Too thin?

Good morning! I’m coming for help after a recent vet checkup left me (and the vet) with more questions than answers. BP’s vet said that she wants him to weigh about 500 grams (he was ~400 at the time of the appointment) but when I asked how to help him gain the weight, she just… reiterated that she had no idea, no suggestions, no comments on his current diet, etc.

My BP is around three years old, and eating a small rat every other week (when he decides to eat, he’s a picky baby) which the vet said she thinks is what he’s supposed to be eating at his age. I know the default idea would be to feed him more often, but he doesn’t take to a “once a week” diet, and I worry about trying to feed him bigger portions because everything I’ve found says the largest male BP’s are meant to go is small rats. He also weighed in at about 370 grams when I weighed him yesterday (he’s been on a bit of a hunger strike) despite having just as much energy as ever, still I’m concerned what it means if he’s underweight, I’d REALLY hate to be depriving him of food and comfortable health.

TLDR: vet says my BP needs to gain 100+ grams in weight, said she had no idea how I would do this, so now *I* have no idea how I would do this. Please help?

Can we see photos of him?
Is this an exotic specialist vet? It doesn't really sound like it if they have no idea on how to help...

Honestly the only time a ball python should be hefty or thick is breeding females or growing babies before a growth spurt.
A lot of people let them become obese.

And while I agree that he sounds very small for a 3 year old, it's still something that it's better seen than just agreed upon.
And the 'largest males eat small rats' always amused me because my oldest male outsized and outweighs all of my
females currently at over 3000g and almost 5 feet long. He gets a medium every 2-3 weeks. Hahah

Tough to say if a ball python is too thin from its weight. Assessing its body condition is better. Here is a chart to help you.
https://i.imgur.com/nvYf16S.jpg
Post a pic and we'll be happy to give you our opinions.

Also... How are you judging your rat sizes? How much do the rats you are feeding him weigh?

Different distributors have different weights but they tend to be fairly close.... One of the frozen feeder vendors have 45.00 - 84.99 grams listed for small rats. Most of those are far too large to feed a snake of that size...

You know there IS something between feeding "every week" & every two weeks". You might try offering every 10-11 days & see if he takes it. But some snakes just have their own idea about when they want to eat, & most of the time, a little "light" is better (healthier) than a little "heavy".

Bear in mind that we're not seeing your snake at all, so it's always possible that your vet has a different idea about what a healthy BP looks like? I do find it odd that your vet says she has no idea how to make him gain weight...??? :confusd: Silly question, but is she very experienced (qualified) with exotics, & snakes in particular, or is she just a vet that's willing to see all creatures & do the best she can? It matters.

But assuming she's right, did she do a stool check??? If not, it would be a good idea to get one done. Most vets- when they've just seen your snake- can do a stool check without seeing your snake again- just ask & drop off a FRESH stool sample when you get one. (Disregard this if you already had the stool checked for this recent exam.) One thing that commonly keeps a snake from gaining weight is internal parasites- ie. "worms" -that they can catch from eating live prey, even if that was "ages ago".

Another thing- a "picky snake" might be one that's breeding age, sure, but could also be one that's not being kept warm enough. What are the temps* in your snake's home- how are you measuring them? How warm is the room he's in, & what's the photoperiod? (Snakes sense shorter days in winter & take a cue to eat less- so if you provide more "daylight" in the room, it might help his appetite. See?)

I love that by the time I posted my response, the "BP team" was already all over this. :D

Unfortunately I genuinely don’t know how to add photos on here :(

The vet is advertised as an exotic vet but I’m not the biggest fan of them (I boarded him there once, they turned off his heating… every night… in the middle of winter. I don’t board him there anymore) but unfortunately options for exotic vets are incredibly limited in my area, this one is already over an hour away. But I digress

Would you recommend trying to feed him bigger/more often then? He’s not particularly long, maybe 2.5 feet. I’m just genuinely so lost on what to do, I worry about keeping him happy and healthy

I buy from arctic mice and get their “small rats”, should I be looking for new feeders as well?

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures

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Originally Posted by PecanPied

Unfortunately I genuinely don’t know how to add photos on here :(

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This thread should help you: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures.

I honestly feel like the weight makes no sense if he's eating the artic mice 'small rats' and is 2.5 feet. Which is about the length of one of my 2 year old males on sm. Rats.

I have 6 months old snakes that are shorter and weigh more.
I wish I was at home this weekend to run some quick weights on my babies as comparison.

There's really not a way for me to judge any other way to go from here except as Bogertophis suggested and get a fecal done. I can't really suggest more without photos to see the body condition

I’ll apologize in advance for the scattered responses, and I appreciate everyone’s help SO so so much

Vet: the vet states that it’s an exotic pet veterinarian, one of only two that I’ve found within hours of me and I’ve had extremely horrific experience with the second, so I’ve been made to settle for this. Based in responses and looking back on our experiences, I may begin looking for any exotic vets even if they are a few hours out because I’m worried.

Vet appointment: she did ask for a stool check and it came back completely clean, no concerns at all

Feeding: he eats a small rat from “arctic mice” every other weeks. At this point, I’m looking into trying a closer feeding schedule, per forum suggestions. I was initially told by (prior vet) that I had to put him on every other week because “more time between feedings makes them live longer and healthier”. Typing it out, I’m realizing I should have asked questions much sooner.

Photos: I’m currently on my phone (at work), could someone tell me how to add photos to these posts? Thank you :)

Temperature: he has a warm side and cool side, one in the 80’s and one in the 70’s

Again, I really am thankful for *everyone* who’s commented. I know this is all very basic knowledge, but I really really appreciate anyone taking the time (and patience!) to explain. My prior BP passed in a rather traumatic fashion, so I’ve been particularly wrapped up in trying to avoid anything less than “the ideal” for my current BP. Hence… the everything about this

Here are some recent photos I have of Pecan (BP), thank you for everyone's patience
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...=att&disp=safe
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...0&sz=w954-h943

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ui=...=att&disp=safe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PecanPied

...Photos: I’m currently on my phone (at work), could someone tell me how to add photos to these posts? Thank you :)

Temperature: he has a warm side and cool side, one in the 80’s and one in the 70’s...

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Photos can wait until later when you're off work, not to worry. (& that ^ ^ ^ didn't work- we cannot see them)

From this info ^ ^ ^ I'd guess that IF he's actually too thin (& we're not sure about that yet), but if he is, it might be that he's not warm enough to have a good appetite & process his food better. The temps. you want should roughly be 78* lowest & 90* highest- a snake's metabolism & appetite totally depends up heat provided & it sounds like yours might be too cool. ;) Hey, this happens in nature too, so don't melt-down- you can fix this. Okay? :)

The quick and dirty way for me to add photos is to post them on imgur. Once it's on imgur, copy the .jpg URL link and use the photo insert in the post options. It will ask for the URL.

I might not get back to this right away as I'm about to leave my hotel room at a convention. So busy and no reception... But someone else will be sure to reply and I'll check back with thoughts later too

Thank you so much! I got to a computer and put some photos in the thread, I'm going to work on his temperature as well

Edit: here's the photos on flickr, I'm fighting for my life on this I swear
https://flic.kr/p/2pqKzQN

https://flic.kr/p/2pqCH5y


https://flic.kr/p/2pqK85c

https://flic.kr/p/2pqKzQN

https://flic.kr/p/2pqCH5y

https://flic.kr/p/2pqK85c

This is about the best I can do for photos, I REALLY hope these work. They're all pretty recent, I tried to find ones that show off his body.

I don't see that you have anything to panic about. So, any changes you make should be gradual. Temps should be increased one degree at a time over hours or even days. Use your heat gun frequently to test. Same with feeding. If you decide to shorten the interval between feedings, do so gradually. It seems to me that you're doing things just about right. Little tweaks will get you there. Dramatic changes are likely to cause problems.

What he said ^ ^ ^ ! :) Easy does it, be patient- this is not an emergency, just somethings you can & should adjust.

Thank you again to everyone, I'll be keeping this all in mind and will start making gradual changes to improve :)

I definitely think he is a bit thin, but I agree it's not an emergency.

I think the suggestion of trying to see if he'll take meals a little closer together may help. But I wouldn't really try sizing up rats because small rats should still be fine for him.