So I took a trip to the reptile specialty shop that I bought my pastel at tonight for some rats, and while I was there I noticed what I thought were month or so old hatchlings(they're reputable for breeding most of their reptiles, ball pythons especially) - which were in fact some of the fellow offspring from last summer my lil' guy lived with for a bit.

For the record, my male pastel was born on May 31st of the year 2011, which makes him about only 8 months old. He's almost exactly 3 feet long(off by an inch or so as he's the length of my tank) and 2 1/2 inches around most of his body. Seeing as I've heard they sexually mature around 2-3 years, he's still got a lot of growing time, in addition to the lifetime of minuscule yet progressive growth as well. I haven't weighed him since early January, but then he was around 2 1/2 feet long and somewhere just above 450 grams.

What I was stumped by, was the fact that what were supposed to be males and females of the same age(some of which I got to see up close as some purchases were made tonight) were significantly smaller than he is(likely, by a close eyeball estimate, a quarter around at the thickest and anywhere from 18-23 inches). I mentioned this to the clerk on duty at the counter, and he said that sounded unusual that mine was so large. Is this just a case of fast growth, or do I sense malnourished snakes?