Monumental weight gain

I have a 28 month old female who has been a consistent feeder and weight gainer. Generally 150 grams monthly. This past month, eating a medium rat weekly, she gained 372 grams. She's also hugging her water dish. Should I be on the look out for any thing in particular? Yep, she is my first one. All insight is welcome. Thanks

How much does she weigh in total?

Unless she is huge, she should be eating a small rat every two weeks. Not anything weekly.

If she is huge - depending on weight and body condition, a medium rat every 2-3 weeks is as big and often as I would feed.

Also, do you weigh after waste or at random times. Best to weigh "dry." However, if feeding weekly, there's always going to be something in there.

Her weight is 2322g. I thought you fed weekly till adulthood. She does look a bit chunky lately. I'll be happy not to spend a hour picking up rats every Saturday .

Yeah, at 2.3kg she can eat small rats every 2 weeks. If she happens to lose weight, which I doubt, you can always go to mediums every 2-3, as mentioned. I think she will stay stable, or gain, on small rats every other week, just at slower pace if she gains.

However, BP's are quite efficient and in the wild eat mostly African Soft Fur (ASF) rats. They do not get over about 90G.

When my female BP, Shayna, switched from medium rats every 2-3 weeks, to small rats every two, she actually gained weight. She stopped refusing meals except in winter fast, and ate more regularly. Easier to digest and better for her. She's 8 now and I switched her at 5 or 6 years old and she went from about 1.7kg to about 2KG.

Usually better to feed less than more with snakes.

Good luck and keep us posted. I think it will go well.

The BP feeding chart on here (below), is a good guide for size up to medium rats, IMO. I wouldn't feed mediums unless an animal was losing weight on small rats, or over 3-4KG, which is not too common, or after breeding etc. if the BP will eat them regularly. I also think weekly is too frequent once on small rats.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...ding_chart.jpg

According to the chart, I'm feeding her correctly. But... I agree she needs a reduction of calories. We'll see how it goes. Thanks, dakski !

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Originally Posted by Zspook

Her weight is 2322g. I thought you fed weekly till adulthood. She does look a bit chunky lately. I'll be happy not to spend a hour picking up rats every Saturday .

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1000g+ is considered an adult for a female (though I wouldn't breed less than 1500g), even though they continue to grow (forever). A small every 2 weeks should be perfect indefinitely unless she happens to be an exceptionally large girl years down the road or if you are breeding. She is big enough that you CAN feed a medium if you like, you just have to slow it down and make sure she is putting on appropriate weight, not just getting fat. I'd even cut her down to every 4 weeks if she is already obese until she reaches appropriate proportions. Taking down a medium rat weekly for a month, I'd imagine she probably is pretty chunky.

https://external-content.duckduckgo....3D1&f=1&nofb=1

The medium rats are fine but feeding weekly is too often. I agree with dialing the feeding frequency back to every 2-3 weeks. I don't feed any of my snakes weekly after their first year.

Thanks for responses to my fat dilemma. I'm leaning towards a small rat every other week. She may not be happy about it, she is a enthusiastic feeder. Needless to say. So, should I slow the feedings until I see a drop in weight or better to go by body roundness?

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Originally Posted by Zspook

Thanks for responses to my fat dilemma. I'm leaning towards a small rat every other week. She may not be happy about it, she is a enthusiastic feeder. Needless to say. So, should I slow the feedings until I see a drop in weight or better to go by body roundness?

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Sounds like a good plan - small rat every other week.

I would go by body definition.

Don't worry about the small rat vs. medium rat for her. She sounds like a good eater, so she'll probably just be excited for food and not measure it up :).

Keep in mind, it may take a long time, like a year + for her body to completely change shape.

Just know you are doing good by her and that she will be fine.

I do not think you will see her drop weight at all. I think she will grow much slower and will probably grow into her current weight (range).

Good luck and keep us posted.

Yeah I wouldn't be trying to get her to literally lose weight, but you want to slow it way down so that her bones catch up. If you are weighing her, try to do it the day before feeding so she is empty and you know you are getting the most accurate, meaningful numbers. See if you can get her to almost maintain her weight or very slight gain until her shape is how it should be.

The chart does say every week, but I think that is excessive for non-breeders. Seems silly to me they have different frequency up till then and suddenly breeders should be fed the exact same as pets when one is burning TONS of calories to build follicles, then eggs, and lay, and the other is just chillaxin. :confusd: I feed even my breeders every other week most of the year, it's only late fall/early winter, and then for about a month after laying that I'm really letting them pound rats as much as they will eat.

Thank you all for your kind responses. I believe my plans will work eventually. No one has mentioned the bowl wrapping. Temps are 90 on top of the hide 85.5 to 87 inside. Ambient 84 to 86 per accurite on top of the hide. Temps verified by laser gun. She has not been bred. She will spend 18 to 20 hrs in and around the bowl.

adult females of that size should never be fed that frequently. it harms their immune systems and makes them very fat.
I feed my 650 gram male a small rat once every 3 weeks and he looks great. unless you're planning on breeding her, you shouldn't be feeding her anymore frequently.

she could be developing follicles on her own, I'm not experienced in this though.

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Originally Posted by Zspook

Thank you all for your kind responses. I believe my plans will work eventually. No one has mentioned the bowl wrapping. Temps are 90 on top of the hide 85.5 to 87 inside. Ambient 84 to 86 per accurite on top of the hide. Temps verified by laser gun. She has not been bred. She will spend 18 to 20 hrs in and around the bowl.

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Two thoughts.

1. I would lower the ambient temps slightly. I think 80-84F range is better. What is her cool side?

If it's too warm she might be hugging the water dish to cool down a little (depending on where the water dish is - it could be cooler).

2. What's humidity?

She might be hugging the water dish because the humidity is a little higher there.

These are just thinking out loud ideas. Not sure, but I would lower the ambient temps a little bit.

I totally missed that part. What are your cool side temps at?

She very well could be building follicles, she is the right age, and they will often do it without conditioning of any kind. Just to be safe I'd make sure she isn't doing it because it's too hot though. If she is building follicles, she should decide at some point that there are no males, so it's best to go ahead and reabsorb them. Every once in a while they will just lay slugs though.

I just shot beside where she is laying, it's 76.4. I stay on top of the humidity, I keep it between 50 & 60% almost without fail. I was wondering about the follicles, the first half of her looks bout normal, 2nd half not so sleek. And she moves like she's crawling on eggshells. Very slowly.

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Originally Posted by Zspook

I just shot beside where she is laying, it's 76.4. I stay on top of the humidity, I keep it between 50 & 60% almost without fail. I was wondering about the follicles, the first half of her looks bout normal, 2nd half not so sleek. And she moves like she's crawling on eggshells. Very slowly.

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You know your BP better than we do, so if you think she's acting differently, that's fine.

I tend to think the simplest reasons are more often the cause of things rather than less likely scenarios. I think it's probably a temp issue. If it's 76.4F where she is now, and she's staying there, and it's 84-90FG in the rest of the tank, she just wants to cool down.

Am I 100% sure. No. However, that's a simple answer to a likely simple cause.

I would adjust your temps, as mentioned earlier, and if she still stays there, maybe something else is up. However, my BP, spends most of her time on the cooler side of the tank. Her range is about 77-89F with a gradient. Hot side being 89F and cool side being about 77F. I would be more concerned if she was spending a lot of time on the hot side.

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Originally Posted by Zspook

I just shot beside where she is laying, it's 76.4. I stay on top of the humidity, I keep it between 50 & 60% almost without fail. I was wondering about the follicles, the first half of her looks bout normal, 2nd half not so sleek. And she moves like she's crawling on eggshells. Very slowly.

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76.4 is pretty perfect cool side imho. Unless the gradient is really sudden where is 76.4 there and then jumps a lot higher for the entire rest of the enclosure, I'm leaning towards that she is building, especially if you see a pretty noticeable thickness right about 1/3 from her tail vs right about the middle.

She should reabsorb, but if she decides to lay slugs, you need to be mindful of when to expect them and be ready to take her to the vet if she has trouble. Take careful notes of dates of anything significant, including refusing food, shedding, change in her appearance like she is brightening up, and if she has a sudden drastic swell.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

76.4 is pretty perfect cool side imho. Unless the gradient is really sudden where is 76.4 there and then jumps a lot higher for the entire rest of the enclosure, I'm leaning towards that she is building, especially if you see a pretty noticeable thickness right about 1/3 from her tail vs right about the middle.

She should reabsorb, but if she decides to lay slugs, you need to be mindful of when to expect them and be ready to take her to the vet if she has trouble. Take careful notes of dates of anything significant, including refusing food, shedding, change in her appearance like she is brightening up, and if she has a sudden drastic swell.

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I agree 76F is a little low, but if the rest of the tank is 84-90F, that may be her best bet to cool down.

I know little about follicles, so I'll leave that to you and others.

Either way, I'd get the temps correct first.

I should have asked, how big is the tank? I have my BP in a 4X2' and although the range is 77-89F, her cool side ranges from 77-81F, depending on where she is, and there is a big gradient to the hot side of 89F. So even though, 77F is a little chilly, she has many options for different temps and hides in all temp gradients.

Thanks for all your input! Her AP enclosure is 6' by 2.5' by 18" high. With a basking shelf. Temperature variations horizontally and vertically. She's been in and around the water dish since 8:30 last night. It's almost noon, she's still there.

Do you remember when she last shed? While feeding heavy causes growth, and growth causes shedding, my girls going into season have a shed almost right at the same they start cool seeking (I'd say usually within a week of each other) and then don't shed again till after ovulation. There are exceptions, but I'd say they stick to that pattern about 95% of the time.

If it really is building follicles, she is likely to be cool seeking for 2-3 months vs a few days to a couple weeks. If she is near her bowl for a couple weeks and then sheds and returns to the warm side, she probably was just trying to soak up extra humidity for an intense shed after a lot of growth.

She last shed Jan. 13. She sheds about six weeks apart, so maybe next week or10 days. This is new behavior for her and me. Guess I'll hurry up to wait and see.