Buggsie's (Ongoing) Road to Recovery - A Rescue Story

[SmoothScales]

She looks amazing! How old is she now?

Based on the time line we were given, she is at least 7 months old now. Pretty small (188 grams at last check) for her age, but considering how she looked when she arrived, I'd say she's doing just fine.

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[se7en]

so when does buggsie become the official bp.net mascot?

[SmoothScales]

Guess who had a full, complete, and perfect shed today?

Guess who then proceeded to unleash all the furry of their saved up waste upon the perfect shed?




*sigh*

It would've been a keeper, too.

Well, she was just in time for feeding day tomorrow!

[Ax01]

Guess who had a full, complete, and perfect shed today?

Guess who then proceeded to unleash all the furry of their saved up waste upon the perfect shed?




*sigh*

It would've been a keeper, too.

Well, she was just in time for feeding day tomorrow!

my guess is Opera?

[SmoothScales]

my guess is Opera?

Yep. That's it, you got me.

Day 70 - Dropped her little rat in, and after a moment of her looking at me like 'Where my rat?' (I guess she missed me dropping it in?), she pounced...as much as any snake CAN pounce I guess. I'm betting she's up over 200 now, but she just got weighed at the beginning of the month so...trying to be patient, but would be nice to see it despite knowing she's gotta be over. She did come in at 199 on March 31st.

Also - damn! Fury, not furry...jeeze...

[embrit345]

What a champ you are and what a strong little fighter Buggsie is

Out of interest what would be a "normal" weight for a 7 month old snake if there is a normal lol xx


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[SmoothScales]

Out of interest what would be a "normal" weight for a 7 month old snake if there is a normal lol xx

Mostly, it will vary snake to snake. One might be a great eater while another - maybe even from the same clutch - will be picky, refuse, and grow at half the rate. From what I've seen of her, though, Buggsie is far from a picky eater. She's never turned down a meal, even when so blue no one could've blamed her.

I do know that of other snakes I have of the same age, the next smallest one is above 350. Which puts Buggsie considerably behind.

While certainly not written in stone, The Red Dragon Den has posted on their website a 30 month long informal study of growing Ball Pythons. The study includes an average weight for the animals used, plus individual charts. As you can tell from the individual charts, some were better eaters/growers than others. I will occasionally refer to the averages chart to get a general idea of how my balls are doing - are they growing fast? Are they growing slow? Are they right in line for average growth?

One thing to remember is that how they look is more important than their numbers. A snake that is on target for age, but looks overly fat is just as bad for the snake's health as a severely under fed one.

[se7en]

buggsie will be up to speed in no time it seems


that banana spider i got back in november is growing like a weed

i first weighed her on dec 12th, and she was 119 g

yesterday after a poop, she weighed in at 514 g

every time i go into the snake room, she pops her head out of her hide to see if i have food

[SmoothScales]

buggsie will be up to speed in no time it seems


that banana spider i got back in november is growing like a weed

i first weighed her on dec 12th, and she was 119 g

yesterday after a poop, she weighed in at 514 g

every time i go into the snake room, she pops her head out of her hide to see if i have food

I've got a couple like that, as well! Frank the Tank, Sharona, and Maxine were November pick ups during ReptiCon, Costa Mesa. Now they're all 3-6x's the size they were at purchase. Although, Frank eats EVERYTHING that gets put in front of her, so it's no wonder there. I'll be doing water checks and she pokes her head out of her hide like "I'm ready!" It's really interesting trying to get pictures of her when she wants to inspect the camera in case you're hiding a rat in it. lol And Maxine was supposedly strictly a mouser that has never turned down a rat for us. I'm sure the difference in prey type had a lot to do with her going from 200g to 770g. Sharona hasn't been as enthusiastic as Frank, but she's still gone from 107g to 595g. If she looked like a fatty, I'd start scaling back her rats to a smaller size, but you can still see her spine fine - it's not sunken, and she has no fat rolls - so I'm not worried about her.

[se7en]

indeed.

my pewter calico YB female has not eaten in 5 months. she's only dropped about 130 grams in that time though, so i'm not worried (yet).

i'm about to get a new rack system, so maybe a change of scenery will get her going again. of course, the last thing that got her eating again was being lose in my apt for 2 1/2 months. not trying to do that again.


still, great job with buggsie. if someone gave me a snake today that was in the same condition in which you got buggsie, i do not think i'd be able to save it.