Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For anyone else that happens to be keeping track of this~ I've got 12 months of info on them now. Still a pretty drastic variance in weights at similair ages~
Female #7~ 1001 grams
Female #10~ 249 grams

Both of those girls came in the same day (6-4-03) from the same breeder and were within 5 grams of each other!
Average weight charts

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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

Ooops
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

I love this type of info collection. A great illustration of the eating variability from animal to animal. I would say the range of weights/eating habits in your populations of 20 is very simliar to what I have experienced with my group of 80 CH 2003 animals.

Thanks for sharing your efforts
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Jim Perron
Python Passion Reptiles
pythonpassion@hotmail.com
www.pythonpassionreptiles.com

I picked up two female pos. het. '03 females from a breeder on March 16th...Both weighed 265 grams dry.....I chart all my bp's feeding, shedding, and growth....As of today 1 of the female hets. weighs 820 grams dry and the other weighs 680 grams dry...This growth is insane I think for the one that weighs 820 grams...She gained 555 grams in 14 weeks...Crazy I think...Irony has it that the bigger of the two (who are sisters from the same clutch) eats rats while the other eats mice....This just goes to show how much better and more nutrient rich rats are and how they can really add some growth on your ball....I just picked up an '03 female pastel that is a lil' over 400 grams and she eats rats..I'm hoping she takes after the one girl and sticks on 500 grams in 14 wks.....I guess though it also has to do with husbandry and proper temp. gradients...Good Luck to all!!

I have two females I got on 2-14-04 weights empy were 202grams for the smaller and 286grams for the other. Weights as of last week were 840grams and 905 grams empy. Both animals have never refused a meal (they will eat in shed to) and eat F/T rats. I was feeding 2x's per week, but they started to get a little heavy, so I now feed 1x per week. The weights were recoded after they shed and defecated.
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CB

Did you keep data on the masses of rats and mice fed to each ball?

Mark

I didn't weigh them but I put if it's a sm., med., or lg. rat or mouse....So I just know what they take in..All my weights are also recorded after each shedding and defeciation...Right now the one bigger girl is going through her shed cycle every 20-22 days like clock work....Can't wait till next season..

How do you get them to eat so frequently? I would be happy if I could get mine a steady 10 day cycle at this point. I 2 sub adult males and 1 sub adult female. One male will eat every a small rat each week while the other male and female will eat a small rat once every 10-14 days. I put a rat in there each week, but they aren't interested. Then I wait 2-4 days and they gobble it up as if they haven't eaten in a month. I've tried f/k and f/t, but they don't eat them, so I stick to small live rats and watch them intently just in case; although the small rats seem to young to know they can attack.
So how do you get them to eat so often? If I could do that, my female would be ready to breed this season!
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...got balls?

graycat

Letting me live here:
2.2 normals
0.1 pie ball
1.0 hetpied
0.1 Suriname
? Common snapping turtle
? Alligator snapping turtle
1 Guinea pig
2 gold fish (turtle survivors)
3 pet rats and
3 cats
Oh yeah, and 3 children!

Out of about 30 females I only have four that wont eat everytime I try to feed. The four that are pickier want live which I only get every week or two. This great feeding will be gone in the winter time I'm sure.
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CB

Have you tried feeding multiple rats during feeding time? I actually feed mice (but have started breeding rats), and feed them as much as they want during their feeding time (once a week). I have two females who were about 200 grams each when I got them in March (haven't measured recently). One female will down 4 adult mice before she calls it quits while the other will only take 2 (sometimes 3). Obviously the one that eats more has started to noticeably outgrow the other.

Try feeding multiple rats to each ball python during a feeding. Once they get a feeding response going, usually they will eat until satisfied. One large rat may do it, or multiple smaller ones.

Mark