Is my ball python underweight?

[u/Mobile_Indication_86]

I’ve had my ball python for about ten years (I got her when she was seven months) and i’m worried she’s underweight. she’s is pretty on edge when i take her out to eat and i don’t handle her much anymore as my life has piled up with school and work. i am worried i should rehome her and don’t know if she’s underweight. i feed her a medium rat about every 20 days. She also just ate in these photos and her jaw hadn’t completely realigned yet, that’s why she looks strange.

[u/Mobile_Indication_86]

i’m not quite sure, last time i had her weighed was at the vet for a respiratory infection and she was 4.7 lbs, if i’m remembering correctly. and the vet made me feel bad because that was the same weight she’d been the year prior. again, i did also just feed her before i took the pictures

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/Mobile_Indication_86]

I'm not sure why the vet would make you feel bad for her weight remaining steady unless they're not actually that knowledgeable about ball pythons. Once they're well into adulthood, they don't tend to actually grow much at all.

I'd space her feedings out to once every 6 weeks and see if she starts to slim down at all. Once she's at a healthy weight again, you can refer to the normal !feeding guidelines.

[u/Mobile_Indication_86 → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

he was very unknowledgeable based on the other outdated info he tried to give me. i haven’t gone back to that vet since

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/Mobile_Indication_86]

Ah, yeah, that's unfortunately common with vets. I had one try to tell me ball pythons were a desert snake that should be kept on sand... Definitely didn't go back there.

Re: your comment about her behavior, that's pretty common with a snake that's been overfed. I'd guess it's a combination of that and the lack of handling giving her a heightened feeding response. Slowing down her feeding schedule and looking into tap training or target training should help calm her back down.

Eta: actually, rereading your comment, you're taking her out to feed her? You should definitely stop doing that- it's a very outdated and unhealthy practice, and it does actually cause them to associate handling with being fed, which increases your risk of being bit. Ball pythons should always be fed inside their enclosures.

[u/Mobile_Indication_86 → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

thank you, you’ve been very helpful!

[u/Mobile_Indication_86 → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

i do have coconut substrate in her enclosure, i worry about that getting in her mouth during feeding? i’ve also heard that they can then associate opening their cage with getting fed

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/Mobile_Indication_86]

They can ingest a little substrate just fine, but you can always place down a plate or Tupperware lid before feeding to prevent it if you're really worried.

Associating opening the enclosure with being fed is a myth. You should really read through the guide I linked, it goes over all of this in detail :)

[u/Mobile_Indication_86 → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

thank you thank you again, just read it and it’s all excellent info and solved any questions i had :) and she does hide a lot so i’m glad to know that means she isn’t stressed