Things you wish you knew before getting a ball python

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Wish I read more about the approximate weight an animal should be at a given age. I bought 2 ball pythons (the first I've owned) from a very experienced and reputable breeder (Garrick DeMeyer from royalconstrictordesigns). The weight was listed at 150ish grams for 11 month old snakes. I had no idea at the time how undersized that was. I don't even know how it's possible to have a ball python and be feeding it consistently for nearly a year with it only growing to 150 grams. The other snake was only slightly bigger. I've had them for about 2 months now. Have been offering adult mice every week (occasionally more) to put some weight on them.

Birthdays were listed as 8/18/16 and 8/19/16 on the form they arrived with, so now one of the snakes is over 14 months old and weighs 270 grams! The other has a greater feeding response and I've gotten him up to about 400 grams. So I actually put about the same amount or significantly more weight on these snakes in 2 months than Garrick DeMeyer did in 11. And I wasn't even overfeeding them. They ate mostly 1 adult mouse a week. There were 2-3 weeks where they ate 2 per week, and 1 week where the male ate 3 adult mice (he ate 2 in one sitting and a couple days later ate another that one of my other snakes refused- didn't want to waste it). Other than that, they ate 1 mouse per week.
I would really like to know how he managed to only get a ball python to 150 grams after 11 months of life.

It's not the biggest deal because they are healthy snakes and that's what I care most about, but I do have plans to breed and seeing as the snakes I bought were an albino and an albino pinstripe, I could have got them from any number of reputable breeders who would have likely had them at a higher weight. Just assumed a reputable breeder would have them at a normal weight. I am still new to pythons, but from what I've seen on forums and youtube it isn't uncommon for a yearling snake to be 500+ grams. Mine were 150!

150 grams does not mean is it underweight here is a new thing for you to learn, it's not about weight it's about proper body proportion.

Weight vary greatly from one individual to another I have animal that are a year and weight in at 1200 grams some that are 400 grams.

There are many things that affect weight, size out of the egg, how fast fast the animal get stated some may take 2 months (that means other can get that much of a head start, prey size, feeding frequency, skipped meal, fast and most importantly genetics, some animals are predisposed to be BIG.

[illaoi]

150 grams does not mean is it underweight here is a new thing for you to learn, it's not about weight it's about proper body proportion.

Weight vary greatly from one individual to another I have animal that are a year and weight in at 1200 grams some that are 400 grams.

There are many things that affect weight, size out of the egg, how fast fast the animal get stated some may take 2 months (that means other can get that much of a head start, prey size, feeding frequency, skipped meal, fast and most importantly genetics, some animals are predisposed to be BIG.

he doesn't feed his snakes properly. a reptile is not like a mammal and there are not going to be significant health ramifications if an animal is congenitally underfed. the reptile is simply going to be tiny and grow at a much slower rate. you really want to take the position that virtually all of his snakes being 12-14 months old and weighing 150-250 grams is normal or ok?

Price: $550
Weight: 240g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/13/16
Morph: Bamboo


Price: $200
Weight: 172g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/31/16
Morph: Banana




Price: $200
Weight: 165g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/21/16
Morph: Banana




Price: $150
Weight: 95g ???????????
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 1/12/17 ??????????????
Morph: Black Pastel Woma Pinstripe




Price: $225
Weight: 375g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 12/16/15
Morph: Emperor Pinstripe nearly 2 years old and 375 grams

Price: $200
Weight: 420g
Sex: male
Hatch-Date: 8/15/15
Morph: Fire Pinstripe Possible Orange Dream 26 months old 420 grams

that is just randomly clicking on snakes on the first page of his for sale. I didn't even have to look for egregious examples and I found some by randomly clicking 5 snakes. so yeah his snakes are undersized 100%. this is an exact mirroring of my experience with purchasing 2 of his snakes. it isn't genetics and it isn't poor feeding response. it's his feeding methodology. he doesn't care about the growth of snakes that he isn't holding back for a future project so he saves himself space and money by keeping them small, feeding them smaller prey items and doing it less often