BP not growing?

[Dragonpun]

In January we got our first BP from a pet store (probably our first mistake) and have been expanding our collection since. However, this first BP has not gained more than 50 grams in the six months that we've had her. She was about a month old when she was sold to us. I've been feeding her hoppers every week for the first three months and she's been moved up to mice every 4-5 days since April-ish (f/t). She is still under 150 grams. About April-ish she contracted mites but we've been treating her (and quarantining her to keep the mites from the rest of our snakes) but they seem to be alleviated. I'm a little concerned; every other BP we've had has grown more. She's got a heating pad, two hides, and a water bowl and is in a 29-gallon tank for right now w/ aspen substrate (we will be getting rack systems soon). Is there anything that could potentially be going wrong in our husbandry or is she doing fine? She's about 18 inches long and ~130 grams. Any advice/help is appreciated.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If you are not feeding enough your BP is not gonna grow what you did is basically maintenance feeding.

Hoppers are never fed for 3 months, they are fed to BP out of the egg for a few weeks, before quickly moving to adult mice.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ing-Guidelines

[KMG]

The mites didn't just appear. They were introduced. Either you brought them home on you or on one of your latest pickups.

Reptile Spray works really well and is available at Petco and PetSmart.

[Dragonpun]

I know what they came from and we treated that snake and this one before they spread to anyone else and quarantined them for three months. There have been no more mites appearing for the past couple months on either snake.

[Craiga 01453]

Are you underfeeding all of your animals?

[PitOnTheProwl]

What are you feeding and how are you regulating your heat source?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I know what they came from and we treated that snake and this one before they spread to anyone else and quarantined them for three months. There have been no more mites appearing for the past couple months on either snake.

The problem with mites if you do not treat properly and with the proper products you are guaranteed a re-infestation within 30 days.


1# You need to treat all the animals in QT at the same time, if you treat one but not the other they will migrate.

2# You need a product that treats all stages of development of mites, most products do not do that, they do not kill eggs and therefore 30 days later there is a re-infestation.

3# Depending on the extent of the infestation more than one treatment maybe required.

[Dragonpun]

stated in original post

[Dragonpun]

Y'all can you like not treat me like I don't know anything about feeding them? The one in question is 130 grams and eats a mouse every five days. I'm not asking about everyone else. They're eating fine so don't assume I don't know anything, thanks. She's been eating mice every 5 days consistently and is simply not growing. There has not been a single mite spotted so stop asking about that, as it has been almost three months since the treatment of the mites and we still check for them. That's 3 life cycles and haven't seen them so I figure they're alleviated. YES, I treated BOTH WHILE QUARANTINED FOUR MONTHS AGO. Seriously, stop asking about all my other snakes and the mites, as they're not the ones in question. I just think you people love to be condescending and don't realize I'm still learning.

[Dragonpun]

The mites have been gone for 3 months. I'd appreciate if you stopped asking about them.