Aging a ball python

[LittleTreeGuy]

Question - Is there any way to accurately determine the age of a snake?

I bought my first BP at an expo this past weekend, and to be honest my head was spinning a little with excitement. I did ask how she was eating and what, and was told she was eating live fuzzy/hopper size very well, once a week. Well, I put on the scale last night and she only weighs 75g. She fits in my hand easily when coiled. Her thickest part is probably around an inch or a little over. I thought he said she had eaten good for the past 4 or 5 weeks, but that would put her at or over a month old, and that weight seems light for that age that is feeding well (from what I've read).

I got some frozen fuzzy mice today and will try her first feeding tonight.

My guess is one of two things... either the snake is only a month or so old, or it's older, but has maybe been underfed (as I've read some breaders do to keep cost down) and maybe he was just giving me a line of crap at the show in order to sell his snakes. Now that it's too late, I know it's good to ask for a clutch/hatch date and a feeding record on paper. I guess maybe a few months off from her actual age isn't a huge deal as long as she's healthy. I was planning on starting her on fuzzy f/t mice around every 5 or 6 days until she gets a little bigger.

[Streller]

No idea as to how you would accurately age a ball python. My ball python hatched weighing 75 grams.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Depends on the animal while the majority of the animal I hatched are between 60 and 90 grams (90 being huge out of the egg), I also hatch on occasion animal that are 40 grams.

If you buy from someone reputable there is no reason for them to lie about how many times the animal has been fed and the current size is not incompatible with an animal being fed 4 times.

So it all depends on the weight out of the egg and the feeding routine of the breeder, how fast the animal start eating after hatching etc, for example if I hatch something extremely small I will do more than a once a week feeding for the first 4 weeks.

[LittleTreeGuy]

Well, kind of funny... I just got an email back from the seller and while I don't know her exact date of birth, she was hatched in late september, so she's just under 2 months old.

Thanks all.

[Streller]

Why on earth your breeder couldn't have spared you the details when you purchased the snake I don't know, my breeder handed me the tracking sheet for my royal that he had been keeping since hatching to the sale. I could see when he was assist fed, when he shed, and when he eventually struck by himself.

At least you have the rough age of your pet now, pick a date in "late September" and make that his unofficial birthday.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Why on earth your breeder couldn't have spared you the details when you purchased the snake I don't know, my breeder handed me the tracking sheet for my royal that he had been keeping since hatching to the sale. I could see when he was assist fed, when he shed, and when he eventually struck by himself.

At least you have the rough age of your pet now, pick a date in "late September" and make that his unofficial birthday.

When you buy at a show it's very different, breeders bring hundreds of animals some being of the same mutations sometimes 1,2 or 3 placed in the same slot of the display case. Bringing ALL feeding records and being able to differentiate which record goes with which snake if 3 of the same mutation are housed in the same slot is Simply IRREALISTIC and not the way show work...... well unless you have a handful of animals to sell.

[redshepherd]

He could be on hoppers at 75g, if you want to get his weight up a little faster. Most breeders offer hoppers directly for new hatchlings.

When I got Cake at 65g, and he was totally fine with live hoppers.

Ball pythons do stay small/grow very slowly from simply being underfed. I've seen a BP who is a year old and under 300g, from being on the supposed "maintenance feeding" aka underfeeding.

[LittleTreeGuy]

Thanks all.... yea, I was bummed he didn't know exactly, but at the same time, now I know... so if (or maybe I should say "when") the time comes that I get another snake, I'll probably be more inclined to buy from a breeder who has this information. My purchase was at an expo exactly like mentioned above. He had probably 75 snakes, maybe more, and there were three young mojave females in the same little box together. I said I wanted one of those, so he took them out and let me pick wich one. 2 of the balled up and stayed there, and the other just seemed more relaxed and inquisitive... so I took that one. lol.

I fed her a frozen fuzzy two days ago and she took it very quickly, but I realized during the feeding it wasn't as big or she was bigger, than I had thought, so I'll definately go to hoppers for her next few feedings, then maybe try to get her to rats at some point.