how can I tell if my BP is too fat?

[queenelvis82]

Hi All,
I have a female year and two month old BP. I have been feeding her once every 7 days. What are some signs that a BP is overweight? Some have said that I will see some white fatty material between her scales or "lumps" where her coils are. Her coils do have some lumps, but I am not sure what I am looking for in the fatty material. She is about 800 grams and shy of two feet long. I just fed her last night and she is showing signs of wanting to feed again. Should I, or should I hold off?

[Bluebonnet Herp]

Overweight ball python is rather an oxymoron. But if you ever do end up with an overweight BP, you'll know from the proportions, most notably the skin will be stretched throughout its body where you'll see the skin between its scales, it will often have many FAT folds where its body bends, the head/neck will look proportionally too small and the tail will look very distinct from the body, as if it were just plugged onto a sausage, as opposed to the natural streamline appearance. The side patterns may also be pointing upwards from the expansive fatty tissues, and the snake's girth may have a very blob-like oval shape when laying flat as opposed being perfectly round and firm. An obese BP will essentially look ready to explode with white fatty tissue, just like any other obese animal. You'll know an obese BP when you see one.
But if you're feeding a typical weekly schedule of appropriately sized meals, then there is most likely no reason for concern, and it's rather difficult to overfeed a BP to the point of being fat.
Skin will make folds when they're bending extensively and coiled, and that's normal.

[Sonny1318]

Hi All,
I have a female year and two month old BP. I have been feeding her once every 7 days. What are some signs that a BP is overweight? Some have said that I will see some white fatty material between her scales or "lumps" where her coils are. Her coils do have some lumps, but I am not sure what I am looking for in the fatty material. She is about 800 grams and shy of two feet long. I just fed her last night and she is showing signs of wanting to feed again. Should I, or should I hold off?

Hi, your length to weight ratio seems to be off. Maybe another measurement of length is nessecary. Try using a string. Then measure the string. And tell us the length again.

[Bluebonnet Herp]

Hi, your length to weight ratio seems to be off. Maybe another measurement of length is nessecary. Try using a string. Then measure the string. And tell us the length again.

Or OP can just post a picture.

[TheSnakeEye]

I feed my snakes more often than 7 days, well I use to, and I feed larger sized meals than some may and NONE of my girls are obese. Once they reach a nice weight I slow down the feeding. But I have never seen a fat ball python.

[queenelvis82]

Thank you all. I plan on posting some pics of my girls. The thread will be called How can I tell if my BP is too fat (with pics)