size

[surf4life]

I was wondering if anyone knew when a ball python will reach its full adult size? I have had my bp for 2 years and he/she, im not sure if its male or female is close to 2 1/2 feet and a little more than an inch in diameter. when do they stop growing and how long does it take for them to reach there adult size? thanks.

[littleindiangirl]

There's sayings that reptiles continue to grow for their entire life, but I don't know if its true. The older they are they do certainly seem to be bigger.

If its a male, and he's been fed appropriatly sized meals weekly his whole life, I would say he's probably close to his adult size now. (without seeing him in person I really have no idea)

If it's a female, and she has too been fed appropriately size meals weekly, she could likely still grow for a couple more years before she reaches her average adult size. Even then, she could continue to grow to be one of those 3000 gram girls.

[John Marker]

To begin with, snakes never quite growing. They will continue to grow their entire life. Their groth rate will significantly slow down at about age 3 to 5, but they will still be growing.

Males will have a tendancy to be smaller, both in girth and length, when compared to a female.

It is difficult to say wether your snake has reached its slow down point or not. I would guess that he/she probably has about 1 to 1.5 years before he/she stops growing rapidly. But in all honesty, that previous sentance is nothing more than a guess. A lot has to do with the sex of the snake (which is unknown) and the genetics of your snakes parents (which is also unknown).

To give you my best guess, if your snake is a male, it will probably grow another 1 to 1.5 feet and gain some girth. If your snake is a female, it will probably grow about 2 feet and gain a substantial amount of girth. In both cases, the timeframe would be over the next 2 years, aproximatly.

Please remember, this is only my guess. The above statement is only what I think will happen.

Hope this helps,

John

[surf4life]

thanks for the replys. i dont think that he is at his full size yet he sheds every 2 months so he is still growing.