Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am looking into giving a 7ft burm a new home, the bad thing is, is that the guy im getting him from says he is six years old, and even i know that is way to small. is it possible if the snake is that old for him to at least gain a lil more length or he gonna pretty much stay that size, the guy has been feeding him two good size rats once a month, and those are his words to a T. what type of feed schedule should i put him on when i get him? and what types of other problems should i watch out for? if yall can answer all that it would be great... thank u for the help u may have for me

I don't have any experience with stunted burms, but just lost a "six year old" 32 inch long(when I recieved him) ball python to a regurge problem he never recovered from. I had him for a year and in that time he put on about 10 inches, so was growing well. He ate well all the while, a med. rat a week and never showed any signs of ill health. I left town for a week and when I returned I found him dead. It was to late to get a necropsy done, but I expect there was organ failure of some sort. My best suggestion, if you plan on taking this one in, is to get him to a herp vet and have him thoroughly(sp) checked out. I don't know if they do organ biopsys , but it may well be worth the money in the long run. Just my thoughts on this.

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

In my experience a burm that has been slow fed for a long period of timehas a much slower metabolism. Just like people, snakes bodies change to accomodate their environment. Now, 7 feet for a 6 year old is pretty small but not all snakes are predestined to be huge record breakers. Some just stay smaller then others. Also is the snake a male or female. If it is a male then it is not as small as if it were a female. Lastly remember that most burms in captivity are overfed. They eat far much more then they would naturally in the wild resulting in large nakes attining huge lengths in jsut a few years. This is not the case if it were in the wild. As far as feeding it, Go with appropriate size meals every 7-10 days. An appropriate size meal is on that is about the same girth as the widest part of the snake. As the snake gets used to its new feeding regime then you can slowly increase the size of the food items. I also strongly agree that a trip to the vet (a knowledgable herp vet) is a must . Do you currently have any other snakes. If so you should /must quarenteen the new arrival to prevent any contamination of your colony. And what is your experience level with large boids. Hope this helps, Todd

the snake is a male, and i do have 4 other snakes one of which is an 11 month old retic who is about 7 ft long so have had some experience with larger snake, and agree that the snake should be quarinteen

I don't have any experiences with Burmese pythons, but could the snake be a dwarf burm? When I look for bloods on the classifieds I always see a couple ads for dwarf burms.
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1.0 Graziani Pastel Ball Python (Baldwin)
0.1 Spider Ball Python
1.1 Kenyan Sand Boa
1.0 Snow Kenyan Sand Boa (Gaara)
1.0 Blue Garter Snake (Blue)
0.1 Sumatran Blood Python (Medusa)

we've got several- various ages and sizes. I agree with the slower metabolism. I got a 4 year old burm that was about 5 ft- we slowly increased the food intake and she just got fatter and fatter- not longer. so we cut the food back-
just keep an eye on it- make sure it doesn't start getting fat.
Beth
and dwarfs are expensive- i don't know many people that would give one up for free
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

ok i have a couple more questions, what burm has more of a circle pattern to it and will the animal being imported change anything, he said when they bought it as a baby it was imported and has more of a circle pattern

to my knowledge not many mainland burmese are imported these days, most are captive bred, maybe get a pic and post it.

Most likely not a Indian ( no longer imported / endangered ) or a Sri Lanka python / Ceylonese / pimbura rarely imported, if at all, most likely not a dwarf, probably just a maintain fed mainland Burmese.
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Thanks,

Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

just saying the guy says he got him six years ago he ordered him off the net and she was imported

you asked this question =

"ok i have a couple more questions, what burm has more of a circle pattern to it and will the animal being imported change anything, he said when they bought it as a baby it was imported and has more of a circle pattern"

my answer to this was...

to my knowledge not many mainland burmese are imported these days, most are captive bred, maybe get a pic and post it.

Most likely not a Indian ( no longer imported / endangered ) or a Sri Lanka python / Ceylonese / pimbura rarely imported, if at all, most likely not a dwarf, probably just a maintain fed mainland Burmese.

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Thanks,

Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

just as an update i went and picked the lil guy up last night he is beautiful and great i am gonna let him acclimate for a week or so then im gonna start the feed switch will keep yall updated.