Looks like I got the biggest of the bunch

[Hydrolicious]

So I took a trip to the reptile specialty shop that I bought my pastel at tonight for some rats, and while I was there I noticed what I thought were month or so old hatchlings(they're reputable for breeding most of their reptiles, ball pythons especially) - which were in fact some of the fellow offspring from last summer my lil' guy lived with for a bit.

For the record, my male pastel was born on May 31st of the year 2011, which makes him about only 8 months old. He's almost exactly 3 feet long(off by an inch or so as he's the length of my tank) and 2 1/2 inches around most of his body. Seeing as I've heard they sexually mature around 2-3 years, he's still got a lot of growing time, in addition to the lifetime of minuscule yet progressive growth as well. I haven't weighed him since early January, but then he was around 2 1/2 feet long and somewhere just above 450 grams.

What I was stumped by, was the fact that what were supposed to be males and females of the same age(some of which I got to see up close as some purchases were made tonight) were significantly smaller than he is(likely, by a close eyeball estimate, a quarter around at the thickest and anywhere from 18-23 inches). I mentioned this to the clerk on duty at the counter, and he said that sounded unusual that mine was so large. Is this just a case of fast growth, or do I sense malnourished snakes?

[The Serpent Merchant]

Sounds like they aren't feeding them enough to me. But business is business.

[satomi325]

Snakes don't stop growing just because they hit sexual maturity.
Males can be sexual mature at just a few months old, where as a female will be receptive at around 2+ years of age.

Growth is dependent on food. If they're eating mice or rats. And then there's the size of food given and how often.

For example, a snake feeding on mice pups every 2 weeks will be smaller than a snake of the same age eating small rats once a week.

If the smaller snakes look full bodied and not emaciated, then they're probably just small. Or your snake is just really well fed.

And sometimes different snakes just grow at different rates.
My black pastel's clutch mate was double her size when I purchased her. They were eating the same diet at the same rate, but her growth was just slower. Ironically, she's now one of my fastest growing balls. shes growing like a weed

[Taxiballbreeder]

Sounds like they aren't feeding them enough to me. But business is business.

x2,Found that out at a Expo last year. I traded off one of my snakes to pick up a Hypo RTB and she was quite small but really wanted one so what the heck trade her right. Well later in the day another breeder at the same expo showed me a hypo from the same clutch and wow what a difference. Some don't feed as much as others to keep their costs down. Buisness is business though and I sure don't want others telling me what to do in my business even though it seems so wrong for the animal. Just my 2 cents......

[Hydrolicious]

Snakes don't stop growing just because they hit sexual maturity.
Males can be sexual mature at just a few months old, where as a female will be receptive at around 2+ years of age.

Growth is dependent on food. If they're eating mice or rats. And then there's the size of food given and how often.

For example, a snake feeding on mice pups every 2 weeks will be smaller than a snake of the same age eating small rats once a week.

If the smaller snakes look full bodied and not emaciated, then they're probably just small. Or your snake is just really well fed.

And sometimes different snakes just grow at different rates.
My black pastel's clutch mate was double her size when I purchased her. They were eating the same diet at the same rate, but her growth was just slower. Ironically, she's now one of my fastest growing balls. shes growing like a weed

They didn't really look full to me, but then again they didn't look too thin.

I feed mine every 5-7 days, typically small rats around 70-80 grams. I could probably up him to medium rats, but right now he seems to be doing great. He's got quite the surplus of body fat & muscle.