Improving muscle tone

My girl is growing at a steady pace, tonight's weigh in after a major poop is 870g, and I've noticed that she's pretty well, soft to the touch. When I handle her, she can coil around me and crawl all over me, and as far as I know she has no trouble eating. Well, aside from the depth perception problems of having only one eye, she tends to miss on the first strike.

So I am wondering is she fine, or is there something I should be doing to make her more muscular/less soft? Or is she supposed to feel like this? She's my only snake so I do not have anyone to compare her to.

Her tank set up is 2 UTH on each side, cool side is 81 degrees, hot side is 90 degrees. There is an overhead lamp to help with the ambient temp because I have a drafty, very cold house. Humidity is usually in the 50% range, sometimes goes a little higher if it's rainy.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...s/traya218.jpg

Can she periscope? Can she control her tail?

She periscopes fine, though she's always had a slight tremble ever since I got her which I attributed to the fact that she did hatch with a pretty significant birth defect. She was less than 100g when I got her when she was a little over 3 months old, so I've always thought she was probably stunted from her issues. She can also control her tail and can wrap it around my finger.

I know she's definitely a "probably would not have survived in the wild" snake, but just wondering if there was anything else I should be doing to help her improve. She sheds fine, eats fine, poops fine.

They are geverally soft. They have thick muscles, but also a layer of fat. Your snake does not look too fat. If she can constrict her food, slither around and climb, i wouldn't worry. All my snakes feel soft to the touch.

btw, that one eyed snake is cool. Ooda T has one cyclops snake too.

If you want to improve muscle tone you could add branches for climbing or a humid dig box with moss in it to encourage digging.

And I disagree, I can see some fat wrinkles where the snake is only slightly curled. She could probably stand to cut back on food a little bit ;).

Ha ha thanks guys!! I am kinda a helicopter snake parent lol I'll definitely look into getting some climbing branches in her tank then. Might be nice to see her climbing if she's into it.

If she's looking a little tubby, well I guess I can stretch her feedings out to every 10 days and not 7. She really does love eating.

She is gorgeous! Looks like a happy snek.

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Snake looks a little chubby to me. Time to get it to work out on the Susanne Somer's thigh master. Feel the burn!!!

I think you mean burm.

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How old is she ?

I don't really see a "fat" snake, and over feeding is something I'm very much against. Overweight Ball Pythons loose that defined, skinny looking neck. Look at the neck in her picture, its quite thin still.

What size food are you feeding every week ?

Ball Pythons are "heavy bodied" snakes. They appear chubby to many other snake species. However, they certainly CAN get overweight, but I don't really see that ? If she can do all the things you said she can do, plus she is doing well, then I wouldn't worry to much about it. If you do give her something to climb on, make sure its not to high. They really aren't very graceful climbers at all and fall off at times. That's when you hear the dull "thump" in the night..LOL.

Give us some more info on age, size of food,etc ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

How old is she ?

I don't really see a "fat" snake, and over feeding is something I'm very much against. Overweight Ball Pythons loose that defined, skinny looking neck. Look at the neck in her picture, its quite thin still.

What size food are you feeding every week ?

Ball Pythons are "heavy bodied" snakes. They appear chubby to many other snake species. However, they certainly CAN get overweight, but I don't really see that ? If she can do all the things you said she can do, plus she is doing well, then I wouldn't worry to much about it. If you do give her something to climb on, make sure its not to high. They really aren't very graceful climbers at all and fall off at times. That's when you hear the dull "thump" in the night..LOL.

Give us some more info on age, size of food,etc ;)

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THUMP! Yeah, like to climb, but do not excel at it!

She's a little over a year and half old. She hatched July 4, 2016. I don't have a great snoot to tip of tail length on her, but she's about as long as her 20L tank. She eats one small rat a week.

She's especially not graceful, so low branches it will be. Thanks everyone, I was just worried since I don't have anything to compare her to. Sounds like she's probably a tiny bit chunky but not too much, and that as long as she feels strong when holding her and able to eat her food, she can be a little doughy to the touch.

@Godzilla78 - my family teases me about owning a one eyed snake. It's interesting because it's clear she never even had an eye and does not really have a socket, vs my cat who also has only one eye but lost hers to a gunshot wound.

That weight is actually quite in the acceptable range for her age. Most people push their BP's (especially females) to already be up to breeding size by that age. Even if she had a slow start, that is still a nice and steady weight gain.

So I wouldn't worry to much about it. If everything else seems to work out fine, just keep doing what you are doing.

Most likely she will let you know when she is ready to slow down. She will act "less enthusiastic" about feeding, will take longer to take the meal and eventually outright refuse. Usually that starts to happen around 1000 grams or so. Once she hits over 1200 grams you can go to feeding every 10 days, and if you don't worry about breeding, you can stretch it to every 2 weeks or so, imho.

As much as I love her, I would not dream of breeding her due to her congenital issues. I am glad she's caught up a bit size wise though. She was so tiny when I got her.

Their climbing agility depends on how long they've had climbing opportunities, and what sort of climbing you offer them. My bp has been climbing from a hatchling, and has a nice toned feel to him. No squishiness or large folds where his body bends (there are small almost unnoticeable folds in sharp corners, but the rest are smooth U's), just pure muscle. When he had a small branch that was less than half his girth, yeah, he fell off a lot, but he didn't really fall off his basking shelf all too much. That said, he would sometimes overextend himself exploring, and slide down a wall or his shelf, but not nearly as often as he did in the branch. haha If the branch was thicker he probably wouldn't have had too much trouble.

Being almost 2 years old, I might go ahead and stretch her feedings to 10-14 days, or at least in the next year. I feed my bps a little lighter than some do, though, my 11 year old (~1,400 grams) gets fed a small rat every 2-3 weeks. Usually every 2, though.

I agree she's a good size for her age, though. :) If you want to build muscle mass, the key is plenty of room to exercise (so plenty of floor space and some climbing room) and less food *if applicable*.

That said, all my males have always felt "tighter" then my females..

Even my 3000 grams male feels more tight then my smaller females. I think like most species females build more fat reserves in the middle regions?


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