How to tell if you have a sub Saharan ball python?

[BCS]

No one wants to admit that they have an over weight snake, but it is quite common in the hobby to over feed and not give the snakes the exercise they need.

[Felidae]

I can even show a front fat/back gravid female.




About the Volta balls. The genetics play in role about the size, but not just the weight, the length is important too. I have a 5 yo female mojave who weights almost 4400g, but not fat at all. She's huge in every way, and I believe with years passing, she'll be close to the 6 kg. She's definitely not from the Volta region.

[dylanjwicklund]

Okay. Here is a snake that is gravid. (Pic from wiki commons)



She is wider, yes, but she's still has a defined spine and no fat rolls when she coils, just some normal wrinkles.

Here is a pic of a snake who is obese which I yoinked from from wheremyscalesslither's post about recognizing obesity in ball pythons, which you should probably read. (They grabbed it from a facebook group post but did not credit the source so as not to direct unwanted attention at the owner of the snake).



Observe the sunken spine and fat rolls. Now go look at your snake again. Eggs do not cause those kinds of rolls. In fact, they're large, solid objects inside the female's body and make tightly coiling kind of hard/uncomfortable. She could very well be also gravid, but she is definitely a bit on the chunky monkey side.

Also, taking a third look at your pic, it looks like your male might be having a bad shed?

Ok for one I don't get how she can be over weight like your saying if I never fed her the right sized rats for the longest time I kept her on mediums as it didn't make her look fat and she's only ever been fed once a week aswell and the fact she put on about 1000 grams since I started breeding her I'm not worried about obesity she's going to be super skinny after she drops eggs I know my snakes you don't but thanks for acuessing me of over feeding

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[dylanjwicklund]

Okay. Here is a snake that is gravid. (Pic from wiki commons)



She is wider, yes, but she's still has a defined spine and no fat rolls when she coils, just some normal wrinkles.

Here is a pic of a snake who is obese which I yoinked from from wheremyscalesslither's post about recognizing obesity in ball pythons, which you should probably read. (They grabbed it from a facebook group post but did not credit the source so as not to direct unwanted attention at the owner of the snake).



Observe the sunken spine and fat rolls. Now go look at your snake again. Eggs do not cause those kinds of rolls. In fact, they're large, solid objects inside the female's body and make tightly coiling kind of hard/uncomfortable. She could very well be also gravid, but she is definitely a bit on the chunky monkey side.

Also, taking a third look at your pic, it looks like your male might be having a bad shed?

Also I did say that he was in a bad shed been in a pillow case 3 times been sprayed with reptile shed aid and has been in a damp rack lol I hate when I address the problems first because people don't read

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[dylanjwicklund]

Okay. Here is a snake that is gravid. (Pic from wiki commons)



She is wider, yes, but she's still has a defined spine and no fat rolls when she coils, just some normal wrinkles.

Here is a pic of a snake who is obese which I yoinked from from wheremyscalesslither's post about recognizing obesity in ball pythons, which you should probably read. (They grabbed it from a facebook group post but did not credit the source so as not to direct unwanted attention at the owner of the snake).



Observe the sunken spine and fat rolls. Now go look at your snake again. Eggs do not cause those kinds of rolls. In fact, they're large, solid objects inside the female's body and make tightly coiling kind of hard/uncomfortable. She could very well be also gravid, but she is definitely a bit on the chunky monkey side.

Also, taking a third look at your pic, it looks like your male might be having a bad shed?

Also those are just Internet pics every snake is different and why not post ur gravid snakes have u not ever had a gravid snake?

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[Lizardlicks]

No I haven't because I'm growing my snakes out slowly. Heck I know for a fact that if I let Strudel go as hard as she wanted on her rats she'd hit breeding size in another couple of months, the kid is a garbage disposal, but that isn't healthy for her. However, you can literally google "gravid ball python" and "obese ball python" and get tons of examples of both. I have looked at both for nearly two years, long before I even got my first snake because I want to do things right the first time. Also, if you're actually feeding your girl on medium rats, she should be going closer to every two weeks, not every week. An adult ball python can thrive quite well on a small rat once a week for the rest of it's life.

If you're having trouble on getting your husbandry to a point where it's consistent and your snakes are having that bad of shedding issues, you should be focused on fixing that, not producing more snakes. Everyone wants to jump into the breeding side super fast, but you need to take the time to be a keeper first, and a breeder second.

[M.P.C]

Balls can gain weight and size very quick, i only feed peach 1 small rat every week and shes gains noticible size with every feeding, can only imagine what weekly mediums would do to a balls growth. If an expierenced keeper is telling you something and backing it up with facts and examples its better to take the advice then argue against it

[Kokorobosoi]

If there are 10 people in a room, and all ten disagree with you, it stands to reason that you should reevaluate your opinion.

[Slim]

I hate when I address the problems first because people don't read

Soooooo, you're saying that reading is fundamental, right?

but thanks for acuessing me of over feeding

It wasn't and accusation, it was an observation... Reading is fundamental, right?

Also those are just Internet pics

For real though... And here are some more Internet pics.... From your other thread about the same snake...

That Sir, is a fat snake. Gravid or not, she is over weight.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Here is one held by one of my friends

Notice the size of the head, this girl was well over 5000 grams





You can very well have a large individual without this individual being a volta/sub saharan , I do, every hold back from my original female het pied (who is 4000+ grams) gets big quick, usually tipping the scale at 1800 grams or so by 18 months.