Is my BP overweight? Pictures

[dakski]

As said, your tank is fine for now - especially given your current life circumstances.

Secondly, if your are comfortable with your BP's weight and food size, I think that's fine. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

However, I wanted to explain my rationale for smaller prey items. Just so you now where I am coming from.

It sounds counterintuitive, but when I went to smaller prey items for Shayna, she actually gained weight. However, she likes to refuse prey when I offer larger food items and she fasts in winter. Feeding her small rats instead of medium, she eats regularly in the spring, summer, and fall.

It's amazing how efficient snakes in general are, but especially "bigger" constrictors like pythons and boas. They can do a lot with very little in terms of prey size. Remember, 90% of our energy goes to maintaining our body heat. They don't have to worry about that. They are also very sedentary. They don't move much. Calorie burn is low on a BP.

Also, in the wild, the rats BP's eat are smaller than medium rats we offer in captivity. African Soft Fur Rats are about the size of a small rat you would find Frozen or in a pet store.

Finally, getting a BP to lose weight is difficult. Better to be feeding smaller meals than larger ones for life expectancy and health.

Whatever you do, good luck with your BP and keep us posted.