
http://i1151.photobucket.com/albums/...pse436f20e.jpg

What makes you think she may be male?

I think based on the info at hand. You say you feed her rats every 7-10 days. Assuming they are appropriate sized rats, at the age she is (or you claim her to be) she should be bigger. I just got a 2 year old girl and she's already 2600g. Considering that blood females need to be about 5000g to make babies, at 4 years old they should be around that mark.

Males are much smaller than females and the age and size of your snake seem to be right on track for a male. Of course this is all speculation, but you could get your snake sexed to make sure.

Definitely not skinny. How big are the rats that you're currently feeding her? If she got off to a slow start in life (i.e. lots of small meals) and she's not eating especially large meals now, it's going to take her some time to catch up/bulk up in terms of overall mass. It's also possible that she's just a smaller animal - some lines/individuals fall on the smaller side of "average" in the grand scheme of things.

I would try to get it sexed so you can know for sure. It may be a male, could just be small, or started out slow. I would recommend getting its current weight so you can make sure it is getting the right size meal.

A probing kit is not expensive and I found it very easy to use. I bought one to verify three bloods I bought were the sex I was told. I bought them to some day breed so I wanted to make sure I didn't waste the next few years getting them to size just to find out they were all boys or girls.

Also Amazon has cheap scales. Just remember to look at their range. Make sure it can weigh your snake now and continue to in the future. My blood outgrew the one I have so I need to get another.

He/She is beautiful either way. Not rotund like they tend to get but by no means skinny either. +1 on rat size Q. I feed mine retired breeder size usually.