Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a young female from a friend of mine. My friend had this snake for about a year maybe a bit more. The female is now 565g. I saw her when my friend got her and she was about the size of my 150g male. Does this growth rate sound about right? And how much should she gain in the next year? Thanks for any input.

Nisa
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3.2 Ball python (Hoss, Little Man, Adam, Helen, and the new girl who gets named when she eats)
1.1 Corn snakes (Orlando and Legolas)
0.1 King snake (Sidhe which sounds exactly like "she"
0.0.1 GTP (Kissy the Red)
1.1 Haitian Boa (Enkil and Akasha)

And bunches of furry pets

Very hard to say. We have snakes that grow like weeds and some very slow, just like people I guess. It also depends on the feeding schedule used and what was fed...so many variables. Looking over some data in the spreadsheets here I have a male that was born small and was only 174 g after 6 months, and made 505 at the end of the next year...then he shot up to 900 at the end of the next. He's my slowest guy and in his case he was plain testy so tough to feed and was smaller than his siblings. Conversely I have one female that hit 840 g in 12 months, whe was an eating beast.
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Mike and David at 3-D Pythons
www.3dpythons.com

My female is over four months old and weighs only 160 grams. Part of her problem is that I've been too conservative about feeding her. I've been worried about feeding her something too big for her, and I think I've ended up not feeding her enough. I'm increasing her intake now to compensate. She just took a 25 gram f/t rat fuzzy a few minutes ago. I'm going to feed her on a six day schedule for a few weeks.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

Weight gain really depends on many factors. In 2004 I got 9 female hatchlings, their current weights are 1800g, 1600g, 1400g, 3 are 1000g and 2 are only 700g. It all depends on the individuals eating habits. My two smallest eat mice only and will only eat one at a sitting if they will take that, they also go off feed for a month or two when they feel like it. The biggest 2 are rat eaters that eat even when in shed and the others are pretty much steady feeders but again on rats, the 1400g girl just switched back to mice, and the one 1000g girl eats mice but will easily eat 2 a week most of the time. I also have an '04 male that is still only 380g, he is just a very picky eater.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

Thanks for posting this information. Is your '04 male that's only 380 grams otherwise healthy? My girl seems to be growing slowly. I've underfed a bit, but even then she seems to be a slow grower. If your guy is healthy at that small weight, I feel better about my girl being small.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.