Ball Python's Weight

[Caali]

Hi,

I have a Bumblebee ball python that was born at the end of February in 2017.
He eats small rats every five days (there was only one time that he didn't want to eat) but I'm still not sure about his weight. When I got him he was underweight (he was 4 months old and weighed 100g) and I was trying really hard to get him to put on some weight. His behaviour is only typical ball python behaviour and the temperatures in his terrarium are fine as well (hot side: 88°F - 92°F; cold side: 79°F - 82°F; average heat (in the middle of the terraium): 81°F - 86°C)
At the moment he weighs about 315 grams and is about 24 inches long. I will include a photo of him (even though you can't see his whole body) that I made when he was awake and the light in my room was on.
Do you think he is fine or does he look underweight?

Thanks for the help.

[tttaylorrr]

315g on small rats? are you sure they're actual small rats?

we'd need to see the snake fully stretched out to judge by a photo.

[Sunnieskys]

He should actually be on weaned rats but he looks perfectly healthy.

[Caali]

Thank you for the quick replies
Yes, I am absolutely sure they are are small rats. They are as big as the biggest part of his body and he can swallow them just fine with a bit of time. They are 2,7 inches long, 1,5 to 2 inches wide and weigh 22 grams.
I just bought them because the biggest adult mice I could find were too small for him but it took me a while to find ones that are good for his size.

I will try to take a better photo but I don't want to take him out at the moment because he is still sleeping.

[tttaylorrr]

22g rat is a rat pup. small rats weigh 50-89g

[Sunnieskys]

Small rats are 40-85g. Sounds like rat pups or weaned rats are what you have. You go by 10% of their body weight on how much to feed. So your snake should be eating something that is 31g

[Caali]

Sorry,
I changed the packing of the rats to the one I had the adult mice in because the other one was broken.
They weigh about 44 grams each (I just weighed them) and are about 4 inches long but I am absolutely sure that they are a good size for him.

[Caali]

Thank you for the response.
I never knew about the rule with the 10% of the body mass but he is my first ball python so I am only book smart. In the books I read it said to feed your ball python a prey as big as the biggest part of their body so I followed that rule and it seemed to work.
But thank you for the tip.

[tttaylorrr]

Thank you for the response.
I never knew about the rule with the 10% of the body mass but he is my first ball python so I am only book-smart). In the books I read it said to feed your ball python a prey as big as the biggest part of his body an my books so I followed that rule and it seemed to work.
But thank you for the tip.

the 10% rule applies to younger ball pythons. once your snake reaches small rats he should be able to eat those the rest of his life.