Guess my age [emoji848][emoji216]

[Kerimac]

I got my little normal BP on March 7th and the reptile store told me they 'thought' he was about 9 months old. Well, I 'thought' places knew the ages of their animals but I guess it's difficult to keep up with. Fast forward almost 2 months now and I finally got a scale to weigh him. He is 230 grams. I know they are all different but according to their calculations, he is approximately 11 months now.? This just doesn't seem right at all but I honestly have no clue because this is all new to me. From what all I've researched, most males that are this weight are around 7ish months. Does anyone think this guy is legit 11 months old? Thx.

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[Bogertophis]

Sorry, wish I could help you but I just never weigh my snakes unless for specific reasons (like the need to dose medication, for example).

It's more of a "thing" for BP-keepers anyway (of which I currently am not), since they tend to fast & scare their owners the most.

I think there's quite a bit of variation anyway...they don't all start off as good feeders before you get them, or worse, they might have been
"maintenance-fed".

[Kerimac]

Maintenance fedbreaks my heart

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[bcr229]

Maintenance fedbreaks my heart

Very likely. The good news is that on a proper feeding schedule he will grow up just fine.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

You can't determine age based on weight and even a low weight is not always the sign of maintenance feeding.

Some animals smaller than other naturally (genetics can play a huge part), some that are picky and will skip meals or fast, etc…there can be various reason for weight discrepancies which is why people need to rely less on numbers and more on overall condition of the animal

And it all start as hatchling some are 45 grams some are 90 grams, some will get started 1 day after their first shed some will take their first meal 6 weeks after their first shed.

That is why when buying you buy from a reputable breeder that knows the hatch date and can give you clues on the animals feeding history.

Over the years I have had BP that I hatched and raised that were 350 grams at a year and some that were 1200 grams at a year and everything is fed aproprietly once a week.

[303_enfield]

Don't worry about the age. It's nice to know when x was born or hatched. You bought a young one around x months old. The important thing is you weighed him. So go read this:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=feeding+guide

It's not the end all but it's good. When my BP's hit 500g (sometimes sooner) the feeding goes to 14 days, before that I use 10 days. It was beaten into my head in the 70's slow is good an fast growth is bad.

Oh, PetSmart snakes are a month or so most of the time. Well, that's what I've been told.

Good luck!

[Kerimac]

I took a screenshot of the feeding chart! I bought him from a reptile shop because I can't support big box pet stores. I was a little thrown off when they didn't know his age. Maybe that's not important to them. My 2nd one, I ordered straight from a breeder.

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