Is my bp gaining enough weight?

[Hazz332]

Hey everyone,
I recently purchased a baby bp in late November and had a few questions I’ve been wondering about. First, I want to make sure that she’s putting on enough weight and that I’m not under feeding her. I believe she weighed around 70 grams when I first received her. I’ve been feeding her live rat fuzzies once a week (I’ve had to do mouse hoppers a couple times when I couldn’t get a rat) and she has taken the food perfectly every time. However I weighed her for the first time a couple of days ago and she’s weighing in at around 140 grams. She doesn’t appear to be looking too thin to me, but this is my first snake and I’m not 100% confident in my judgment. I’m not sure how to attach pictures on here or I would provide one. If someone knows how I will add one
also I noticed that she’s only shed once since I got her. Her shed was all in one piece but I feel like I should be expecting another shed soon and haven’t seen any signs that she’s entering shed at the moment. I know they’re supposed to shed every 4-6 weeks? Should I be worried if she doesn’t shed soon?

[RebelCue]

They're all different. Like people they're their own individuals. I only own two BPs which are still juveniles. Born in April and June of last year. But I do know for the first few months they were shedding religiously every 4-6 weeks. Now it has slowed down to every 8-10. Like I said they're all different. But make sure that fuzzy is not to small of a meal for it now. It may be able to handle weaned rats. Best of luck!

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Turningstar]

Id check out the feeding chart on here and make sure to weigh your mice or rats to be sure you arent underfeeding. And make sure youre feeding every 5-7 days.

It sounds like you may need to move up in prey size, but its hard to tell without pics or specific weights. As long as your snake isnt looking thin with back sticking out or anything, youre probably okay.

Sent from my LM-X220 using Tapatalk

[Hazz332]

Ok, puts my mind at ease a bit. I’ll start weighing the prey before feedings. She just went into shed again so hopefully will get a nice second shed thanks for the pointers!

[Craiga 01453]

Weight isn't as important as body structure. Like the others mentioned above, they're all different and grow at different rates. You want to make sure the snake still has a slightly triangular shape, but without the spine being too visible. Also keep in mind that many BPs in captivity are actually over weight.

I've attached the feeding chart that was mentioned as well.


Sent from my 6062W using Tapatalk

[Hazz332]

Update:
She had a nice second shed and I fed her a rat fuzzy last night which weighed 16g. I also weighed her during the day before feeding while I was cleaning her tub and she’s up to 153g. So given the feeding chart referenced I should move up to rat pups once she reaches 200g. I was wondering though, would this be a good time to switch to f/t? I’d like to make the switch eventually to avoid any possibility of injury but want to do so only when it warranted since she’s been taking the live prey so well...

[Craiga 01453]

Awesome!!!

Yeah, you can go ahead and try to switch to F/T any time now. It sounds like she's taken various live prey options so she probably won't be too picky switching to F/T.

Good luck!

[Hazz332]

Just fed her first f/t tonight! I’m so excited she took it fairly quickly. I’m hoping I went about thawing it correctly though...I let it sit out at rt in a ziplock bag for about 2 1/2 hrs, it felt like it was thawed all the way- was pliable throughout but was cool to the touch. I set it in a bowl of warm water about 15min on each side and then heated it on both sides with a blow drier right before offering, checked the temp with the heat gun was about 110 deg F at the hottest spot. It did take her a while to actually eat it though so I’m hoping it didn’t cool off too much? Just want peace of mind that I didn’t this right...