Growth Of A Ball

[DBacker65]

I recently got my first ball. He is a little over a foot long, I will measure him this evening. The breeder said he is about 4-5 months old.
I am wondering what the average amount of growth I can expect if he is a good eater (once a week)
How long does it take them to get 3-5 feet long? Is there an average amount I should expect per year or are they all a bit different?
He was by far the largest of the babies I got to pick from.

[steelsack]

Well, I've had mine for about six months now and he's grown a good six or seven inches. Girth is also quite larger. Save that first shed, it's fun to compare as he grows!
Not an expert on average growth here, but I guess that if I were to average my bp's growth rate it would be roughly an inch a month or so....but I believe they grow fast in the first year or two, then slow down. This seem about right to everybody else?


ooops forgot to mention he was about 4 months old when I got him.

[gozetec02]

I have had Jojo for 2 years and he is at about 34". Depending if you have a boy or a girl the length may vary. Girls get larger then boys. But in the first year of life you will see lots of growth. But you will notice a huge growth spirt when you switch to rats as feeders. Good luck.

[DBacker65]

Great Info as always, thanks.

Last night "Arnold" ate his first live mouse. I have decided to change his name to "Arnie after Arnold Schwartz..........

I did not see it happen, I left them both in a big plastic tub and came back an hour later to find a nice lump in his tummy :lol:

[steelsack]

Alright, I'm not jumping on you here, but someone's gonna say something sooner or later. Not saying you don't know what you're doing, or anything meant to be offensive, but it's kind of dangerous to leave your snake unattended with a live mouse. Many will go on and on about it being much safer to get them to take fresh killed or frozen thawed, which I myself practice. You may or may not know that a mouse can bite and do a lot of damage to a snake in no time flat and rats are even worse.
Please don't get offended, I just had to bring up that feeding live can get ugly real quick and a trip to the vet for bites that could have been avoided is a total drag. You may want to consider killing the food and using tongs to do the mouse dance. They still hit and constrict so it's still fun to watch and you won't risk a missing eye or bites to the face or anything unpleasant. Plus it's fun to be a puppeteer! :lol:

[RU_snake_guy]

i have fed my snake live mice, however, i hve killed the mice before. knuckles (my ball) is still interested in teh food if it is prekilled. i do not feed him f/t mice becuz for sum reason or another, he really doesnt eat them. i think he is attracted to the fresh smell and heat of a mouse that i have killed. i do on occasion feed him live mice and he seems to like it. i hope that within in a few months, he will be eating small rats. but he does eat good. i have found that i can measure him easily also by using hemp string that i make stuff out of and tracing it along his spine becuz he doesnt really like to stretch out straight. just a thought for everyone, becuz i couldnt download the snake measuring program thingy in teh downloads section. but i measure the string with a tape measure. so far, he is up to 29" and ive had him since jan. i do not know how old he was when i purchased him, but i do believe that he was still very young. thnx, hope sumone can use my input!

[maniac]

Live rats are a pain..They like to poop and pee everywhere

[RU_snake_guy]

Live rats are a pain..They like to poop and pee everywhere

lol, ill keep that in mind.

[gozetec02]

LOL when a rat enters my house its not pooping and peeing for too long. LOL

[maniac]

LOL when a rat enters my house its not pooping and peeing for too long. LOL

I hope not.. I would never want to breed my own rats.. I actualy think thats a big burden on my part and I'd rather take the trip to the petstore every week instead of housing tons of nasty poopy rodents