New ball python over a year old and only 166 grams!

[cchardwick]

I am pretty sure I know who the breeder is also and that is all I am going to say. Maintenance feeding can create issues. I have just the opposite problem. My babies grow too fast which becomes a problem if I have to hang on to them for a few months. I am sure there is an amount that is safe, but I am afraid to experiment. It cuts into my bottom line and takes up a lot of space. My adults I have pretty balanced and know exactly what they need in order to stay healthy. Babies are harder. The growth rates and the food required for the particular animal can vary greatly. I do not like how this breeder feeds his animals, but if people keep buying them it will continue. Those of us who do not feed like that have a hard time competing because our cost to maintain our animals is much higher.

You should update your weights on the web and increase your prices. There should be a sliding scale. I just had a breeder friend of mine buy a female pied for $1,000, I think she is 1500 grams. So compare that to a hatchling pied female average price. Now take the amount of price increase per gram of snake weight and you have your price increase scale. If you do that you'll want to hang on to all of your snakes a bit longer, your rodents will be worth way more than they cost! If these two snakes I just bought were both ready to breed I would have paid double or triple the price without hesitation.