I think the argument about "how much food they get in the wild" shouldn't really apply. Well, imho of course !
They aren't in the wild. If a newbie comes on here and says, so what if I don't have the perfect temps and humidity, in "the wild" the temps and humidity can vary depending on the climate of any given year, etc etc. In the wild they don't necessarily have the perfect setup as the terrain varies and not every snake will get the perfect spot.
Will we say, yeah, you're right...
Nope. Once we take these animals from the wild we have a responsibility to do right by them, as in do the best we can. Do all people do that ? No. I have no doubt that Sean does right by his animals, given that a few trustworthy people here seem to know him well and have seen his animals.
However, I do think that 220 gr. in an 18 month old is very small, even for maintenance feeding. But perhaps there are other reasons for this. Some snakes may stay smaller, some may be reluctant eaters.
I'm sad to know that some breeders think nothing to cull offspring or dump them off without any thought. Or underfeed on purpose.
I have no problem with maintenance feeding, as long as its appropriate in size and timing. But purposely stunting an animal to save $$ on food and shipping cost (and whatever else) seems cruel to me and I would never support that, even if that made me unpopular in this rather small community of Ball Python breeders and fans.
Again, not saying that is what happened here.
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