Improving muscle tone

[kimmu]

My girl is growing at a steady pace, tonight's weigh in after a major poop is 870g, and I've noticed that she's pretty well, soft to the touch. When I handle her, she can coil around me and crawl all over me, and as far as I know she has no trouble eating. Well, aside from the depth perception problems of having only one eye, she tends to miss on the first strike.

So I am wondering is she fine, or is there something I should be doing to make her more muscular/less soft? Or is she supposed to feel like this? She's my only snake so I do not have anyone to compare her to.

Her tank set up is 2 UTH on each side, cool side is 81 degrees, hot side is 90 degrees. There is an overhead lamp to help with the ambient temp because I have a drafty, very cold house. Humidity is usually in the 50% range, sometimes goes a little higher if it's rainy.

[Sunnieskys]

Can she periscope? Can she control her tail?

[kimmu]

She periscopes fine, though she's always had a slight tremble ever since I got her which I attributed to the fact that she did hatch with a pretty significant birth defect. She was less than 100g when I got her when she was a little over 3 months old, so I've always thought she was probably stunted from her issues. She can also control her tail and can wrap it around my finger.

I know she's definitely a "probably would not have survived in the wild" snake, but just wondering if there was anything else I should be doing to help her improve. She sheds fine, eats fine, poops fine.

[Godzilla78]

They are geverally soft. They have thick muscles, but also a layer of fat. Your snake does not look too fat. If she can constrict her food, slither around and climb, i wouldn't worry. All my snakes feel soft to the touch.

btw, that one eyed snake is cool. Ooda T has one cyclops snake too.

[Starscream]

If you want to improve muscle tone you could add branches for climbing or a humid dig box with moss in it to encourage digging.

And I disagree, I can see some fat wrinkles where the snake is only slightly curled. She could probably stand to cut back on food a little bit .

[kimmu]

Ha ha thanks guys!! I am kinda a helicopter snake parent lol I'll definitely look into getting some climbing branches in her tank then. Might be nice to see her climbing if she's into it.

If she's looking a little tubby, well I guess I can stretch her feedings out to every 10 days and not 7. She really does love eating.

[Lirenn]

She is gorgeous! Looks like a happy snek.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[Sauzo]

Snake looks a little chubby to me. Time to get it to work out on the Susanne Somer's thigh master. Feel the burn!!!

[Lirenn]

I think you mean burm.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

[zina10]

How old is she ?

I don't really see a "fat" snake, and over feeding is something I'm very much against. Overweight Ball Pythons loose that defined, skinny looking neck. Look at the neck in her picture, its quite thin still.

What size food are you feeding every week ?

Ball Pythons are "heavy bodied" snakes. They appear chubby to many other snake species. However, they certainly CAN get overweight, but I don't really see that ? If she can do all the things you said she can do, plus she is doing well, then I wouldn't worry to much about it. If you do give her something to climb on, make sure its not to high. They really aren't very graceful climbers at all and fall off at times. That's when you hear the dull "thump" in the night..LOL.

Give us some more info on age, size of food,etc