Ball python weight gain, is this normal?

[hungba]

I have several ball pythons. There is one female lesser that when I got her last year in mid November, she was 99 grams. She refused to eat under my care for 3 weeks, and as I posted in another thread, I gave her to a more experienced friend to get her eating again, I think that was about mid december that I gave it to him.

He got it to feed again right away with no problems, first couple meals live, then since she ate again, got her on F/T with no problems. He was feeding her MICE only, NOT rats, every 4 to 5 days, he told me. He said that as she grew bigger, he increased the mouse size. He didn't weigh the rodents but he said they got up to adult mice "about 40 grams". The last two meals before he gave her back to me, he got her to eat f/t RATS, as I requested he convert them to that for me.

Meanwhile I am feeding my other balls RATS of appropriate size every 5 days.

He gave the snake back to me about 2 and a half weeks ago (not sure exactly), and she has since taken 3 meals with me of f/t RATS of 45 grams every 5 - 6 days. She skipped today's meal.

The thing that worries me is, she seems to not have grown as much as my other balls, although I must say that those other balls are feisty eaters and fast growers. They are not exactly the same age but they seem "impression wise" to have grown more, and look "fatter". I weighed her today, and she was 308 grams, this is EMPTY weight, fed last 5 days ago. I didn't weight my other ones tonight because they just ate.

Should I be worried yet about that? She went from 99 grams to 308 grams from mid december 2011 to today (about 4 months), is that very little or ok? If its in the normal range of weight gain, then perhaps its just different environment at my friends house vs. my house different feeding etc.? Or he was feeding mice instead of rats?

[AK907]

I have noticed a big difference in growth between feeding mice and rats, even when they are both fed the same weight (ie 75g of rats seem to have more nutrition than 75g of mice). This is my experience and I know others will disagree, but in my experience it makes a big difference. He also might have been feeding her smaller meals than you are used to feeding your balls. However, 308g isn't too bad and I wouldn't worry just yet. If she was only 125g when you got her back, then I would worry. Just keep feeding her those rats and she will catch up.

[Simple Man]

I have noticed a big difference in growth between feeding mice and rats, even when they are both fed the same weight (ie 75g of rats seem to have more nutrition than 75g of mice). This is my experience and I know others will disagree, but in my experience it makes a big difference. He also might have been feeding her smaller meals than you are used to feeding your balls. However, 308g isn't too bad and I wouldn't worry just yet. If she was only 125g when you got her back, then I would worry. Just keep feeding her those rats and she will catch up.

I agree. It's not a huge amount of gain but considering she was going through a non-eating period and a conversion I don't think the weight is far off at all. Keep feeding her rats and she'll keep growing

Regards,

B

[hungba]

I agree. It's not a huge amount of gain but considering she was going through a non-eating period and a conversion I don't think the weight is far off at all. Keep feeding her rats and she'll keep growing

Regards,

B

The non-feeding period was BEFORE I gave it to him. It was only for 3 weeks. She started eating as soon as I gave it to him.

I guess the question is, would it be better to immediately assume a problem, or should I just try feeding her with rats for, say 4 more weeks, and see her weight gain before I come to any conclusions?

She's a little thinner looking than my other balls that I fed rats to, although she isn't very thin or anything, just less "rotund" and rounded, I guess.

Also, what would be considered a "normal" amount of weight gain during a period like this? I know there are variance between individual but just want to know if it is within range.

[AK907]

The non-feeding period was BEFORE I gave it to him. It was only for 3 weeks. She started eating as soon as I gave it to him.

I guess the question is, would it be better to immediately assume a problem, or should I just try feeding her with rats for, say 4 more weeks, and see her weight gain before I come to any conclusions?

She's a little thinner looking than my other balls that I fed rats to, although she isn't very thin or anything, just less "rotund" and rounded, I guess.

Also, what would be considered a "normal" amount of weight gain during a period like this? I know there are variance between individual but just want to know if it is within range.

I would say it would fall under "normal" weight gain, nothing to be concerned about. Some folks simply feed their snakes more conservatively than others and I would suspect this is what your friend did. I'm guessing that is the issue here. I would continue feeding her as you normally would and see how everything plays out. Chances are she will bulk right up with the rest of your balls. As long as she is eating well, I wouldn't worry. Got any pics of her?

[satomi325]

There isn't much a a growth standard. Every ball grows at their own rate.
I have 4 females that were all born within a month span. The youngest is by far the largest and twice as large as the rest. The oldest one is the smallest and hardly growing at all. They are all on the same feeding schedule and started on the same size prey.

As long as your snake doesn't look underfed or too skinny, I wouldn't worry about it too much. She's feeding regularly now, so that's good. She'll be as 'rounded' as your others soon enough.

[hungba]

I would say it would fall under "normal" weight gain, nothing to be concerned about. Some folks simply feed their snakes more conservatively than others and I would suspect this is what your friend did. I'm guessing that is the issue here. I would continue feeding her as you normally would and see how everything plays out. Chances are she will bulk right up with the rest of your balls. As long as she is eating well, I wouldn't worry. Got any pics of her?

I don't have a pic of her right now, so I will take a pic the day after tommorow as its very late here now and I have a full day tommorow. I'll probably give my balls that ate tonight a day and then take pics of all of my balls and upload them. I just realized that I had raised some balls and I never took any pics of them so I may as well start.

My friend told me that he did feed frequently, every 4 to 5 days he said. But he did use only mice until the very end. So maybe that's it. He also never weighed the mice exactly he just said "approx 40 grams" by eyeballing, so...

I guess we'll see. And thanks for all responses so far by the way.

[Bert Specht]

When I bought my male normal in oct 2011 he was 91 grams and on mice now he is 313g and on rats he is looking better after every feeding