Baby Ball Python growth rate

[Kaoslb]

Hello,

I just wanted to double check that my baby ball python's growth rate seems reasonable and that I'm not feeding him too much. I've been feeding him once every 4-5 days either two hopper mice or one fuzzy rat.

He was born on 8/20 and weighed an estimated 70-80 grams according to the dealer. I got him on 9/17 but didn't get my scale till a week later. So here are his weights:

9/24 103 grams
9/27 ate two hopper mice
9/29 130 grams
10/1 ate fuzzy rat (peed and passed urates prior to eating)
10/3 135 grams
10/6 ate fuzzy rat
10/8 153 grams

He has not pooped since I got him on 9/17. He only peed and passed urates on that one day. He did shed also on that same day (10/1).

He is considerable bigger than when I got him on 9/17. The pics in my avatar were taken within a couple of days of getting him and he's now considerably longer and fatter.

I'm not over feeding him am I? Is he just plump from not pooping? What would be signs of impaction? Everything I've read so far indicates that not pooping for this long is relatively normal. I was hoping he would after he shed. The 50(almost 50%) gram weight gain in less than a month worries me though. Is that normal?

Thanks in advance.

[m00kfu]

Completely normal. The few hatchlings I've had tend to put on 50 grams a month for the first few months and then slowly work their way up to around 100 grams a month for juveniles.

[Patricia]

9/24 103 grams
9/27 ate two hopper mice
9/29 130 grams
10/1 ate fuzzy rat (peed and passed urates prior to eating)
10/3 135 grams
10/6 ate fuzzy rat
10/8 153 grams

That weight gain, i.e. the weight of the entire meal, is how my young one has been growing too.

[teebyrd393]

Check out this site. It should answer your Q

www.thereddragonsden.com/avgweight.htm