Snake weight

Hey, I recently got a ball python. He just took his first feeding from me yesterday. He's supposed to be 2 months old but he only weighs 49g. I thought he'd be bigger at 2 months. Should I worry or try to feed him more often? I've been trying once a week to get him to eat. I've only had him for 2 weeks.

Baby snakes grow slowly, in part because they're also eating "baby" rodents. Be patient, they grow at their own pace, & pushing food faster than he's ready for it is not necessarily a good idea.

I would not feed a baby BP more often than every 5-7 days- and btw, what are the temps in his enclosure/tub/or tank? Snakes require optimal temperatures to digest, & if you push food faster than they can do so, either they'll refuse to eat, or they may eat & regurgitate.

Ever hear the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? He just ate for you- be happy & patient- & don't try to power feed him into growing faster- that will just make a snake unhealthy (with too much body fat). If I were you, I'd be perfectly happy with him eating once a week.

It's normal that he didn't feed right away for you, that first week (assuming you tried & offered?)- they need a week or so to "settle in" (relax enough to focus on eating). He's right on schedule. Wait 6-7 days before you offer food again- snakes take time to digest. :snake:

BTW, what exactly is he eating? mouse or rat, & what size?

He ate a small adult mouse. Basically a hopper. I think it was around 29g. My hot side is around 90 and my cooler side goes to 77ish. Yes he refused the first week which I expected. He ate this week and I'm so happy he did. I just wanted to make sure his weight wasn't an issue. I'm perfectly happy with him being a runt for now as long as hopefully he eats constantly.

If he's only 49 grams & you fed him a mouse that was 29 grams, that was pretty big for him. That meal was more than half his weight! He might need more than a week to digest it, if he keeps it down (& if you're correct about the weights).

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...%2F98qfzDH.png

Well I feed him what the breeder was feeding him so I don't know. It was smaller than the widest part of him.

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Originally Posted by Neko_snake

Well I feed him what the breeder was feeding him so I don't know. It was smaller than the widest part of him.

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I hope & suspect you have at least one of the weights wrong. ;)

Well I literally just weighed him. I didn't actually weigh the mouse but on the box it says it weighs 20-29g. I'm pretty sure they mean the box not the mice. So it probably was way less than what I was thinking it was.

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Originally Posted by Neko_snake

Well I literally just weighed him. I didn't actually weigh the mouse but on the box it says they weigh 15-29g. So it probably was less than what I was thinking it was.

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Yes, hopefully it was on the low end of that range for the mouse.

Like I said the mouse wasn't even the size of the thickest part of him.

I’ve gotten yearling snakes that were just over 100g on arrival, so 49g at two months doesn’t seem unreasonable. I feed my snakes pretty liberally for the first two years since a lot of their intake goes towards growth and I scale them back after that. I don’t weigh my snakes or their food but I wouldn’t feed the snakes half their body weight on a regular basis. If you’re going to feed larger meals I’d consider spacing out the feeding intervals a bit.

49g is pretty small but not unheard of. I would double check those mice though because if they really are even 20g, that's quite large for a 49g snake and he is going to need extra time to digest. A small fuzzy mouse is more appropriate.

I wouldn't rush him. He will eventually catch up if fed properly.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

49g is pretty small but not unheard of. I would double check those mice though because if they really are even 20g, that's quite large for a 49g snake

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I've recently been successful with my first clutch and hope this might be some useful information for you.

My smallest snakelet was 48g out of the egg, and 57g the largest. Once they had their first shed, none were fed anything larger than 15g (frozen) rat fluffs, thawed then warmed in water for a heat signature.

Now at just over 2 months old, and the least fed on seven meals, all the snakelets left here (others now with a local seller) are over 100g.
In my current open pack of fluffs, my smallest is 13g and the largest 18g (again, frozen). Once these are gone, I'm moving up to the mid-20g feeds.

All my snakelets are now smashing the feeds, toileting well and shedding cleanly.

Hopefully, my process may help you decide on your best actions moving forward, but as Nikkubus says, 20+g feed seems quite big for a little guy.
Might it be worth trying a few weeks on sub-20's to see if he takes more regularly and enthusiastically for you?