Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there any difference between a male and female balls head size? I was told my male was an adult by my vet, but his head seems to be so much smaller than other "adults" ive seen. Im not a "newbie" when it comes to the care of bp's, but i just feel stupid because I dont have anything else to compare it to. It was just a question i wanted to throw out there. thanks.

Don't quote me, but I heard that male bp's heads are relatively smaller then females.

In doing my research before acquiring my BP I too read somewhere that the males heads are smaller than females. Don't know how true that is....

I've noticed that the balls that eat the best have the smallest heads. I believe this is true because their bodies grow faster than their heads. (soft tissue tends to grow at a faster rate than skeletal tissue--and the head has much thicker bone tissue than the body does). Thus, the ones that eat every time will grow their bodies faster than their heads so their heads look small in comparison to their bodies. As they get older, and their body growth slows down, their heads grow at a faster rate than their bodies and they look more "balanced".

Interestingly, my favorite albino male eats like a pig and has a small head--- and another albino male I have that is a problem eater, has the largest head proportionally of all my ball pythons.

Rodney

I've never heard about the head being different sizes depending on sex. I would simply assume that this is only semi-reliable, or no more reliable than measuring the snakes tail to determine sex. I have a normal bp that is about a year and a half old and is the same size and about the same proportion as yours. Unfortunately I haven't had it probed, so I can't even tell you what sex mine is much less yours. But I'd be willing to bet, your "adult" is just as juvenille (sp?) as mine. I've seen some full grown bps that are about 5' long and as thick as a can of Foster's...