My boy is growing like a weed!

http://i42.tinypic.com/2a65h8g.jpg
217 grams and 10 months old
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Originally Posted by monty_python9

217 grams and 10 months old
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What are you feeding him and how often? Hate to pee in your cornflakes but 220 grams at 10 months old is not growing like a weed...that's about the size/weight of a 3 month old...

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Originally Posted by sho220

What are you feeding him and how often? Hate to pee in your cornflakes but 220 grams at 10 months old is not growing like a weed...that's about the size/weight of a 3 month old...

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um. I disagree. My boy is 7 months old and 185 grams. I have a vet that specializes in exotics and he said he's perfect weight.

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Originally Posted by greenacid

um. I disagree. My boy is 7 months old and 185 grams. I have a vet that specializes in exotics and he said he's perfect weight.

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Okie doke...

I'm gonna have to agree with Sho on this one... My 8 month old is around 700 grams, and I feed rather small meals.

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Originally Posted by greenacid

um. I disagree. My boy is 7 months old and 185 grams. I have a vet that specializes in exotics and he said he's perfect weight.

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WOW, I have a 2 month old that is 140 grams. And eating twice a week.

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

I'm gonna have to agree with Sho on this one... My 8 month old is around 700 grams, and I feed rather small meals.

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What are you feeding him? I'm feeding mine large mice.


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Originally Posted by ROACH

WOW, I have a 2 month old that is 140 grams. And eating twice a week.

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I feed mine every 5 days. Large mice. He won't take anything else. I tried a small rat and he wouldn't touch it


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Originally Posted by greenacid

What are you feeding him? I'm feeding mine large mice.


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Right now Im feeding the babies pinkies and fuzzies.

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Right now Im feeding the babies pinkies and fuzzies.

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And they're 140grams?? Pinkie/Fuzzie mice or rats? Holy Jesus. What am I doing wrong? I feed him twice a week large mice.


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Originally Posted by greenacid

And they're 140grams?? Pinkie/Fuzzie mice or rats? Holy Jesus. What am I doing wrong? I feed him twice a week large mice.


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Rats. Ive never fed mice. I feed according to their body size. I have a few babies that are now moving up to weaned rats.

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Originally Posted by greenacid

What are you feeding him? I'm feeding mine large mice.


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I started out feeding rat pups, now she's on either very small rats or medium/adult ASF. Basically a bit smaller than her girth, barely leaves a noticeable lump. I feed every 5 days too.

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Originally Posted by MootWorm

I started out feeding rat pups, now she's on either very small rats or medium/adult ASF. Basically a bit smaller than her girth, barely leaves a noticeable lump. I feed every 5 days too.

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Yea this is what I do, except no ASF's.

Alright. So how do I fix this. There's a rat breeder in my area but he doesn't do frozen. At 8 months and 180 grams, should I feed weaned rats? Like I said I tried feeding a small rat from petsmart and he wouldn't touch it. But he chows down on large mice.


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Originally Posted by greenacid

Alright. So how do I fix this. There's a rat breeder in my area but he doesn't do frozen. At 8 months and 180 grams, should I feed weaned rats? Like I said I tried feeding a small rat from petsmart and he wouldn't touch it. But he chows down on large mice.


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I would say try to give him a weaned rat again to see if he will take it. Just make sure its not bigger than the largest section of your snake. You said you tried a small rat....was it maybe to big for him? Also how many are you offering him each meal?

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Originally Posted by ROACH

I would say try to give him a weaned rat again to see if he will take it. Just make sure its not bigger than the largest section of your snake. You said you tried a small rat....was it maybe to big for him? Also how many are you offering him each meal?

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Yeah it was a frozen petsmart boxed small rat. It was way bigger than him. I feed him one large mouse every meal.


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Originally Posted by greenacid

Yeah it was a frozen petsmart boxed small rat. It was way bigger than him. I feed him one large mouse every meal.


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If it was "way bigger than him" then that may be the reason why he refused it. Ive done that one time, I gave one of my Sub-Adults a Large rat (Live) and she killed it, then turned around and refused it. It was too big for her. So yea I would say give rats a shot again. I dont know what the nutrition value is between the two, but I think more people choise Rats. Plus I dont think Mice get large enough to satisfy a adult snake, may have to check into that.

My girl is 4 months and just weighed in 305 grams yesterday after not eating for the first two months I had her.
She's been on one adult mouse every 5 days... now trying to switch to rats.

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Hey "Crazymonkee" do you know if large mice are enough for a adult ball? Im just asking for my own info. I dont think it would be, but then again what do I know.

I believe rats have a higher fat content than mice. This is the reason people who believe in growing their baby boas slowly always feed mice for the first while before switching to rats.

My 1 year old female BP is around 700 grams. By no means am I power feeding. She is getting 1 weaned rat (35-54g) every week. Once she hits the 1000g mark I will probably up her prey size to smalls. I don't have any breeding plans, so I'm also not concerned with getting her to breeding weight.

I believe a large mouse is only around 25-40 grams. Definitely not enough to maintain an adult ball. Once my balls pass 1kg, I plan on keeping their meals between 100-120g. I have fed my ~1.5 year old male ASF up to 180 grams, but those are few and far between. Essentially only when I retire my breeders.

I have to agree that the OPs bp is on the small side for a 10 month old. I have some August hatchlings that are already 150+ grams. I feed rat fuzzies every 4th day until they reach 300 grams, then they get an appropriate sized small once every 7 days.

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Originally Posted by greenacid

Yeah it was a frozen petsmart boxed small rat. It was way bigger than him. I feed him one large mouse every meal.


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Your snake is not small because it is feeding on mice instead of rats. Rats aren't a super food, they are just an overall better meal. I have female ball pythons weighing over 2,000 grams that eat L-XL mice once a week and they are doing fine. So I don't see why your snake is so small at that age. Have you had it for most it's life? Or did you recently acquire it and was told it was that old? How's its husbandry? Even on large mice, I don't see why a snake would be so small at that old. Some of my hatchlings are half that weight and get up to that size within just a couple months. Very weird.

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Originally Posted by ROACH

Hey "Crazymonkee" do you know if large mice are enough for a adult ball? Im just asking for my own info. I dont think it would be, but then again what do I know.

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Sorry just saw this.... you would need multiple mice at one feeding for adults

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Originally Posted by that_dc5

Your snake is not small because it is feeding on mice instead of rats. Rats aren't a super food, they are just an overall better meal. I have female ball pythons weighing over 2,000 grams that eat L-XL mice once a week and they are doing fine. So I don't see why your snake is so small at that age. Have you had it for most it's life? Or did you recently acquire it and was told it was that old? How's its husbandry? Even on large mice, I don't see why a snake would be so small at that old. Some of my hatchlings are half that weight and get up to that size within just a couple months. Very weird.

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I got him in July from a breeder in my area who told me he was born the first week of March. Now this is someone who had THOUSANDS of balls and probably has no idea how old. So I just went with what they told me. My husbandry is amazing. I have a T8. The ambient air is 82-85, humidity is 55% and hot spot is 92. He eats np at all. He was fed 2 hoppers for the first 2 months I had him and the person I got him from was trying to feed fuzZies. I switched to large mice after he declined a small rat and that was 2 months ago.


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Green acid, I have a suggestion that might help you out. Try scenting the smallest wen rat you can find in mouse soild bedding. I have a female 1400 gram pastel who will not touch a rat and after doing this scenting for a month of feeding, she switched to wen rats. After getting a good 2 months of wen rats weekly in her I now have her pounding sm rats weekly.
Before I switched her, she might have grown 100 grams in 3 months, now she's growing at about 100 grams every month to month and a half. Her sister on the other hand will only take mice or mouse scented live rats, i don't really like feeding live so i give her 5 lg mice every week, she might grow 100 grams every two months at best. She was right at 1000 grams in dec before she went of feed and since april when she came back on feed she has gotting up to 1200 grams. Now she did loose about 200 grams in the fasting period.
Try this out and hopefully it will help you.

Yea, after reading this, either the age or weight is wrong. Or possibly there is some issue internally causing it to not grow properly. But I noticed, the frozen feeders I got from PetSmart were kinda on the skimpy side (lean) and didn't seem to fill their bellies, and the one feeding on them wasn't growing all that fast. Hope you can figure out whats going on.

Is it possible that some snakes grow faster than others, in addition to feeding practices having an effect?

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Originally Posted by Ball Clan

Is it possible that some snakes grow faster than others, in addition to feeding practices having an effect?

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Absolutely!

Yeah, my pastel hit 1000g at her 1 year mark....

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Originally Posted by greenacid

um. I disagree. My boy is 7 months old and 185 grams. I have a vet that specializes in exotics and he said he's perfect weight.

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Sounds like your vet needs to go back to school for a bit. A 7 month old BP should be WAY more than 185g.

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Originally Posted by Coopers Constrictors

Sounds like your vet needs to go back to school for a bit. A 7 month old BP should be WAY more than 185g.

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How much should he weigh?


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Originally Posted by greenacid

How much should he weigh?


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BP's typically gain about 100 grams a month for the first year or so of life. If he hatched out in early March, I'd say 600-700 grams would be about normal. My consistent feeders usually hit 1000-1500 grams by a year old. They do not maintain that pace though.