Snake weight

[Neko_snake]

Hey, I recently got a ball python. He just took his first feeding from me yesterday. He's supposed to be 2 months old but he only weighs 49g. I thought he'd be bigger at 2 months. Should I worry or try to feed him more often? I've been trying once a week to get him to eat. I've only had him for 2 weeks.

[Bogertophis]

Baby snakes grow slowly, in part because they're also eating "baby" rodents. Be patient, they grow at their own pace, & pushing food faster than he's ready for it is not necessarily a good idea.

I would not feed a baby BP more often than every 5-7 days- and btw, what are the temps in his enclosure/tub/or tank? Snakes require optimal temperatures to digest, & if you push food faster than they can do so, either they'll refuse to eat, or they may eat & regurgitate.

Ever hear the phrase "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? He just ate for you- be happy & patient- & don't try to power feed him into growing faster- that will just make a snake unhealthy (with too much body fat). If I were you, I'd be perfectly happy with him eating once a week.

It's normal that he didn't feed right away for you, that first week (assuming you tried & offered?)- they need a week or so to "settle in" (relax enough to focus on eating). He's right on schedule. Wait 6-7 days before you offer food again- snakes take time to digest.

BTW, what exactly is he eating? mouse or rat, & what size?

[Neko_snake]

He ate a small adult mouse. Basically a hopper. I think it was around 29g. My hot side is around 90 and my cooler side goes to 77ish. Yes he refused the first week which I expected. He ate this week and I'm so happy he did. I just wanted to make sure his weight wasn't an issue. I'm perfectly happy with him being a runt for now as long as hopefully he eats constantly.

[Bogertophis]

If he's only 49 grams & you fed him a mouse that was 29 grams, that was pretty big for him. That meal was more than half his weight! He might need more than a week to digest it, if he keeps it down (& if you're correct about the weights).

[Neko_snake]

Well I feed him what the breeder was feeding him so I don't know. It was smaller than the widest part of him.

[Bogertophis]

Well I feed him what the breeder was feeding him so I don't know. It was smaller than the widest part of him.

I hope & suspect you have at least one of the weights wrong.

[Neko_snake]

Well I literally just weighed him. I didn't actually weigh the mouse but on the box it says it weighs 20-29g. I'm pretty sure they mean the box not the mice. So it probably was way less than what I was thinking it was.

[Bogertophis]

Well I literally just weighed him. I didn't actually weigh the mouse but on the box it says they weigh 15-29g. So it probably was less than what I was thinking it was.

Yes, hopefully it was on the low end of that range for the mouse.

[Neko_snake]

Like I said the mouse wasn't even the size of the thickest part of him.

[EL-Ziggy]

I’ve gotten yearling snakes that were just over 100g on arrival, so 49g at two months doesn’t seem unreasonable. I feed my snakes pretty liberally for the first two years since a lot of their intake goes towards growth and I scale them back after that. I don’t weigh my snakes or their food but I wouldn’t feed the snakes half their body weight on a regular basis. If you’re going to feed larger meals I’d consider spacing out the feeding intervals a bit.