how much should it weigh?

Ok, i just weihghed my 1.5 month old bp and she is 39.5 grams is that enough or is she skinny?:confused:

Does she look skinny?
I've seen a lot of these threads today. It all depends on your feeding schedule and prey size. If she seems healthy and plump (not obese), then she probably is. There is no definitive number that correlates to health.

well she hasnt eaten but one pinky since ive had her and she doesnt look that skinny but im just wondering if there is like an average weight and if so is she good or too skinny i know they can go for a while without eating, but thats if they are healthy so im just wondering if thats a healthy weight i guess?

Pinkies are too small for bp's. Their higher fat content also makes them less healthy.
Go with fuzzies or hoppers.

That sounds pretty small, like right out of the egg small. When I first got my hatchling (about a few weeks after it was hatched) it weighed around 70g.

Can you tell us about your setup? Maybe we can help you get her to start eating regularly for you.

A picture of your setup would work as well.

post a pic of your snake and we could give you better answers

39.5 grams? Correct me if Im wrong, oh wiser and all knowing bp Vets, but isnt the average weight of a HATCHLING like 50-80 gms? 40 gms sounds really small for a 1.5 mth old.

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Originally Posted by pavlovk1025

39.5 grams? Correct me if Im wrong, oh wiser and all knowing bp Vets, but isnt the average weight of a HATCHLING like 50-80 gms? 40 gms sounds really small for a 1.5 mth old.

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thats what i was thinking...:weirdface

Our hatchlings are usually 55-70g.

39g does seem very small,at over a month old and you really need to get it feeding on small mice asap.

Ive seen twin hatchlings weigh that much straight out of the egg!!

I agree, 39 grams is VERY small for a 1.5 month old. Have you contacted the breeder yet, or was this a pet store purchase?

Can you share how you have this baby housed? Size of enclosure, temps, how you read the temps, size of hides, how often you handle it, etc?

39.5 is small. If she's 1.5 months old and has only eaten a pinky, then that would be the cause, pinkys are way too small, and a lot of snakes wont take food if they're not the appropriate size. Reason being is I feed my anaconda adult mice, and I was trying to work out a feeding schedule with my rufous beaked snake, and he wouldn't eat his pinkys, well he ate all but one, and so instead of throwing it away(was f/t), I tried to feed it to my anaconda, and she just looked at me like I was stupid. Try something bigger, and she should take it.

i have her in a 20L glass cage, she has two hides (im pretty sure they are zilla small rock hides), a large waterbowl, temps daytime are 90/80 nighttime 87/78 and the only reason the temps drop is cause im using a dimmer switch for my light(60w red bulb) and im not up at 3am when the temp drops 3 more degrees. i hav e a accu-rite thermometer the one with humidity and a probe for outside temps, i havent handled her in probably 3weeks cause i have been trying to get her to eat something and she hasnt even seemed interested in food even when i offered f/t fuzzies. i think thats everything.

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Originally Posted by SnkChrmr650

i have her in a 20L glass cage, she has two hides (im pretty sure they are zilla small rock hides), a large waterbowl, temps daytime are 90/80 nighttime 87/78 and the only reason the temps drop is cause im using a dimmer switch for my light(60w red bulb) and im not up at 3am when the temp drops 3 more degrees. i hav e a accu-rite thermometer the one with humidity and a probe for outside temps, i havent handled her in probably 3weeks cause i have been trying to get her to eat something and she hasnt even seemed interested in food even when i offered f/t fuzzies. i think thats everything.

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Have you only tried F/T? When they're young it's a good idea to get them consistent on live first.

yes i have only tried f/t i was thinking about feeding live but wasnt sure if i should. what size should i use?

Id say a mouse fuzzy or hopper for a 1.5 mth old. Anybody else's thoughts?

But yeah dude totally go for live then transition to pre-killed and then f/t over time. Hope I helped, good luck!

ill definately try that! if just ried feeding her last night is it ok to try again tonight or should i wait and how long should i wait?

39.5 Grams! Wow that is a little BP

If have only been trying F/T I personally would try again as soon as I could with Live. You need to get that little snake eating. I personally would try a Live Fuzzy and do it at night when the lights go off they get a little more secure when they don't feel they can be seen. The movement, Heat, and smell of a live fuzzy will give more feeding response triggers to your baby...

Can you post some pics of this little baby and your setup?

I'd also recommend that you at least consider setting it up in a six quart shoebox tub until you get it eating consistently. A 20 gallon tank for such a wee baby may be very overwhelming to the baby, and can contribute to the food refusal (as well as most hatchlings do not take f/t as their first meals).

ok i just actually took my baby to the vet cause i was worried about her and the vet told me that i should feed her pinkies due to her size but even as skinny as she is a pinky just looks too small am i crazy? she also told me not to do live as its too risky but do fuzzies even have teeth? P.S. they force feed her so she has eaten now and i think she has some meds in her too to stimulste her feeding, they also gave her fluids as they said she was dehydrated could this be due to the humidity being in the 39-45 range?

Get a new vet, and give the poor baby a LIVE rodent as big around as the widest part of the snake. That is the rule of thumb. For a baby ball, that is usually a fuzzy rat, or hopper mouse. It's important not to handle her, and to get her feeding asap, hatchlings can go downhill fast without food.

Forget the meds they gave her, if the sole purpose is to stimulate her appetite. These things don't work. Verify first that this was the sole purpose, and it's not a medication for something actually diagnosed, such as an infection or parasite infestation (which would have required a fecal exam to detect, so if you didn't give the vet a fecal sample, the vet should not be de-worming your snake). I would ask what the vet actually gave her. I worry your vet may have given her something stupid like an injection of flagyl--antiparasite meds can add stress to the body of an already weakened snake. Hydration is very important--get your humidity levels up to 60 to 80% and make sure the snake has fresh water at all times. Hatchlings can dehydrate easily. Make sure the cage has a 90F basking area and is 80F on the other end--this gradient is very important. Use a thermostat if you need to, to keep the temperatures stable.

I personally would consider your little snake to be in serious condition, and perhaps worse for some of what the vet may have done to her. Force-feeding is terribly stressful for snakes. Wait 5 days after a force-feeding before offering her food again.

www.arav.com is a good place to find reputeable reptile veterinarians. Bad vets who don't know reptiles well can kill even a healthy animal with bad advice. It's less common these days, but it still happens (clearly). Any vet who thinks a live fuzzy rat can harm a snake is not a vet you should be using.

Put that tiny baby in a smaller enclosure and get some REALLY small hides that the snake barely fits into.

If your snake isn't eating, first thing I would suspect is husbandry. If it doesn't feel safe where it lives, it isn't going to eat.

I don't reallt think this is a matter of feeding live or F/T at the moment.

the vet i took her to is the only all exotic vet in my area which sucks if they are giving me bad advice! the meds were purely to stimulate appetite not to de-worm they gave me a cup to get a poo sample as soon as she pooed out what they force feed her. i have a 15qt sterilite is that still too big? any suggestions on small hides i got some small gladware bowls but they are kinda tall should i cut them in half?

does anyone know of a good vet in the raleigh/durham NC area?

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Originally Posted by SnkChrmr650

the vet i took her to is the only all exotic vet in my area which sucks if they are giving me bad advice! the meds were purely to stimulate appetite not to de-worm they gave me a cup to get a poo sample as soon as she pooed out what they force feed her. i have a 15qt sterilite is that still too big? any suggestions on small hides i got some small gladware bowls but they are kinda tall should i cut them in half?

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I have never heard of an "appetite stimulant" for bps.

a 15qt would be fine. I would cut the hides in half to make them more of a tight fit.

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Originally Posted by SnkChrmr650

does anyone know of a good vet in the raleigh/durham NC area?

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Call NC State School of Veterinary Medicine and the NC Zoo Reptile Department and ask them who they recommend in your area. Check with your local Herp Society and ask them as well.

You can also check the link provided above.

As for small hides - go to Home Depot/Lowes/Walmart and buy a few small plastic flower pot water saucers and get a $10 solder wand while you're there. You can solder out an entrance to make nice tight hides.

This is a 15 quart tub that I set up for a baby:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...ub/BabyTub.jpg

After that picture, I replaced the green hide with an identical flower pot saucer hide on the other side.

There IS a baby under there:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e9...b/PretzelA.jpg

After you get the baby set up in that enclosure, leave it alone for a week (no handling) and then drop in a live small mouse hopper into the enclosure (or rat fuzzy) and walk away. Check back in 1/2 an hour. If the prey isn't eaten, remove it and wait another 5 days (I feed hatchlings every 5 days).

Good luck!

ok well the only uth i have is on the bottom of my current 20L glass tank and i have no way of getting one till monday night i have the tub setup except for heat and by the time i get the uth for the tub it will be five days after the force feeding. What should i do? should i just leave her in the 20L or is there another way to heat my tub?

You can't take off the UTH and put it under the tub?

I would leave her in the 20L until you have the appropriate heat source for the tub.

As for feeding, I would start her off with some fuzzies and then move up to hoppers. The fuzzies won't hurt her, they barely move and usually don't even have their eyes open. After she's eaten a few of those, I would try to switch to hoppers. I was told to start feeding my baby BP hoppers so I tried that, but she acted like she was terrified of the hopper so I had to remove him and let him free outside lol. I kept her on fuzzies for a while and now she's been chomping hoppers like they're going out of style. She's also finally put on some weight.

I bought her in early May and it's taken her a good 2 months to get used to her surroundings and not be terrified when I walk into the room. She was not CH bred though.

Where did you purchase this snake?

i can remove it from the tank but i need some where to put her and keep her warm while that happens so im kinda in a catch 22! im going against the vet and getting live fuzzies for the next feeding attempt (the vet told me to feed her f/t pinkies cause the fuzzies were too big but they honestly look a little small themselves so i think fuzzy is the way to go. as for where i got her i got her at a local pet show about 8 wks ago and didnt know enough to ask some important questions about her such as if she had been fed!

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Originally Posted by elevenphoenix

I was told to start feeding my baby BP hoppers so I tried that, but she acted like she was terrified of the hopper so I had to remove him and let him free outside lol.

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not to get too off topic, but this is an incredibly poor practice. domestically bred rats and mice do not belong outside. they can pass diseases and parasites back and forth to wild rodent populations, among other things.

if a reptile dosen't eat a live rodent you have a few much more acceptable options:

- take the rodent back to the store, assuming they will take the rodent back
- hold onto the rodent until the next feeding attempt
- rehome the rodent to a pet home
- give the rodent to another snake of yours (assuming the originally fed snake was not in quarantine)
- give the rodent to a friend who also owns reptiles who can feed it off.

hope this can help!

and to the OP

I had a baby who i picked up who had NEVER fed before i got her (brand new hatchling). I have her in a 15q tub. I first offered her a live small adult mouse/big hopper mouse. It took her about 45 minutes but she finally got the idea. The important thing for her was the movement. After 2 live feedings I successfully switched her over to F/T. It is do-able, dont worry.

I'd recommend a quality thermostat and a plastic enclosure. 6q or 15q tubs are great. Flexwatt or an UTH are good heaters. If you're looking for a good, affordable thermostat a Johnson Controls or Ranco wont burn your bank too much and they're more reliable than a dimmer.

make sure the enclosure is in a low traffic area that isnt disturbed. give her some time to settle in, and try offering a live hopper.

is there any good way to heat a tub other than a uth?

Flexwatt. but if you are just heating one tub, a UTH is more practical.

In an emergency, a human heating pad (without an automatic shutoff! these can be hard to find these days). It needs to be controlled by a thermostat, just as a UTH does, though.

You can also pick up a cheap heat rope from Big Apple Herp on the web. Those work great, I have one that I use for quarantine on occasion.

Well after all of the craziness my little baby FINALLY ATE! It took a live hopper, i believe of the rat variety, but im super relieved! Thanks for all of your advice its been very helpful! :gj::gj::gj::banana::banana: