Quote Originally Posted by adamfritzsche View Post
I can say that I have a 2009 PE Line Desert male. He is probably the oldest ball python out of the 39 that I have.
He weighs in at a whopping 450g. Up until recently he would only eat rats just a bit bigger than crawler. It also does not seem to matter how much he eats, he just does not grow. I have just recently got him up to eating weaned rats, so we will see if he grows more or not. From what I see in my own, growth stunts maybe a thing with them, and perhaps some display these growth issues external, some like most of the females maybe internal.
I was under the impression that the females were the only ones with problems? If males also tend to be picky eaters and stunted growth then it should be taken into consideration as a possible cause of some of the female issues as well. Adam, do you know the lineage of your desert boy? You said he's an 09 but I'm not exactly sure how long the Desert gene has been around. It would be interesting to know if he's an early generation or how many times he's been outbred (or inbred).