accidental power feeding

[WingedWolfPsion]

I've never seen any harm come to young ball pythons from offering them food as often as they care to accept it. They don't develop 'pinhead syndrome' or any of the other issues displayed by power-fed animals.

Power-feeding means tricking the animal into eating more than it chooses to, not simply over-feeding it.
Ball pythons are geared to grow fast when food is available. I've had some hatchlings accept food every 3 to 4 days for half a year before slowing down. Their proportions are normal, they just get big.
(Boas are an entirely different story. What ball pythons can do, and what other species of snakes can do, shouldn't be compared. Some snakes will develop serious health problems and even die if they are overfed, but ball pythons seem to be just fine).

I think that appetite during the first few years has a huge impact on the adult size of a ball python.
Remember, some fully grown adult ball python females are over 5 feet long, and weight over 3000 grams. They get most of that size in just 4 years.
Compare that with a 1500 gram girl who's under 4 feet.
Obviously, the amount of food that goes into making a BIG snake has to be more than goes into making a smaller one. Feeding a hatchling when it wants to eat may ensure it reaches its full potential size.
So, if you toss in an extra treat once in a while, and the snake is happy to eat it, that's not an issue, it's just fine.