Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I tried to post the long version of this, and got logged out because I apparently took to long and lost everything I typed. So, short side:

Male san diego applegate gopher snake, acquired in 2009, born in 2008, has not gained ANY weight in the past 2.5 years(since Nov. 2010). Not sure if he had gained any weight between the time I acquired him and the time I started weighting(11-2010). He is on the small side, weights only ~350 grams. Feeding response always erratic, goes off feed for several weeks at a time but nothing drastic. When he is eating, he gets two large/jumbo mice or a small rat every week.

So, my questions are:
a) is it normal for him to have not gained weight, considering he is still young and small?
b) should I increase the volume of his meals or try feeding him more often than once a week?
c) does he look underweight?

In comparison, my female, also acquired in 2009 but born in 2006 or 2007, started out weighting 500 grams 11-2010 and now weights over 660 grams.

Next to female. He looks like a twig.

Since he is an '08, maybe that is as big as he is ever going to get.
I have a pair of '08 Pacifics and the male is 610 grams and his mate is 450 grams last month out of brumation. I expect some increase in growth this year but not like when they were younger. Then I have an '08 Pacific female not related to that pair who weighed in at a hefty 1314 grams this February. And a little male San Diego '10? (wc) male although very healthy weighed only 284 grams. Lastly a striped Pacific female '09 who weighed 406 grams. Since they have all been eating well recently I expect they are all heavier now.

My point being there seems to be a wide range of weights amongst these pituophis but as long as they are healthy and not too thin I don't worry.
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Bob
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire
Keeping cats allows man to cohabitate with tigers. Keeping reptiles allows man to cohabitate with dinosaurs.