Weight

What would you guys say is a normal weight for a 1 yr 8 month old female bp?

I'm not an expert but I know all balls grow differently and there's no real average weight, it depends on the feeding, genetics etc. But for my reference mine is 1 year 2 months and she's 580g eating wean rats every 10 days. I'd say maybe 500-900 given the extra months.

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That depends on how long you’ve had her, since a hatchling or did you purchase her a while after she’s hatched? I have some that are 2 years old and I’ve had them since hatchlings that are 13-1500g


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got her when she was 300 grams or so so i just guessed she was around 3 months so idk but shes sround 1000 grams

I just don’t understand this fascination some folks have with constantly weighing their snakes. How is that information useful? What difference does it make if my snake is 1500g or 1800g as long as it’s healthy? I can understand it if a breeder needs a female to be a certain size before pairing her, but other than that I just don’t get it. Somebody make it make sense please. 😀

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I just don’t understand this fascination some folks have with constantly weighing their snakes. How is that information useful? What difference does it make if my snake is 1500g or 1800g as long as it’s healthy? I can understand it if a breeder needs a female to be a certain size before pairing her, but other than that I just don’t get it. Somebody make it make sense please. ��

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:gj: I only weigh any of my snakes if it's needed to calculate a dose of medication, which happily that hasn't been for "ages"!

EL-Ziggy, I'm with you- I don't understand the routine snake-weight obsession either. I don't weigh their food either. Shocking, I know....;)

But with feeders, I know from experience what size prey to feed- many of our readers do not, so that's probably the best way they can know for sure.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I just don’t understand this fascination some folks have with constantly weighing their snakes. How is that information useful? What difference does it make if my snake is 1500g or 1800g as long as it’s healthy? I can understand it if a breeder needs a female to be a certain size before pairing her, but other than that I just don’t get it. Somebody make it make sense please. 😀

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Well, I can't speak to the habits of BP keepers specifically, but for other species there's some usefulness.

Snakes that brumate are best weighed before and after to gauge whether humidity and temps were acceptable (weight can be lost through transpiration if air is too dry, and by excess metabolism if temps are too high). Tracking weight of females helps to know whether to skip a year of breeding, or to avoid double clutching in species that sometimes tolerate it.

Keepers with long term breeding projects use both absolute weight and weight gain over time as a factor in evaluating pairings. If I have a clutch that grows much slower than my norm given the same inputs, I might be less likely to repeat that pairing (in some species, speed of growth is something of a virtue, or an indication of overall genetic vigor).

Novice keepers might (try to) use weight comparisons with other people's snakes as a sort of 'sanity check'; this, as mentioned, isn't very useful since growth rates depend on feeding habits, temps, genetics, and so on -- so an X age snake may well be half the weight of another X age snake of the same species and both could be doing just fine. But for a novice keeper -- and any keeper, really -- simply knowing an animal's weight changes over time is one more data point in determining whether the animal is in fact healthy.

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Originally Posted by Malum Argenteum

Well, I can't speak to the habits of BP keepers specifically, but for other species there's some usefulness.

Snakes that brumate are best weighed before and after to gauge whether humidity and temps were acceptable (weight can be lost through transpiration if air is too dry, and by excess metabolism if temps are too high).

Novice keepers might (try to) use weight comparisons with other people's snakes as a sort of 'sanity check'; this, as mentioned, isn't very useful since growth rates depend on feeding habits, temps, genetics, and so on -- so an X age snake may well be half the weight of another X age snake of the same species and both could be doing just fine. But for a novice keeper -- and any keeper, really -- simply knowing an animal's weight changes over time is one more data point in determining whether the animal is in fact healthy.

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To each their own but I still can’t get there 😀. Outside of breeding factors, especially since all of my snakes are only pets, I see no useful purpose for weighing snakes or their prey. All of my snakes get lower temps and fewer meals during the winter. A few of the carpets, and my male bullsnake, will go off food from Nov/Dec - April/May. I make sure their temps are good, that they have fresh water, I offer them food once every 4-6 weeks, but I NEVER weigh them. I’m sure they all lose a little weight during this time, but it’s nothing to worry about, and they’re all still perfectly healthy. They’ll put the weight back on when they start eating more again. I base my snakes health on their eating, pooping, shedding, and body condition. If all those things are in order then their actual weight is meaningless to me. YMMV

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

I just don’t understand this fascination some folks have with constantly weighing their snakes. How is that information useful? What difference does it make if my snake is 1500g or 1800g as long as it’s healthy? I can understand it if a breeder needs a female to be a certain size before pairing her, but other than that I just don’t get it. Somebody make it make sense please. [emoji3]

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Exactly, if your snake is eating and you don’t plan on breeding said animal. Then there’s no point in weighing your snake, unless that snake goes off food for a prolonged period of time. That’s the only reason I can come up with


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My two cents.

I am a data nut. I weigh my snakes semi-regularly just for my own edification mostly.

However, I monitor my BP's weight loss during her (yearly) winter fast to ensure she's in good health. To be clear, when she's brumating, and in fast (synonymous), I weigh her every 3 months or so (2x a fast usually). I am more interested in body condition, urate and urine (still happening), etc.

I weigh so I can answer these threads on BP.net :).

I also tend to weigh less the older a snake gets and the slower their growth. Younger snakes, who are potentially more vulnerable to hiccups, I weigh more often.

I don't take snakes out to weigh and don't do it daily, etc. That's not helpful for anyone. I usually just make it part of some of the cleaning routines. I always weigh dry/empty and again, not every movement, etc.

I also weigh when establishing an increase in food size. Yes, I generally go by body size and type of snake, however, if unsure, I have weight of snake/weight prey guidelines I won't exceed (again species dependent). My visual gauging isn't great. In general I suffer from a lack of spacial thinking capacity. I have trouble with puzzles, judging size, etc. I use weight as a tool.

Finally, if I am concerned about a snake, I will weigh occasionally, over a long period to determine if indeed there is a need for concern. I weighed Behira (female BI) more when she was having her frequent shedding issues. She was still eating, but growing much slower, and I was told my vets and hobbyists alike, not to worry unless she lost weight over a few months. That never happened, and she came through fine, but it gave me peace of mind.

I guess it's to each his/her own. If it's not hurting the animal, not a big deal. Weighing occasionally seems pretty harmless to me. However, if it's obsessive, like anything else, no good for anyone.

I typically weigh all my animals once a month, more if in quarantine, up to a year and then weigh if/when I have some kind of concern. I do this just to monitor growth especially with smaller species that don't show big gains in a short amount of time. Take my Spotted Python for example, that little guy is growing, but so slow that if I didn't weigh him I wouldn't be able to see it. So I do it initially to track growth, and for my peace of mind. To each there own, but I agree with Dakski, I don't see an issue weighing BUT when it becomes an obsession, the "my BP only gained 50 grams this month but last month he gained 45, he must have an RI!" type mindsets aren't helpful for anyone.

I think weighing is useful to novice keepers too inexperienced to judge body condition. I posted a picture of my bp on this forum seeking advice on a swelling near his cloaca. Several keepers responded that my bp was seriously underweight. I hadn't noticed. My bp died within weeks. Had I noticed his weight loss, I may have sought help sooner. Before I get a new snake, I'm getting a scale.

Weighing definitely seems to help new keepers and it helps people here trying to help because at that point you're talking apples to apples rather than one talking about say prey size. A new keeper might look at all the online prey sizes and be completely confused because this company sells rat pups of this size but their care guide talks like rats pups are bigger than the company sells. New keeper might be like a rat pup is a rat pup but the pups could be too small. If an experienced keeper gives an actual numerical range, it's easier for a new keeper to follow that exactly. Especially if the experienced keeper can't show what the size of their rat pups are or the new keeper has problems dealing with sizes. Everyone learns differently though so multiple ways is better.

I personally weigh my snakes a lot but it's definitely more for me. I'm a data nerd. I've even made growth charts for my snakes. They don't seem to mind being weighed and if they start showing signs of stress, I'll stop. I'll probably stop once they get up to adult sizes too but it's just so fun to watch them grow in my mind. It also helps me understand them more. You can see when they've processed a large amount of food (big poop) or when they've shed. All by just weight. I just find it fascinating.

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