They do grow fast! I had a few of my ball pythons at the pet store for a reptile "meet and greet" sort of day. One of the workers asked me how old the snake was that I was holding and couldn't believe how big my snake was at 6 months old compared to their snakes at the store. My response was "that's because I feed mine" with a smartbutt smile and the other employee said, "yeah, they get big if they eat for you" It's the snakes at the pet stores that make people think they are slow growers! If you feed them often and the correct size, they grow like weeds!