Why Weigh

Why does everyone seem so concerned about the weight of their snake? Just curious.

It helps you know how your animal is progressing.. easier to go back to.. gee for instance, my boa was only 74g when he came here, and now hes 315g. I know hes "grown" but not exactly how much.. If there is a problem and you notice your snake doesnt look so good, you can refer back to the most recent weight and see if the animal has lost any weight. Just a great way to monitor growth IMO. Every creature in this house gets weighed on a fairly regular basis.

I agree with Ashley, I think the most important reason to weigh my snake is to measure progress, and if he should go off feed - I can easily monitor his weight loss should it occur and have records ready for the vet if I need them. There is a sense of pride when you know your young snake is putting on weight consistently.

Oh and weight is relevant to breeding, especially for females which are best to be a certain weight before breeding.

yeah, butno female like her weight to be known :)

sorry, couldn't resist

ok is 121 g too little for a 10 month old male red tail?

thats really small... my red tail is about 6mos old and he weighs 315g. He eats an appropriate size meal every 7-8 days... pictures would be helpful to tell whether or not your snake is *too* small.. Every animal is different, sharing your set-up, frequency of feeding, how long it is, exc. There are alot of factors to be considered... and heres the kicker... if you havnt had previous weights you have NO IDEA what kind of growth pattern the snake has had prior. Sorry had to throw that in there, weights IMO is up there with proper husbandry, feeding, exc in importance.

OK I bought the snake in March, breeder says he was born 7/27/07. Since I've had him, he has fed fuzzy mice once a week. He hasn't shed since I got him. His hot spot is 92 with a ambient of 82. He's approximately 20 inches long. What scales work best for reptiles?

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...boa3_thumb.jpg

I use a regular household scale that weighs in grams, I got it at Target for about $30. Fuzzy mice are a bit small.. ours eats a regular size mouse weekly. How do you know it weighs 121? Its very pretty but going by the picture looks small for being almost a year old.

Follow this thread, it shows pictures of the scale I use.
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...149#post791149

i have a food type scale from walmart, it measures in grams...
i dont remember how much it was...
uhh... yeahhh =]

=]

I used a postal scale. He weighed in at 4.3 ounces and I converted the weights. Breeder said he was eating fuzzy mice and I haven't pushed him to anything larger. Based on how he takes it, it seemed appropiate.

Well generally you shouldnt up a snakes prey size if its about the size of the girth of the snake. However, you have to expect the snake to grow in its first year of life, thus needing a bigger size prey (fuzzy mice are REALLY REALLY small).. common sense would tell you that. How long have you had the snake, as a snake grows it sheds, to think it hasnt shed since you got it would be concerning if you have had it several months, after all (again) it is a baby and should be growing. It all comes back to the importance behind weighing your animals and i cant stress that enough, please make note of this weight so you can refer back to it in a couple weeks and have something to go by. How is its behavior? Have you ever had the snake see a vet and make sure it doesnt have any internal parasites or anything? Even if a snake is given small meals it should be growing *some*. I hope that helps a little bit

I've had him only slightly more than a month, approx 4/7/08. This is my first boa so I don't know what to expect as far as growth rate. He appears healthy, thermoregulates well, and eats well. He is very docile and doesn't show no signs of stress when I handle him. There is,was some concern about RI at the beginning, but both a vet and the breeder say no signs of mucus or other RI signs. Just a slightly distended throat. No parasite check has been done.

Well, its better news that you havnt had him long.. I know sometimes when i get animals from my breeder they are a bit on the thin side and it generally doesnt take long for them to plump up. Now knowing you havnt had the animal long I wouldnt be too concerned. Just really keep a log of its weight and you will be in great shape :gj: You having the animal such a short time makes a big difference.. its very pretty btw

Curious, did the vet say anything about its throat being distended? I have never heard of that before. Did you get the animal from a decent breeder? I would have him/her tested for parasites to be on the safe side if your concerned about weight, thats a biggy. Still IMO 121 is a bit small for an almost yearling, but i certainly dont know everything about them. Hopefully some other members can chime in.

Actually his distended throat was brought to my attention through another forum. The breeder is CV Exotics out of NH and have a great reputation. After the vet diagnosed him as fine, the breeder wanted to check him out. He opened his mouth and found no problems. Bwst guess is that a prey item scratched his throat. Feeding only f/t so I don't how.

A fuzzy mouse does seem terribly small for a young and fast growing snake like a boa. For me, with my admitted limited boa experience, I still can't imagine how a boa can do more than basic maintenance on that little amount of prey. Our BP hatchlings are going straight to rat pinks which are about the equivalent of fuzzy mice weight wise and they are under 100 grams and newly hatched snakes.

When we raised our male BCI, Severus, up he was on adult mice before we even received him in at a few months in age and then went over quickly to rat pups, then weans and so forth as he required a larger prey item to match his growth.

The BCI we are currently fostering is an 07 and easily takes down one or two good sized rat pups or one rat wean per week. She's considerably heavier than yours is and showing the typical fast growth of a young boa.

OK Iknow the rule of thumb is not to feed any larger than the snakes' widest point. I notice a lot of threads were peeps refer to a rule of feeders that are 10% of the snake's weight. Is that also proper?

Well today he looked hungry, ie moving around a lot, staying at the front of the cage, peeping out. So I measured and weighed a ft adult mice. Weight was a little heavy, but size was real close. I thawed it out, and offered it to him. He grabbed it immediately. He downed it quickly, almost looked like he wanted more, then went back to his heat source to digest.

Glad to hear you offered a larger meal.. one thing i do know is Jaxson (And boas in general) will eat as long as you feed them. Its a good way to get an overweight snake. I would stick to what your doing by feeding once a week. Upping prey size was a great move too :D I go by the rule "leave a slight bump in the snake" or slightly larger then the widest point. Getting a regurge is certainly NOT what you want!

OK one last question on this topic. I just got a shipment of FT fuzzys. Should I just feed multiples or see if I can get rid of the package and feed small adults? Which is better for the snake? I know it's probably a common sense question, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

I personally would feed adult mice, feeding multiples would kinda seem silly to me but if you have to use them up then what choice do you really have?

Saw the vet today and he did a complete physical on him. He found nothing wrong. He feels that it edema (sp?). Basically when the snake eats too large a prey, it blocks some arteries in his body, which releases after the mouse travels down his throat. He advices to stay with fuzzy, even feeding multiplies until the snake increases in size.

I am pretty sure the larger mice would be perfectly fine. I would probably just feed multiples of the fuzzies until they are gone though. I have done that before.

at least you had it checked out by a vet :) cant wait to hear how he grows, good luck