Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a few ball pythons and was wandering if there weight was appropriate? i would like to ask all with ball pythons under 1 year
what they weigh? thanks all.

Here is what our guys are at 8 months. (frodo) {weight in grams}

And another. (aragorn) {weight in grams}

-----
1.2.0 ball python (aragorn, arwen,`eowyn)
1.0.0 100% het pied (frodo)
1.0.0 columbian boa (squiggles)
1.0.0 rat snake (alabastered)
0.1.0 corn snake (baby)
0.0.2 whites tree frog (trevor, kirmet)
0.0.5 pacific green tree frogs
3.2.0 cats (rockie, bs, brownie, lerrado, kole)
1.3.0 kids (dilyen, dakota, chyanne, sierra)
Brian n Chrissy
"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

The best place I've found (meaning Tosha showed me) for this information is

www.thereddragonsden.com/avgweight.htm

The lady who runs this site comes to the forum occasionally, and she's graciously provided some data. I appreciate people who provide good information for the herp community, and I think this page is one of those that deserve this credit.

The only bad thing is that my girl is considerably underweight according to these data. Most people say that she looks okay, so I'm trying not to stress about it. However, I'll be happier when she gets bigger.

A piece of happy news for me is that she just took a rat fuzzy as I was typing this response. She cleaned her plate, so I'm proud of her.

Bill

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

Bill,
I appreciate the nice words about my web site~ it's so nice to know anyone other than me knows it's there! LOL!

Please don't take the averages to mean your girl is underweight though. When I started this I thought it would demonstrate an "average" to compare new snakes too~ but it has developed into pretty clear representation that there is no "normal" wieght at any age. Take a look at the monthly charts of each snake

Monthly charts

I need to update it~ but it's acurate up to November 05. Check out the numbers on Female 4, Female 10, and Female 14. These girls are perfectly healthy and have been maintained on the EXACT same diet as Female 1 and Female 7~ both of those girls had weights at just over one year that the last three have at just under 3 years.

Your girl looks nice and healthy to me. Please don't stress yourself over an "average" wieght~ and since you shared some pics~ here are some pics of those girls I took just a couple weeks ago:
Female 4:

Female 10:

Female 14:

Female 1:

Female 7:

-----
Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

Cheryl,

Thanks for posting the data that you've posted. You're right about my girl tracking closely with Female #4 and to some extent with Pixie #16. In fact, when Tosha showed me your page a couple of months ago, I felt much better about how my girl was doing because I could track her so closely with these individuals. Knowing that yours are still doing well makes me feel even better about my girl.

I have a buddy who's done neat statistical work for his research. He's not done anything with biology, but the principles apply either way. When I was trying to do a master's on oysters, he talked to me about some things we could do with the data. I've thought about getting him to help me work your numbers into something that would tell more than just averages.

I collect similar bits of information from others around the forums. This stuff can be pretty interesting. I'd love to see some statistical papers on ball pythons in captivity.

In any case, my girl is curled under her hide with a fairly full belly, so I'm happy. I've had some problems getting appropriately sized rats, but I've made an order from an online company. I've heard good things about them. If the good reports are true, I should have a good supply of appropriate feeders.

Thanks again for sharing this information.

Bill

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

Feel free to do anything you like with the information. It would be interesting to see others interpretations. I will be updating the information with the last several months soon. A new wrinkle will be in the info soon too I *hope*~ some of the big girls have been actively breeding with my males this year~ we'll see what that does to the numbers. (I'll mark ones that have been gravid in some way on the charts)

Funny you should mention Pixie Girl. Her name is Pixie Girl because she was such a tiny little thing when I got her. I saw her in a pet store and pointed her out to my sister as an import CH that should have been wormed, and said that I would never recomend buying one in that bad a shape, or buying any of the others in a tank with one that bad. The owner overheard me and GAVE her to me. Said he figured she was gonna die anyway and if I thought worming her would help I could have her. I took her home, wormed her and put her in her own private enclosure (she was in a tank with a LOT of others at the pet store) and she has done fine ever since!!
-----
Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

When I bought my 22 '04 c.h. yearling females last year from Mark and Kim Bell, they seemed quite small (most were about 250 - 400 gms or so), but very healthy and good eaters. Now they are mostly around 600 - 800 gms, with some as low as 500 and one over 1,000. So I can see that they generally fall within the realm of "normal" - whatever that is!

BTW, I got my first male 2 months ago - a nice pastel from Chris and Sheila at Gulf Coast. But I don't have any photos yet.

Interesting info, especially for a first time BP owner - thanks!

I'm hoping to actually produce some pastels this year (crossed fingers) and two of the females I put to my pastel male are in those charts (Female 1 and Female 8)

Here's a recent pic of my Pastel (name is Pumpkin)~ show us pics of yours when you have a chance

-----
Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
The Red Dragons Den
Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons~ for you are Crunchy and taste good with Ketchup!

This male pastel is 7 months old (hatched August 15 05) and is 402 grams and growing, sorry for the pic being so big.

Bob Kite

As already noted weights are highly variable.

I have a cluch I held back that is 8 months old, and they range from 220-450 grams. there were 2 slow starters that had to be assist fed a few times, and are still sporatic feeders.

My 10 month old holdbacks are 800-1000 grams but they haven't been eating much the last 6 weeks.

TomChambers

I have a female pastel that has never skipped a feeding (every 5 days) and has just piled on weight- she is big and beautiful at 1032 grams! I couldn't believe it when I weighed her this week...woah! Most of my others are at 450-560grams.

Steve