Kitty the BP progression thread!

[littlemaxbigworld]

She she is getting so good at being handled! Much less jumpy and skittish, her muscles are super relaxed when she explores as crawls around, and her cute little tongue is taste happy. I love her so much!!! I’ve even started keeping a ‘snake diary’ of how much she weighs, her length, her eating, shedding, etc. Which I’m sure when she goes on a food strike eventually will help me lots too.

[Starscream]

I got to weigh her today I couldn't wait to get a scale. I think about it every day. So I gave in early hehehe

and of course I remembered to tare the scale For having hatched in October, is twenty five/six inches and three hundred twenty grams right on track for a female BP?

All BPs grow at different rates, depending on genetics and feeding regimen. My girl was 340g and 29 inches at 9 months, and it was around that time I started to notice some chunky rolls on her sides. As I'm not aiming to breed or "get her up to size" quickly and trying to err on the side that will lead to longevity (greater space between feeding times reduces the stress put upon their organs. BP organs can remain expanded for about 10 days after feeding! wow!), I elected to cut her back a little bit on feeding frequency.

I'm not saying that you or anyone else should do this, this is just my thoughts on things. I want my kiddo to be around as long as possible, and if that means feeding her less and having a more "slow-grown" approach, so be it. She'll be a big girl eventually, but not before she's ready .

On that note, though, making sure body condition is good is more important (to me) than ensuring that Maze is a certain weight at a particular age. She is a year old, and while I cut back her feeding, she still managed to grow very quickly in length! She's 36 inches, and 444g. Dang, girl. lol. That's still 7 inches in 3 months with reduced feedings.

Anyways, I think your girl is beautiful, and I'm one of those nuts that has a google spreadsheet to keep track of her data, kind of like your diary! it's color coded and has a line graph following her weight gain and everything. i'm losing it i swear lmao.

[littlemaxbigworld]

All BPs grow at different rates, depending on genetics and feeding regimen. My girl was 340g and 29 inches at 9 months, and it was around that time I started to notice some chunky rolls on her sides. As I'm not aiming to breed or "get her up to size" quickly and trying to err on the side that will lead to longevity (greater space between feeding times reduces the stress put upon their organs. BP organs can remain expanded for about 10 days after feeding! wow!), I elected to cut her back a little bit on feeding frequency.

I'm not saying that you or anyone else should do this, this is just my thoughts on things. I want my kiddo to be around as long as possible, and if that means feeding her less and having a more "slow-grown" approach, so be it. She'll be a big girl eventually, but not before she's ready .

On that note, though, making sure body condition is good is more important (to me) than ensuring that Maze is a certain weight at a particular age. She is a year old, and while I cut back her feeding, she still managed to grow very quickly in length! She's 36 inches, and 444g. Dang, girl. lol. That's still 7 inches in 3 months with reduced feedings.

Anyways, I think your girl is beautiful, and I'm one of those nuts that has a google spreadsheet to keep track of her data, kind of like your diary! it's color coded and has a line graph following her weight gain and everything. i'm losing it i swear lmao.

Okay good to know! I saw a chart someone posted on a different form about snake weight and at what range they should be eating what thing and how often. I believe for her it said 7-10 days until she hits 350 grams then 10-14 if I remember correctly? It just seems so loooong haha. Also when I weigh her should it be like three or five days after feeding to get an accurate weight of just her? Because the day before eating she was 320 and just over 50 hours after eating she was like 360 or so. Which would I go by?

thanks! Hahaha I like the spreadsheet idea a lot! That’s awesome. Now if only I had the proper time and funds to learn breeding but that’ll never happen haha

[redshepherd]

My girl was 340g and 29 inches at 9 months, and it was around that time I started to notice some chunky rolls on her sides. As I'm not aiming to breed or "get her up to size" quickly and trying to err on the side that will lead to longevity (greater space between feeding times reduces the stress put upon their organs. BP organs can remain expanded for about 10 days after feeding! wow!), I elected to cut her back a little bit on feeding frequency.

Thought I'd input that it's not that greater space between feedings leads to longevity in itself. Some people might take that the wrong way and under-feed or "maintenance feed" their snake (the nicer way to put under-feeding), which may even result in stunted growth.

Simply don't OVER feed your snake- if you observe that the snake is chunky and has rolls, it's just been over-fed. Then adjust the feeding schedule.

It is the idea of some hopeful breeders overfeeding with the hope that the female will get "up to breeding size faster" and breeding a chunky female too young that results in poor body condition and poor breeding results. Feed your snake on a normal schedule that doesn't result in a fat snake, and it'll be fine.

[littlemaxbigworld]

Thought I'd input that it's not that greater space between feedings leads to longevity in itself. Some people might take that the wrong way and under-feed or "maintenance feed" their snake (the nicer way to put under-feeding), which may even result in stunted growth.

Simply don't OVER feed your snake- if you observe that the snake is chunky and has rolls, it's just been over-fed. Then adjust the feeding schedule.

It is the idea of some hopeful breeders overfeeding with the hope that the female will get "up to breeding size faster" and breeding a chunky female too young that results in poor body condition and poor breeding results. Feed your snake on a normal schedule that doesn't result in a fat snake, and it'll be fine.

Okay thank you! I just looked through so many threads about feeding and there’s so many opinions I’m overwhelmed haha but it seems like it’s a simple don’t power feed and don’t underfeed. My only question really is what is the age where her growth starts to slow quite a bit?

[redshepherd]

Okay good to know! I saw a chart someone posted on a different form about snake weight and at what range they should be eating what thing and how often. I believe for her it said 7-10 days until she hits 350 grams then 10-14 if I remember correctly? It just seems so loooong haha. Also when I weigh her should it be like three or five days after feeding to get an accurate weight of just her? Because the day before eating she was 320 and just over 50 hours after eating she was like 360 or so. Which would I go by?

thanks! Hahaha I like the spreadsheet idea a lot! That’s awesome. Now if only I had the proper time and funds to learn breeding but that’ll never happen haha

Feeding size and schedule isn't such an exact science, it really depends on the snake. What you said is a good guide people go by, but if you eventually see your snake is too fat or too skinny, then adjust your prey size or feeding schedule.

Most people weigh their snakes some time before feeding day.

[Starscream]

Thought I'd input that it's not that greater space between feedings leads to longevity in itself. Some people might take that the wrong way and under-feed or "maintenance feed" their snake (the nicer way to put under-feeding), which may even result in stunted growth.

Simply don't OVER feed your snake- if you observe that the snake is chunky and has rolls, it's just been over-fed. Then adjust the feeding schedule.

It is the idea of some hopeful breeders overfeeding with the hope that the female will get "up to breeding size faster" and breeding a chunky female too young that results in poor body condition and poor breeding results. Feed your snake on a normal schedule that doesn't result in a fat snake, and it'll be fine.

That's what I meant, thank you for elaborating. My brain doesn't always follow through with the logic loops and apparently thinks other people will "just get it" lol.

Okay good to know! I saw a chart someone posted on a different form about snake weight and at what range they should be eating what thing and how often. I believe for her it said 7-10 days until she hits 350 grams then 10-14 if I remember correctly? It just seems so loooong haha. Also when I weigh her should it be like three or five days after feeding to get an accurate weight of just her? Because the day before eating she was 320 and just over 50 hours after eating she was like 360 or so. Which would I go by?

thanks! Hahaha I like the spreadsheet idea a lot! That’s awesome. Now if only I had the proper time and funds to learn breeding but that’ll never happen haha

And like Red said, most folks use the weight before a feeding. The most accurate is after a bowel movement, as they're considered "empty" and don't have extra waste weighing them down, but sometimes they don't go often enough for that be accurate. You kind of have to go 'well they weigh this, but they also have some poop weight in them so they don't weigh that exact amount, but close enough'.

I think I'm accidentally following the schedule you mentioned -- I kind of just wait until she's actively staring at me for food, maybe wait a day, and then offer. Usually it's around the 10-day mark, and that's what works for me. It might not work for your's, though. She could need more time, or she could need less. There's just a lot of factors; prey size, frequency, and activity level are just a few of them.

[littlemaxbigworld]

Okay cool thanks guys!! So far at the seven / right day mark she’s always been suuuper ready for her food. If a snake could
look like a kid in a candy store, she would. So for now I’ll keep her where she is and just lightly monitor her!

yeah she she is a approximately every two weeks pooper. So when I get a present oh boy is it a present hahah I’m like just waaaaiting for my next poop to clean up.

[littlemaxbigworld]

Someone decided they didn’t want their food last week and was so hungry the next feeding day that the rat didn’t last more then fifteen seconds and Kitty the BP didn’t even get her *head* out of her hide before she just took the rat the bleep down. Maybe next time don’t starve yourself scaly friend.

She didn’t eat and then was clearly regretting her decision about two days later lol