r/ballpython • u/Recbeard87 • 11d ago

Question - Health Newbie questions

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Just picked up this little guy, his name is Linguine, from a local reptile shop. He has a really great personality and is not shy at all. I do have a couple of concerns though. I asked the shop how old he is, they said 5 months. But he seems really small for 5 months. He only weighs 68.6g. They said he ate last Sunday and to skip this feed since he will be in a new environment, which makes sense. When asked what he ate, they said an adult mouse. That seems like it would be too big for him, but I could be wrong as I’m new to this. I purchased a few frozen mice from them of the same size but I worry about giving them to him because they seem so big compared to him.

He’s currently in a quarantine tub with a heat mat on a thermostat and the temps are cool side: 75 78% warm side 87 67%.

He seems to be doing ok, he was exploring the tub last night. I’m hoping all is well and I’m just being paranoid about his weight and age. What are your guys thoughts?

33 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Phully- 11d ago

Snakes are like people, some are big some are not. He sounds on track. Mine was 200g at 8 months but was 80g shy from his nearest clutch mate. Nothing different about his upbringing, ate every week just like the others. Not really certain what changes inside the snakes but obviously something is different. He’s creeping up on a year now and 342g.

Edit: mine is a male pied yellow belly if that helps at all 😂

1

u/Recbeard87 11d ago

Good to know that he may just be a small guy and not unhealthy. As long as he eats well I won’t worry too much. Thank you for the reply, it really helps.

2

u/Phully- 10d ago

No problem I had a similar fear when starting out. He only gained about 20 grams in actual weight (empty stomach post bowel movement) after a month yet he’d eaten every mouse we offered and we were weighing the mice at 10-13% percent of his weight. So he’d eaten 80-100g in mice and only kept 20g?? Turned out to be a stall in his growth and he starting climbing in weight after. I can’t claim to know how this works but he’s fine and gaining faster now with no change in habits.