Obese BP???

[Raptor10457]

Okay so I bought a ball python like 2 months back from a local pet shop (I live in the UK) and he looked quite healthy to me, but maybe a little thin. So anyway the pet shop sold me some mice that weighted 10 grams each so I thought that they were maybe too small for him, so I went and bought some rats that weigh 20-30g, I have been feeding him the smallest ones, but all of a sudden it looks like he has got really fat? Or is it just that since he was skinny and now he is at normal weight I think he’s fat. I just want to know if I should lessen the amount of food he is eating cos I don’t want him to be morbidly obese lol

i should mention that I weighed him when I got him home and he weighed in at 205g, tbh I have no clue whether this was normal or not but he seemed to have a lot of loose skin and his spine was more prominent than what I have seen in other BPs. Maybe I should just feed him less often? I have been feeding him every 5 days so should I just feed him every 7 instead?

(Also I would love to mention that he has been eating great and even shed all in one piece from the get go, and all my temps and humidity etc. Are all okay)

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=71626
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/sho...mageuser=71626

[Caali]

How old is he?

He doesn't look obese to me. If a ball python is obese, you can see the skin between the scales when the snake is lying in a straight line. Yours seems to be a healthy weight. He might have been a bit skinny when you got him.
I found this chart to be quite helpful ( http://livingartreptiles.tripod.com/id108.html ). Just keep in mind that every ball python grows at a different rate, so yours might be a bit smaller or bigger.

[cchardwick]

Your snake looks fine to me and at 200 grams is still in a rapid growing phase. So even if you over feed him he will quickly convert that weight to a healthy body mass. I wouldn't worry about your snake being obese until they get to the 2000 + gram range. I find it's best to keep them on the heavy side when smaller because a lot will fast in the 800 gram to 1200 gram range and you don't want them to start a fast when they are skinny.

[Craiga 01453]

Looks good and healthy to me.

[Raptor10457]

Thanks so much everyone, I’m just a natural worrier haha 😂

[hollowlaughter]

For your future reference, scale separation is one hint of obesity, but so is a non-visible -- or even worse, dimpled -- spine. Ideally, the animal should have a bit of a triangle shape to its spine, at least enough you can easily locate the spine and follow it. Another is "tail suck" or "hips" where there will essentially be a muffintop around the cloaca that sucks in dramatically going past it.

Example.

[Tonald Drump]

Looks pretty healthy to me, maybe try cutting back just a bit, maybe cut back about 2-5g per mice. Also I like his/her name (Ramen) :3

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