Feeding guidelines for small twin?

Hi all!
I have a 15-month old BP who was a twin, so he was born very small (around 24g). According to breeder records he grew slowly his first year and came to me around 2 months ago at about 260g. He's a very good eater and has shot up to 402g since I've had him, which has me a little worried that he's growing *too* fast now. Guides for what to feed at each age are a little confusing because he's not quite in "normal" range yet for his age - the breeder fed him a small rat weekly in September, and I slowed that down a little to one small rat every 10 days in October, but now I'm wondering if I ought to cut back to smaller feeders / less frequent meals.

Am I totally overthinking this, and is the answer going to be "watch body condition and wait"? :oops:

here he is at 402g, he's not exactly Godzilla just yet: https://imgur.com/IFRE30G

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Originally Posted by plateOfFlan

Hi all!
I have a 15-month old BP who was a twin, so he was born very small (around 24g). According to breeder records he grew slowly his first year and came to me around 2 months ago at about 260g. He's a very good eater and has shot up to 402g since I've had him, which has me a little worried that he's growing *too* fast now. Guides for what to feed at each age are a little confusing because he's not quite in "normal" range yet for his age - the breeder fed him a small rat weekly in September, and I slowed that down a little to one small rat every 10 days in October, but now I'm wondering if I ought to cut back to smaller feeders / less frequent meals.

Am I totally overthinking this, and is the answer going to be "watch body condition and wait"? :oops:

here he is at 402g, he's not exactly Godzilla just yet: https://imgur.com/IFRE30G

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140g in 2 months seems normal. I personally wouldn’t feed a snake that small every 10 days but I also breed them and feed smaller snakes more often compared to my adults. What you’re doing is fine and he looks good. He’s beautiful


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Agreed with Snow! Young BPs are voracious and grow like weeds. Take lots of photos because they don’t stay small for long!

I think your feeding schedule sounds fine - as long as the prey is the right size, 7-10 days is good. Usually I think you can start slowing down feeding a bit when the snake is 800g+ or if you notice the snake developing “hips” (pockets of fat close to the vent) or a body shape that is chunkier shape than a melting Hershey’s kiss chocolate. For my adult male BP I feed a small rat every ~14-18 days.

He looks so cute and his coloring and patterns are so unique and beautiful! What morph is he?

Thanks! Glad to hear that's normal, I wasn't expecting such a sudden burst of growth.
He's a killer lesser clown, and either has fire as well or is just really nice and bright. I'm going to make an intro post once I figure out the pictures situation

He looks maybe a tiny bit chunky but nothing I'd be too worried about, especially if you just slowed him down. 10 days on smalls should be perfect.

Little update on this guy - as the weather's cooled off he's started refusing some meals, which I expected from what the breeder told me. Right now he's eating around every other week. He's also switched to drop feeding exclusively, which I don't know if that's just because he's less enthusiastic about eating, but from threads I saw on here it sounds like it's ok and some snakes just prefer to be drop fed. His weight plateaued at around 400 and has only gone up slightly, but I noticed that he was still looking chunkier. It occurs to me that even though he's roughly the size of a six month old, I can't feed him like one because he has the metabolism of an 18 month old! So extra food is not going to make him grow longer or bigger, just ... wider. I'm trying to keep that in mind and follow his lead more on when and how he wants to eat. (I think I was also a little hung up on trying to get him to a milestone 500g, and closer to "normal" size, but there's no sense in trying to get him to a number if it's just going to make him fat. He may just also be naturally petite his whole life however he's fed.) Having a 3 month old who is growing like a weed really put in perspective for me that he's not growing at nearly the rate she is, so it's ok for him to eat a lot less and go at his own speed.

This week it'll be 2 months since Ponzu started fasting, and he doesn't seem to have lost a single gram - I take him out every week or 2 to check him over and weigh him and he's actually up a little bit this week. I think that's a good sign that he's drinking and staying hydrated. He's also consistently calm and upbeat - this is actually the best mood he's had since I got him in the fall. He is a little slow when I take him out but I assume he's conserving energy, so I don't handle him for long or for too often. His weight hasn't changed but his body condition seems slimmer and moe muscular, I can see the lines of his muscles down his body like you see on a boa.
The only weird thing he's doing right now is really dragging his current shed out. He's always been a little weird about this, his first shed with me was after eight weeks, and the second was after ten. This time he went into blue right on schedule, then ... stayed in blue for over two weeks. He finally cleared up last week but still doesn't seem to feel like starting to remove the skin. I can see a few flakes sticking off his face and he doesn't seem stuck, exactly, he just really seems to take his time. His other 2 sheds came off perfectly in one pieces, eyecaps, tail tip and all, once he finally got around to them. I couldn't find any info about slow shedders so should I just chalk it up to his lowered metabolism or a personal quirk? His ambient humidity ranges from 75-85% and he drinks water regularly. Once he eventually finishes this I'm going to offer food again since it's been awhile, maybe the shed will inspire him.

Here he is being a nuisance the other day - you can see how pink his head and neck are from the shed, and how buff his body looks now:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...204_154218.jpg

I can only sympathize- it's so frustrating when snakes fast. I'd imagine they don't all have the same metabolic rate- any more than we humans do? Anyway, I guess "this is what we get for not minding our own business & making them live with us"? ;) They do things on "snake time", not according to our plans or expectations. He looks fine, anyway.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I can only sympathize- it's so frustrating when snakes fast. I'd imagine they don't all have the same metabolic rate- any more than we humans do? Anyway, I guess "this is what we get for not minding our own business & making them live with us"? ;) They do things on "snake time", not according to our plans or expectations. He looks fine, anyway.

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My snakes and tarantulas are definitely exercises in patience. The answer to most questions about them is "just let them be," which can be very frustrating when you want to "care" for them!
And some of his habits I think once I've had him longer I can feel more confident saying "this is just how he is" and not worrying.

He ate finally! Only a two and a half month break. He took a dropped weaned last night, going to keep him on the weaneds for awhile since they seem easier for him :D I survived my first fast period lol, now I feel like a true owner

:sweeet: Yup, you & your Beep have made the "club", lol.

He really looks amazing and well proportioned to me. Are you feeding him live or f/t ? Congratulations on raising a most handsome twin to his fullness. Continue the good work.

Thanks! He's a very good boy, he just has his quirks. I've been lucky, I switched both my snakes to f/t as soon as they got here and they both went for it. In Ponzu's case though he has kind of a sensitive personality and kept going out of "food mode" to look nervously at the tongs or at me during feeding, so I started showing him the rat, giving it a shake or two to get him interested, then quietly leaving it for him to retrieve later and putting a towel over the tank to keep it dark and quiet. He seems to prefer this. The female on the other hand is so voracious I'm lucky if I can get the rat in the bin before she launches herself at it - she's never waited long enough to even notice the rats are thawed now I don't think. She's a strike first ask questions later type. I have to put a towel over her too after feeding, but it's because otherwise she strikes wildly at the walls every time I walk past, just in case there's more food coming :P

Yeah, he sounds typical behavior of some balls. But she sounds like she’s got some reticulated in her! Haha.



:D

I assumed the food fixation was just a baby thing, but some people have told me BPs sometimes are just like that, especially females. If she were gravid in the future I imagine she'd revert to this behavior because she knows she needs as many calories as she can get for the babies. In any case I started tap-training her even though I felt silly doing it for such a small snake, but someone pointed out this will be less cute if she winds up weighing 3kg at 4 feet long :D. She's quite smart and quickly picked up on "food is here" vs "time for handling" so we haven't had any actual bite incidents (yet).