Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have heard that some reptiles grow throughout their lives (though the growth slows exponentially). Is this the case with ball pythons? I have never kept any snakes other than my ball python, and a kingsnake I had when I was very young, so I don't have any first hand experience to draw from, but I remember hearing from a burmese python keeper a long time ago that his large snakes 'would continue to grow for the rest of their lives'.

So I was just wondering if this was really the case. In a way it seems to make sense (that they would continue to grow little by little) but in another way it makes just as much sense for growth to eventually stop sometime after sexual maturity is reached.

I was just curious.

I got an accurate length measurement on my yearling BP the other day. 31" long. Last time I measured his weight (a couple of weeks ago), he was about 500 grams. This summer I'm thinking about getting him a pastel girlfriend.

Ryan, you heard right. Snakes continue to grow throughout their lives. More noticably in the first three years or so after which it slows considerably, but never stops.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Because I had heard that all reptiles grow throughout their lives, at least minimally. It seems to make sense, and I recently noticed that my 6-7 year old bearded dragon had put on another inch in length since I last measured him (probably 3-4 years ago, when I assumed he was done growing). I've also noted that my leopard gecko continues to grow. The only reptiles I have right now that I've yet to notice any growth in are a rescued mali uromastyx, and a very large, old, female russian tortoise, but I attribute that to the fact that they are older reptiles, so their growth rates are now so slow it would probably be difficult note any growth in time spans shorter than a few years.

Thanks for clearing up my confusion.