Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm just wondering how people are getting thier 6 or 7 month old snakes up to 6 or 7 hundred grams or more? I've got 6 snakes in that age range that eat one small rat (or two mice) every 5 days and they are all around 3-4 hundred grams. I can't imagine feeding them anymore than that nor do I see them wanting to eat anymore than that. So how come I keep seeing all these snakes (mostly males and already producing sperm) that are the same age but twice the size? What is a good size for your average 6 month old?
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

I feed mine 2 jumbo mice every 4 or 5 days and they are growing at a rate of at least 150 grams per month. They are all about 6 months old and between 500 and 600 grams. Some snakes grow faster than others despite how much you feed them, for example I have a male that has grown from 280 grams as of 1/22/05 to 580 grams as of 2/23/05...yeah 300 grams in one month (and he is still always hungry). I have a female that was originally bigger than him at 350 grams on 1/22/05 and she is now 530 grams on 2/23/05...gained only 180 grams in that month...only lol. The male has only taken one extra meal (30 grams) than the female (although he would have eaten 10 more meals if I gave them to him, but I don't want him to explode) and all were similarly sized meals. I guess the male is much more efficient at processing food. Anyway, I do not feel that this is power feeding, all of them can still curl up into a ball, move freely, and there is no skin showing between the scales. In other words, they look healthy, not bloated. I have seen pictures of some males online that look like their sides are about ready to blow out, and then the person selling it is all excited about it being 600 or 700 grams and producing sperm...yeah, I bet it will breed really well too, since it can barely move...lol. Raising balls is not a race, in the end you and your snakes will be a lot happier and a lot less stressed if you take your time.

Tosha, I think it depends on what the snake is feeding on. I would think a good average weight for a Ball python(morph or Normal)of 6-7 months old would be between 150 - 400 grams, I have seen 100% het pied males only weigh 125 grams after 6 months(hell, I purchased one that was 125 grams at 6 months from a well know breeder). It was feeding on mice. I have found that Rat/rat pup feeders grow way faster than mice feeders. My male Pastel that I got from ASF at the Daytona show and was born on 7-7-04 is 660 grams at almost 8 months old, but he was always a strong feeder on rats I didn't push him real hard, he has only eaten 30 times in almost 8 months. He just grew with every meal. I have ball python that were born way before him that are only 200 grams. I guess it is just up to the snakes system to decide if it wants to grow like a weed. I have a Pied male that was a very picky feeder and would only eat mice and was born on 7-?-04 and he is just now 250 grams, But he has started on rats now so I figure he will start growing. He ate around 20 times since I got him. My buddy got a PIED from the same person the same time I got mine and his is over 600 grams and went off feed for a awile. Now that sucks...LOL...for me that is. But his fed on RATS from the day he got it home. I would say like I said before a good range for 6-7 month old Ball pythons would be 150 - 400 grams. hope this helps, Thanks David
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1.0 Pied(04)(RDR)
1.0 Albino(04)(RDR)
0.1 Spider(04)(RDR)
3.2 Pastels(03's)(04's)(ASF,Graziani,Bell lines)
0.1 Yellow belly(unproven)(04)
1.3 Yellow belly(unproven)(02,03,04's)
2.0 100% HET CLOWN(04's)(MHMR)
3.3 100% het albinos(03's)(high contrast bell line)
0.1 poss Het Albino(03's)
2.0 100% het pieds(03's)(Vin Russo,CRE)
0.2 100% het pieds(03's)(04's)(RDR,TWL)
1.2 Poss het pieds(03's)(PETE KAHL)
2.1 Poss het pieds(00's)(01's) hoping to get PIEDS this year(Vin Russo, Pete Kahl)
25 Normal adult females
60 04 females
15 normal mixed 03's
20 Assorted weird ball pythons 04's

the balls i have in that age group prob. range between 200-400 grams. i feed all mine live rats. offer food every 3 days. if they are hungry they will eat. if not they dont. i think when you see really young animals out there with very high weights you know that there has to be something ' going on ' with its owner. out of all my snakes i have, the one that has gained the most is a 1 year female - who i call garbage disposal - will eat almost every 3 days and weighs about 900 grams. all the rest follow the above. as they get larger and you feed them larger prey they tend to grow at a good pace. get past the winter off-feed and past 500 grams and they seem to do pretty well.

We feed all of our 04's on a 5-8 day schedule and EVERY one has gained an average of 80-110 grams per month. Every one of ours is feeding on live rats/pups that weigh about 8-10% of the snakes weight.
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www.NEWReptiles.com

I've been feeding mine every 4 days and the 6 month olds were just shy of 700 grams. 100 grams or - per month seem to be the weight gains I'm getting with the seven 04 balls I have. I feed a slightly small meal each time, so there's barely a bulge.

If you think yours are excessively small and they eat well, you might want to get a fecal done on them if you haven't already. I don't have much experience with balls yet but I've found with corns and kings, if they eat great and stay skinny/small they often have parasites.

Cheryl

My results are quite variable.

I have snakes from 500-1100 grams all from the same clutch (about 9 months now).

Granted they aren't all eating the same.
Some only mice some only rats, and some a combination.

But even the ones that ate the same sized meal every 5 days showed variable growth rates for the first 5-6 months.

TomChambers