BP 350 grams at 3 months. normal or not?

[Bogertophis]

https://ibb.co/qL6hkJN
https://ibb.co/WgT34BP

BP1 healthy is the pastel yb
BP2 suspected overweight is pastave GHI
Note: today is feeding day, both BPs in the pics have a whole rat in them right now still.

Yes, I agree that BP2 is overweight. And your PM description of her feeding style (only coiling with her neck because her midsection is too girthy) is a good & accurate observation. Unfortunately snakes do not do weight-reduction diets very well- it's very hard to get them to lose the fat & it often shortens their lifespan (from things like fatty liver disease etc).

Your goal should be not allowing her to get even more overweight- she still needs to eat, but gradually lengthen the time between meals & keep the meals small. Do not feed any rodents (either rats or mice) that are "old breeders" as they're high fat, & not what she should be eating. By the same token, rodents that are young (just weaned or younger) are also high-fat, so choose the smallest lean adult rodents to feed her- if she'll take mice, that might be preferable since the adults are smaller than rats by far, but BPs often have preferences & accept only one or the other.

Were you planning to breed these snakes?

[cuddlykhajiit]

Have they gone poo? And have you felt their bodies? Like checking for kinks maybe.

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

[JAGpenguin]

No breeding, I only buy females. I received BP2 overweight like that from the breeder. They even claimed that she is just 3 months old when i bought her. Right now I am feeding her weekly rats at around 33 grams (10% weight)
At an age that young, can i really not reverse the negative effects of being overweight? I put each BP in 36x18 terra with half logs they use for climbing and working out. I dont put them in tubs where they can barely move.

[JAGpenguin]

Have they gone poo? And have you felt their bodies? Like checking for kinks maybe.

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

They poo weekly and i do inspection on their bodies to look for lumps and stuff like that. Both have normal bodies.

[cuddlykhajiit]

Can you get your hands on African Soft furs?

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

[JAGpenguin]

Can you get your hands on African Soft furs?

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

What's different about this particular rodent? I can look for them

[cuddlykhajiit]

What's different about this particular rodent? I can look for them

Lower fat compared to rats. It's what they would eat if they were in the wild.

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

[Bogertophis]

No breeding, I only buy females. I received BP2 overweight like that from the breeder. They even claimed that she is just 3 months old when i bought her. Right now I am feeding her weekly rats at around 33 grams (10% weight)
At an age that young, can i really not reverse the negative effects of being overweight? I put each BP in 36x18 terra with half logs they use for climbing and working out. I dont put them in tubs where they can barely move.

Poor gal appears "power-fed" to me. I would NOT feed her weekly- first go to 10 days a few times, then 2 weeks- see how that goes.

The larger accommodations should help some, but BPs aren't natural athletes anyway. If she doesn't hate it, you might try having her swim (while supported by you) "in place" in shallow water, either in a bathtub or "kiddie pool". But it might stress her excessively- so don't over-do it, IF you actually try it. Much depends on a snake's own personality + how calm you can keep her.

Yes, it helps that she's young, & the reason I asked about your plans to breed is that it "takes a lot out of" female snakes when they produce eggs or young, but I am NOT suggesting that you just breed her for that purpose- not at all. I'd say it might also be risky- I only wondered if that was your intention. It's better that she's not in a tub (I'm not a fan of using tubs to house snakes anyway) but how much she'll move around on her own remains to be seen- especially from what you said about her constriction "style".

[cuddlykhajiit]

I would say find some stuff for her to climb on and stuff it in her enclosure. That way it's her choice. Some people say they don't climb but we'll... Murphy thinks he's arboreal lol and he does this a lot.

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk

[JAGpenguin]

Thank you both. Both BP1 and BP2 are curious individuals. They roam around 7pm to 10pm. BP2 explores every nook and cranny and usually chills on top of a half-log resin hide. She never hides there, too exposed. I put the halg-log in anyway for climbing purposes. I also put XL plastic hides that are too big for them, so that they can climb on those too. The hides that they actually use as hides right now are medium rectangular black plastic hides.