I think my Male Spaz has more issues thaan just not feeding..

So I googled a Size chart and came up with a few examples that say a 7 month old ball python should be between 300-600g... my snakes are way under that. I trust my breeder cared for them, but i know he only fed every week and a half.

Spaz is 95g :O:Oand he did finally eat last night. He was born Nov 2013 per records
Dinker is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Sheeba is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Pagani is 169g Born Oct 2013

I will be getting a scale very soon, but i wanted to get some opinions. All but spaz are very docile and very intrigued by their surroundings. Once the kids go to bed spaz is a lot better about wondering around but he gets scared very quickly.

Should I start feeding them more often? Maybe every 5-7 days? Try to get some weight on them? I am hoping to breed them but at this rate it will be 3 years. They in theory should be ready this fall or next spring. Right now it seems i'm on track for the 2016 season.

He is eating now... I had fuzzy f/t mice... He ate 3 of them. either that or he buried them somewhere in his substrait but i haven't seen them yet. Going to go up a size now since he is finally eating.. Going to go to small adults large fuzzies for him.. the others are eating adult mice, fuzzy rats Live or F/t they don'ts eem to care

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Originally Posted by Tat2Guy

So I googled a Size chart and came up with a few examples that say a 7 month old ball python should be between 300-600g... my snakes are way under that. I trust my breeder cared for them, but i know he only fed every week and a half.

Spaz is 95g :O:Oand he did finally eat last night. He was born Nov 2013 per records
Dinker is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Sheeba is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Pagani is 169g Born Oct 2013

I will be getting a scale very soon, but i wanted to get some opinions. All but spaz are very docile and very intrigued by their surroundings. Once the kids go to bed spaz is a lot better about wondering around but he gets scared very quickly.

Should I start feeding them more often? Maybe every 5-7 days? Try to get some weight on them? I am hoping to breed them but at this rate it will be 3 years. They in theory should be ready this fall or next spring. Right now it seems i'm on track for the 2016 season.

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I have learned a lot from what others post about feeding their snakes. I have a female BP that was hatched in December 2013. She is currently feeding on f/t weaner rats and as of this morning weighs 310 grams. That weight was before her feeding tonight. Hope this helps.

Yeah mine are 2 months older than yours and about 1/2 of your weight... I think i'm going to do every 4 days and step up their rat sizes... They are all eating F/T now so i'm happy about that!

My male bumblebee will be a year old June 8th and is only 375g. As long as they have a healthy body condition, nice rounded body, they are okay. Snake growth won't follow a chart. They all grow at their own rate. If your really concerned about them though you can post pictures if each snake and we can tell you if they are okay by checking out the body condition.


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okay, theya re nice and round... spaz seems like he has a bit of loose skin on him, but he is eating well now... ill just have to fatten him up a little

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Originally Posted by Tat2Guy

So I googled a Size chart and came up with a few examples that say a 7 month old ball python should be between 300-600g... my snakes are way under that. I trust my breeder cared for them, but i know he only fed every week and a half.

Spaz is 95g :O:Oand he did finally eat last night. He was born Nov 2013 per records
Dinker is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Sheeba is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Pagani is 169g Born Oct 2013

I will be getting a scale very soon, but i wanted to get some opinions. All but spaz are very docile and very intrigued by their surroundings. Once the kids go to bed spaz is a lot better about wondering around but he gets scared very quickly.

Should I start feeding them more often? Maybe every 5-7 days? Try to get some weight on them? I am hoping to breed them but at this rate it will be 3 years. They in theory should be ready this fall or next spring. Right now it seems i'm on track for the 2016 season.

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What are you feeding them, and how often? I've always read that they should be fed every 5-7 days when they're young. And I try to follow the 10-15% of the snake's body weight per feeding until they are about 500 grams (much easier if you have a scale).

I just got them on the 28th of April.

On the 29th Sheeba and Dinker ate a Live Adult Fancy Mouse, Spaz refused food.
On the 30th same deal
On the 1st of May spaz still refused. This is when I picked up Pagani, and was given a Rat Pup to try to feed Spaz.
Spaz refused this as well. I left the pup in his cage with him for several hours. I fed the pup to dinker. I hate keeping live mice and rats in my house
On the 2nd of May I offered Spaz the live mouse I had left from the 30th and he refused. Dinker ate it. Then I got Frozen Fuzzy mice and left one in Spaz's cage over night. It was gone in the Morning.
Today I left 2 more fuzzy mice in his cage around 2... they were gone a few hours later when I went down to put Mr. Dinker back in his cage.

Since its Saturday and everyone has eaten within the past 2 days, I'm going to wait 4-5 days until I feed again. Wed I'm going to go to a mouse supplier near me and get 4 live rat pups and a bunch of frozen rat pups (or next size up) and feed them until they are gone.

I was watching a guy feed his baby BP's on YT today and he was using small sized rats. I know that everyone but spaz will handle them, but i dont' think spaz is big enough to handle the next size up. So wed I will feed 2 pups to Dinker, Sheeba, and Pagani, and Spaz will get 1 rat pup

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Originally Posted by bumblebee1028

What are you feeding them, and how often? I've always read that they should be fed every 5-7 days when they're young. And I try to follow the 10-15% of the snake's body weight per feeding until they are about 500 grams (much easier if you have a scale).

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Off topic, I noticed you have a Male Cinny.. Want to loan him to me for a little in a year or so? I really want some pewters :P LOL

Also what are you housing them all in? With the pickier ones you want them to have perfect husbandry so they will want to eat more consistently. So what is your set up like?


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Rack system.. Unsure of the size of tubs but they are pretty big so they have hides on both sides. Hotspots set at 91 (heat tape reading) so it keeps ambient temperature in the tub between 78-85. Also am using reptibark bedding. He is just nervous so i make sure he feels comfertable. If I get him out after about 3 min of him being in a ball he realizes i'm a good guy and will start to explore.

Not worried about spaz not eating because he started eating today.. Had 3 Fuzzy Mice. Since they were small i knew 3 would be okay. He just needed a cool down period. I'm just wondering if their weights are Low for their age. I figured they would fluctuate but didn't know it would be that extreme.

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Originally Posted by Tat2Guy

Spaz is 95g :O:Oand he did finally eat last night. He was born Nov 2013 per records
Dinker is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Sheeba is 150-160g Born Oct 2013 per records
Pagani is 169g Born Oct 2013

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I think that 2 rat pups in one feeding will be too much for any of your snakes. While it does vary, pups are generally in the 20-30 gram range. Following the 10-15% guideline (not everyone follows this, but I believe it's a good guide), this is more like what they should be eating:
Spaz: 10-14 grams
Dinker: 15-22 grams
Sheeba: 15-22 grams
Pagani: 17-25 grams

So Dinker, Sheeba, and Pagani should get 1 rat pup every 5-7 days, and I would probably give Spaz a rat fuzzy every 5-7 days until he gets a bit bigger.

You're also offering food too often. If you're doing a 5 day schedule, offer food once every 5 days (whether they eat or not). If they don't eat, they wait until the next feeding day. You don't want to offer them food too often, or it stresses them.

Make sure you avoid handling them until they're eating regularly.

Will start doing that as well.

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Originally Posted by Tat2Guy

Off topic, I noticed you have a Male Cinny.. Want to loan him to me for a little in a year or so? I really want some pewters :P LOL

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Lol... I'm not very close to Indiana :P

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Originally Posted by Tat2Guy

Rack system.. Unsure of the size of tubs but they are pretty big so they have hides on both sides. Hotspots set at 91 (heat tape reading) so it keeps ambient temperature in the tub between 78-85. Also am using reptibark bedding. He is just nervous so i make sure he feels comfertable. If I get him out after about 3 min of him being in a ball he realizes i'm a good guy and will start to explore.

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That's good :) everything sounds perfect. I just wanted to make sure. But I think they will be just fine :) you just got some little guys but you never know they may end up being huge once they are full grown!


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At many breeders' facilities, hatchlings for sale are fed less than the holdbacks. Nothing bad or unethical about that practice. It's to keep overhead costs low, which let the breeders sell at competitive prices. If breeders fed their hathcling the same way hobbyists do, feeding cost will negate profit margins. Just feed as recommended and your snakes will catch up.

OK awesome. Just wanted yo make sure that they were okay

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Odd question, which substrate did the breeder use, my 1400g pied, will NOT touch live/ft/ hell prolly not even a hamster on coconut bedding, she will strictly eat on paper or separate tub for whatever reason it may be. So i have all my snakes on Kraft indented paper until shed then i will put some eco earth coco husk in to help with humidity. She declined meals right when they switch of bedding happened, So possibly try that, also if you do feed F/T besides overall warming time of them i like to put there head up to a light to make it a lil bit warmer, helps my pick eaters strike faster then being nosey.

He used Aspen and I use the reptibark

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Today I decided to feed. Everyone ate perfectly fine. Its crazy. They all finished at the exact same time lol

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Yay! I'm glad they all ate for you!

Yeah. And the mouse supplier gave me 5 fuzzy rats and 2 were very small almost pinky size. So I gave em both to spaz. May have been overfeedingish but he's skinny and needed the nutrition

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