Are my BPs healthy weights?

[frankykeno]

Never heard of such a thing - but I know that Joanna (frankykeno) rescued a 2 year old female who was very small from not being fed well - and now she's breeding this year - she rebounded quite well, once she was vet checked and put on a proper diet.

I haven't either Robin but anyone that would purposefully withhold food from any animal be that a snake or a dog or whatever, to stunt it's growth unnaturally is as far as I'm concerned guilty of animal abuse.

Thanks for all the help and feedback everyone is giving me! You guys are being so helpful!

I havn't been feeding them 10% of their weight... I'll start that right away. I had NEVER heard that rule before.

Also, I called around a few vets and none of them specialized in reptiles...

Did you ask them if they can do a fecal float on your snake's poop? Far as I know a fecal is a fecal and isn't even done by the vet but rather by one of the technicians. If they give you a result and do not feel they can treat the snake then you can ask for a referral to a herp experienced vet.

I can't see how a few years of underfeeding would keep them small. Wouldn't it be just plain slowing down their growing, not stopping it for good.

We adopted two girls this past year. Both around 2-3 years of age and barely 500 grams. They had a tell tale triangular underweight look to them, thin, really soft, loose skin, stuck shed and eye caps. They were being fed a small mouse once a week.

Since we've been feeding them an appropriately sized meal weekly (baby rat no bigger around then their widest point), they have both put on a couple of hundred grams and finally look like normal young ball pythons. We haven't stuffed them or power-fed, and they defecate in small amounts. As far as we can figure, they are using just about all the food for growth.

They are a rounded well developed shape, firm to the touch, stronger and actually have gotten developed more color, getting darker.

I've seen it go both ways Connie. The snake Robin is referring to was just under 2 years of age and approximately 1 to 2 inches longer than a normal six month old female ball python. She weighed in at almost the exact weight range of a 6 month old snake. I double, then triple checked with her previous owners but they remembered exactly when they got her. They had underfed her, her entire life based on the very bad advice of a pet store clerk.

As Robin said, Kyna was put on a proper diet and very, very quickly grew in both weight and length and produced her first clutch of 7 hatchlings for us last year.

We have other snakes that came in as adults that were of appropriate length but severly underweight. I wonder if it's something to do with age perhaps. If the snake can achieve adulthood before it's left neglected and underfed maybe they do get big but skinny. However, if they are underfed from hatching then it makes sense that very little of what they do get would go into much growth and would just be used to sustain what pitiful existance they manage to have. Just a theory though.

I'll see if I can dig up the old picture of Kyna I have (she was called Punkin by her previous owners).