Overly small snake? Help? Lots of questions.

[cyrus]

I've had my bp for just under a year now (my first). He hatched back in March of 2016, and he eats well (1 f/t weaned rat every 7 days) and is an all around lovely guy.

My worry is that even with consistent feeding and a (compared to him) regular sized prey item, he's only weighing in at about 130 grams. He's been this size for a while now.

When I got him initially he refused to eat for a couple of weeks, didn't eat until some time in June from what I remember. He was in an enclosure too large so I fixed up his husbandry and now he eats like a champ, although this was after dipping down to 70 grams. I also previously fed him mice, but heard the nutritional value of rats is better so I switched over to them without an issue. I feel like maybe the weanlings are a bit small, but would adult mice even be better? I feel like they'd be too big when I see them instore.

Anyway, he's been moved back to the initial tank and seems quite comfortable and is very friendly. He always pokes his head out of his favourite hide (rock outcrops) to say hi, or possibly to look for food every time I open his tank to spray lol.

My enclosure includes a heat mat (regulated by this rheostat: https://www.amazon.com/Zilla-Reptile.../dp/B002CZ0J3E, works fine, although he never goes into the hide the heat mat rests below anyway? Under the tank of course) a heat bulb held about 4-6 inches above the tank with a red bulb, constantly on as the tank gets too cold without it, a digital hygrometer/thermometer inside the tank (temp from 87-90 degrees on the warm end, humidity anywhere from 20 (only when i get home from a long shift at work) and 80 degrees. Naturally it decreases slowly throughout the day, but I find it most commonly resting around 50. If anyone has any budget-friendly ideas for keeping humidity more consistent while I'm at work, please let me know.

The substrate is cypress mulch and he's got a nice sized water bowl (I've never caught him soaking though, which is good I think?). 3 hides total, one on each side and his favourite in the middle. This, I suppose, means no belly heat unless he sneaks to the UTH hide when I'm not looking. But I don't know if that would affect his growth more than it would his survival, haha.

This is him: http://m.imgur.com/YuVdXtM

Comments, suggestions? I want to be able to breed him one day with another fire to get into the hobby, but naturally I'd like to make sure everything is a-ok first.

Thanks!

[Sauzo]

Snakes grow at their own rate. My pied started out life rough. She was kept too cold, wouldn't eat, bit everyone. She was 90g and 12" long. I got her home, set her up correctly and she never bit me once, started eating every 3-4 days and grew like a weed. She was really shy though and head shy BIG TIME. But now after about 2.5 years, she is 1630g, just over 4' and a terror lol. She isn't too shy anymore, does drive by hissings, cruises and destroys stuff at night and is curious. Snakes are a lot more resilient than people think.

Anyways, rats are fine. I personally wouldn't offer mice to a BP if you got them eating rats. BPs are notorious for imprinting on food. Something like a boa or retic who eat anything, it doesn't matter.

As long as you offer them the correct hot spot, cool spot and hides, they will do their own thing. 87-90 hot spot is fine but you don't say the cool side. I would shoot for 78-80 cool side. Your humidity is all over. You need to get that stabilized. Cover 3/4 the top etc. You are using cypress so no reason it should ever get to 20%. That's less than my house humidity in the winter with my heater blasting lol. I keep my BP at 70% humidity.

[montymiow]

What a cute little guy, he's gorgeous . He doesn't look unhealthy, and seems to be eating fine he might just be a grower not a shower . I have a little royal too, perfectly healthy and kept at the same temp/humidity as my female but he recently has taken a stretch, he's just turning 3. The humidity I can't really comment on as ours is always stable without doing anything to it, but we recently tried to add bark substrate for a little decor to the carpets viv and the humidity went sky high, also coconut husk I've seen many people mention is also really good for humidity. Just thought I'd chime in and say there's still time for the little one to grow at his own rate

[Dezoruba]

If it were me I would have a vet do a fecal check for parasites. While it's true BP do grow at their own rate, a 130g yearling seems very very small to me

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[CALM Pythons]

Yeah thats crazy small. Sounds like you have him doing 100% better but id have a Fecal done for parasites. My female was a small Hatchling, I got her at 50 grams 2.5 months old and their normally 65-90 grams when born.
She is 3.5 months now and just hit 150G. I fed her every 4 days to get her stats up now going to go every 5 days..
Its hard to say without a Vet visit if you got her with parasites.

[cchardwick]

I think you should be feeding a snake that small every 3-4 days for the first year. I'd try to feed several rodents back to back and see if he will eat 3-4 at a time, then slowly move up to bigger rodents and more frequent feeding until he gets some weight on him. He is way too small. Are you sure your scale is working, 130 grams and almost a year old?

Here's a ball python that is two months old and already weighs 100 grams. Look on Morphmarket and the hatch dates and weights, you are not feeding enough. A snake will grow as fast or as slow as you feed it, unlike any other animal in the world.

I'd think on average a snake that's a year old should be around 800 grams.

[CALM Pythons]

I think you should be feeding a snake that small every 3-4 days for the first year. I'd try to feed several rodents back to back and see if he will eat 3-4 at a time, then slowly move up to bigger rodents and more frequent feeding until he gets some weight on him. He is way too small. Are you sure your scale is working, 130 grams and almost a year old?

Here's a ball python that is two months old and already weighs 100 grams. Look on Morphmarket and the hatch dates and weights, you are not feeding enough. A snake will grow as fast or as slow as you feed it, unlike any other animal in the world.

I agree to feed it a bit more and more often but DON'T all the sudden offer 3-4 mice in one feeding. Thats a good way to make the snake regurgitate when it hasnt been eating much and that can out a bad taste in the snakes mouth (literally lol) and might refuse the next feed.

[Sauzo]

You don't need to feed it multiple meals in 1 feeding. Just feed it an appropriate sized meal every 4 days. I would probably have a fecal done though as I missed the 135g at 1 year old. This is assuming you know for sure he was hatched that date and it wasn't just someone pulling a number out of the air lol.

[cchardwick]

I got a normal on Craig's List that was in the same shape, was about the size of a two month old and it was a year old. The guy was feeding it a hopper mouse once a month! I immediately switched to adult mice and it ate several at once on the first feeding, ate aggressively, never had an issue with not eating or regurgitation. In fact it was extremely eager to eat. And a year later it went from about 200 grams to 1500 grams! I was thinking multiple meals so you can use up the smaller rodents you have, then order bigger ones the next time around.

I have seen experiments that show if you feed the same rodent weight per week there is a big difference if you feed larger rodents less frequently, it results in a faster weight gain (not sure why, doesn't make sense to me...). But if you try to feed them too big of a rodent they will refuse it, the same with offering a rodent that's too small. What you really need is the biggest size rodent it will take and feed every 4 days until you can get to medium rats, then feed less frequently. I find that smaller rodents are usually eaten more often, larger ones are sometimes refused just because the snake thinks it's too big. In fact most times my snakes don't eat it's because I'm offering a rat that's just too big. I typically will feed the same size as the thickest part of the snake or smaller, sometimes larger if the snake is an aggressive eater like my big ol reticulated python LOL. The only time I feed a rat that's twice the size of the thickest part of the snake is when I feed my super dwarf reticulated python. He is super long and super skinny and will eat a huge rat compared to his size. And two days later he is skinny again. He is still young and growing fast.

[cyrus]

Yeah thats crazy small. Sounds like you have him doing 100% better but id have a Fecal done for parasites. My female was a small Hatchling, I got her at 50 grams 2.5 months old and their normally 65-90 grams when born.
She is 3.5 months now and just hit 150G. I fed her every 4 days to get her stats up now going to go every 5 days..
Its hard to say without a Vet visit if you got her with parasites.

SO... due to seeing a) this talk of a snake being this weight and age compared to my tiny yearling, and b) that picture of the 100g snake who my snake looked much bigger than, I weighed him again just to be sure.

And the embarrassing conclusion to the weight issue here- I think he hit tare on my scale in the first place and I just didn't notice (it's a touch sensitive scale). 😅

Here's the new verdict: http://m.imgur.com/ThxuxbF

(He's 287g for those with poor vision.)

Is that more normal/something I don't have to worry about? Thanks a bunch everyone for your comments.

I just need to find a better way to keep in humidity, I think my heat lamp dries out the cypress mulch extra fast. (I have tin foil covering the lid and everything though).