The weigh in...i'm shocked

[evan385]

Well I just weighed my ball pythons Captain Hook and Ivan. Ivan who is six months old came in at 178 grams, i'm not as surprised because he's only six months old and he was malnourished when I got him. At two feet and only eating hoppers and the lady said she had upped his food size recently. Well Captain Hook is what shocks me the most. She is one year and the months old and she came in at a whopping.....288 grams. The brother of the friend who I got her from said he didn't feed her at all for at least three months straight. And looking back, she wasn't much bigger than a hatchling when I got her at six months old. I'm thinking he only fed her a couple times or few times and then got bored and didn't feed her for the whole rest of the time, either that or he only feed her a few times during the entire six months but not all in the beginning. Plus she broke her jaw at ten months and wouldn't eat for a whole two months. So my guess is that she's only had about six months of actual growth time. What can I do to pack on weight other than to put her on a five day schedule?

[Kinra]

What are you feeding now and how often? At 288g she could easily take a weaned rat. Just aim to feed 10-15% of her body weight once every 4-5days and she'll pack on weight in no time.

[BallsUnlimited]

just feed her an appropriate sized meal based on her size and feed every 5 days. and shell be fine. shes going to grow at her own pace.

[Atherosdragon]

it's not the size of the meal mine are growing like weeds just keep it on a schedule if they refuse check the box "not fed/date" and try next week

[evan385]

it's not the size of the meal mine are growing like weeds just keep it on a schedule if they refuse check the box "not fed/date" and try next week

She's never refused a meal for me except for when she broke her jaw and until this week when she went into blue. And i've always fed her a mouse as big around as the biggest part of her body until about a month ago when I switched her to small rats that are about 70-80 grams. And she eats every seven days. I've heard even at six months old with regular feeding and an appropriate sized rodent they are usually 400-500 grams which is the amount of her life that she has eaten an appropriate sized rodent, every week. Maybe she's just a slow grower. I'll put her on a five day schedule and see if that helps.

[Kinra]

She's never refused a meal for me except for when she broke her jaw and until this week when she went into blue. And i've always fed her a mouse as big around as the biggest part of her body until about a month ago when I switched her to small rats that are about 70-80 grams. And she eats every seven days. I've heard even at six months old with regular feeding and an appropriate sized rodent they are usually 400-500 grams which is the amount of her life that she has eaten an appropriate sized rodent, every week. Maybe she's just a slow grower. I'll put her on a five day schedule and see if that helps.

If you are feeding her 70-80g rats every 7 days and I've been doing this for a month, I would imagine she was very small when you switched to small rats. You should consider having a fecal exam done on her, she might have a parasite which is contributing to her slow growth.

[evan385]

If you are feeding her 70-80g rats every 7 days and I've been doing this for a month, I would imagine she was very small when you switched to small rats. You should consider having a fecal exam done on her, she might have a parasite which is contributing to her slow growth.

Well that's a bit of an exaggeration. She's only eaten two of them and before that she ate two small gerbils. Which give her a very good sized bulge. She's about as big around as your first finger touching your thumb just past the knuckle, and the rats are as big around as same thing but first finger on your thumb nail. She's actually grown quite noticeably since the first gerbil. I'm thinking Critter Barn was wrong about how the rat should be slightly smaller than the biggest part of her body and that it should give her a good sized bulge. Oh boy how much will that cost? It cost me $65 from the petsmart vet (starts with a B can't remember the name) just for the exam and some antibiotics when she broke her jaw. Know any good vets in the Knoxville area that won't cost me an arm and a leg?

[Kinra]

Well that's a bit of an exaggeration. She's only eaten two of them and before that she ate two small gerbils. Which give her a very good sized bulge. She's about as big around as your first finger touching your thumb just past the knuckle, and the rats are as big around as same thing but first finger on your thumb nail. She's actually grown quite noticeably since the first gerbil. I'm thinking Critter Barn was wrong about how the rat should be slightly smaller than the biggest part of her body and that it should give her a good sized bulge. Oh boy how much will that cost? It cost me $65 from the petsmart vet (starts with a B can't remember the name) just for the exam and some antibiotics when she broke her jaw. Know any good vets in the Knoxville area that won't cost me an arm and a leg?

Well, I wouldn't go rushing off to the vet just yet then. Watch her growth over the next month, mine typically gain 100-150g a month, but I feed 10-15% of their body weight every 5-7 days. If you don't see much growth next month then consider the fecal. Most vets will do a fecal exam with out a vet visit and where I live they cost about $25.

[evan385]

Well, I wouldn't go rushing off to the vet just yet then. Watch her growth over the next month, mine typically gain 100-150g a month, but I feed 10-15% of their body weight every 5-7 days. If you don't see much growth next month then consider the fecal. Most vets will do a fecal exam with out a vet visit and where I live they cost about $25.

Okay thank you Kinra. I just weighed the two frozen rats I have left and the one is 80 grams the other is 86 grams so the bigger one is almost 30% of her body weight. I will continue to feed her this size for now until I see some significant weight gain. If you feed 10-15% of body weight and they gain 100-150g a month, and i'm feeding her almost 30% of her body weight a week well if she hasn't gained at least 100 grams by next month i'll have a fecal exam done.