Reptile & Amphibian Forums

mine is a 4 yr old female who eats one appropriately sized rat per week and has every week since i got her four years ago and is only maybe 8 ft long. i have a friend who also has one who is almost six years old and male and is only maybe eight and a half ft. does the albino green genes make them smaller or is their potentially somethin else in the works here?

"does the albino green genes make them smaller or is their potentially somethin else in the works here?"

Insufficient feeding. One large rat per week for an 8-footer is merely an appetizer. No offense but, ya'll aren't feeding your snakes enough.

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

Yes Mike you are right on that one. You guys are not barley feeding those snakes. I have a 6 1/2 ft tiger retic that I feed 2- 2 to 3 lb rabbits every 10 days. I have a male burm that will not eat rabbits at all. He gets anywhere from 6 to 10 large rats every 10 days and he's 9 to 10 ft. Offer more because they will eat trust me.
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Education is Everything.......

well she hasnt evn reached 8 ft yet id be surprised honestly if she was seven and my friend does feed hers three to four large thawed rats per week. i never really saw a need to increase her intake with her weight being absolutely perfect in contrast with the rest of her(no boneyness or being to slender, always full bodied and very muscled but not over weight) and the one large rat(she was eating 2 smalls 7months ago) seems to make what would be considered an appropriate sized lump in her. by no means are we starving these animals. she is an incredibly healthy snake just doesnt seem to be getting any larger. she has steadily grown over the four years ive had her it just hasnt been what most would consider "normal" burm growth rate. i dont want the people on these boards to think im starving ma critter because she is in fact very healthy.

You said in your first post that this snake is 4 yrs old and almost 8 ft. I'm sorry but that is small for any burm of that age unless you are working with dwarfs. Everyone does things differnt that is for sure. Please don't take this post offensive. Just my opinion.
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Education is Everything.......

i didnt take it offensive. but yea it is small hence my original post because like i said i wasnt the only one who's albino green stayed on the very small end of burms. and even if i was underfeeding mine at all i know she isnt underfeeding hers at all because her other burm who is also male is 18ft so we thought maybe it was kinda like a mutant combo of genes that may hinder growth. since neither of us could ever remember seeing even adults of any signifigant size when it came to them. im simply tryin to find an answer to the situation. cause every othr snake we have which are mainly all large constrictors have gotten to their expected size in about the expected amount of time.

I'm not sure then. Never known burms to be on the small side ( except dwarf's )unless they were kept in a small cage and or under fed. Maybe someone else may have your answer. Mike ( hillbilly ) do you have any answers
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Education is Everything.......

Hey there!
I feel that I should apologize for not being more cordial in my first reply to you. I usually am but I was in a hurry & trying to provide you with some input. Sorry 'bout that.

There are no reports that I'm aware of in which albino green Burmese pythons are considerably smaller than any other Burmese pythons. The size differences between you & your friend's albino greens and the average Burmese python tells me that:
1 - Ya'll aren't feeding them enough, OR
2 - There's something wrong in your husbandry, OR
3 - Both 1 & 2

I don't mean that hastily or negatively, by any means, so please don't take it that way. I'm only trying to help you find the answers you're searching for. Hopefully you'd rather me be straight-forward & honest with you rather than lie to you or not reply at all. I'm not going to earn any brownie points from you or anyone else and I probably won't make any new friends with this reply, but at least you'll know the truth.

"...even if i was underfeeding mine at all i know she isnt underfeeding hers at all because her other burm who is also male is 18ft..."

I don't know how long your friend has had the Burmese python you mentioned, what size it was when she got it, and how much it's grown since she got it. But I do know that an 18ft male Burmese python is pretty much a rarity. Yes, there have been reports of a few, but they are few & far between. I'm not saying that she couldn't possibly have an 18ft male but the size & age of her albino green makes me question her feeding regimen, and maybe even her husbandry.

There again, please don't misunderstand me, I'm not trying to be Mr Smarty Pants and I surely don't mean to come across in a bad way. However, for the sake of both albino greens (yours & hers), and for the sake of those reading these posts for useable information, I'm calling it like I see it.

To prove a point I took the time to search the 5 pages of this forum and I also took a look on another forum I participate on. Here are some links to a few threads with photos of large albino greens:

First up is "Rosie," a 15-footer owned by Randy & Michelle of Art In Scales (username: artinscales)forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1362067,1362067

Secondly, an 11-footer forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1416706,1416706

Third, this person also posts on another forum I frequent and while the snakes' sizes aren't mentioned in this linked post he said on the other forum that the female was 14 - 15ft. forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1442021,1442021

I can only hope that those posts will convince you to take a good look at your husbandry & rethink things for the sake & well-being of your snake. You're by far not the first person to underfeed your snake, and you surely won't be the last. Please don't let emotions get in the way, it's not about you & me, or anyone else, it's all about our beautiful captives.

Burmese pythons are heavy-bodied snakes and aren't supposed to be sleek & slender like a reticulated python. Yes, some overdo it, overfeed their Burmese pythons, but I'm not trying to encourage you to do so.

I sincerely hope that I didn't offend you or your friend as it was not my intention.

Hang in there & have a great day!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

as far as i know shes had the male since a very young age and he is now i believe 19 yrs old. and none of my posts have been any you an me kinda thing(sorry if it came off that way) ive simply just been puttin out all the info i have on whats up with my snake and wondering why it and my friends male were both of smaller size. ive checked over my husbandry and everything is up to snuff. as soon as i get the chance ill take a pic of her as she is a beautiful snake. she just happens to appear like a mini version of the general burmese python. she was sold to me as a female and ive always believed her to be could she potentially have been a male all this time and would that maybe lead to the smaller size?

Hi!
Males are only "slightly" smaller than females, a few feet smaller. So, no, that isn't the issue.

My "it's not about me, you,..." comment was in saying not to let emotions, feelings, pride, or whatever, get in the way of learning. What I meant was, if you felt offended by what I said, try to set your feelings aside & let's concentrate on your snake. You haven't said anything about "you" as if being proud, and I never even thought that way. Sorry for the confusion.

You're OK with me. You seem to be handling things quite well as far as not getting offended. Keep it up. Keep asking questions. I'm glad to hear that you've already taken a look at your husbandry, that's the first thing we all should do when we have an issue of some sort.

Try experimenting. Try slightly increasing feed amount for awhile and observe the reactions.

Hang in there!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

www.natures-signature.com

I was going to post a pic of our 15ft albino green but I see Mike beat me to it.HaHa

In your original post you said you feed an appropriate sized rat every week. That's kinda vague, what's appropriate to you might be too small or too large to me. Appropriate size to me is the prey item leaving a noticable lump but not looking like the snake swallowed a basketball. We have a 10ft male burm that eats XXXL guinea pigs every 10 to 14 days and he seems skinny to me, so we are going to change it to every 7 days to try to get some mass on him for next breeding season, he has also lost weight this breeding season. If you are feeding a large rat every week you need to bump that up to at least 2 large rats or a small to medium rabbit or a XXL guinea pig.

Like Mike said, we aren't blasting on you just trying to answer your questions, so please don't take things the wrong way.

Hope this helps,
Randy
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Randy and Michelle
Art In Scales
(719) 439-4199
info@artinscales.com

ive never taken any of your guys responses as blasts so no worries. and by appropriate i meant large enough to leave a noticeable lump in the snake. its generally a large or xl rat depending on what their considering large that week but their on par with the size of a small guinea pig usually. if they dont have that she'll get 2-3 of whatever size they have to make up for the same as the one large/xl. shes eating about every 6 days right now.