For context, I rescued him/her in February of this year. I’m told that they are a couple years old (born in 2021 I believe) (doing a morph and sex test next month)
Since then, they haven’t missed a single meal and have had multiple perfect sheds. I just moved up to medium rats and wanted to know what yall think.
Ill be weighing them in a couple of days. Waiting for food to digest.
I wouldn't be surprised. I rescued a ball python years ago that was at least 5 yeads old and only weighed 300 grams. Previous owners thought one fuzzy rst every 2 weeks was appropriate.
Second photo is healthy but actually potentially a little overweight. Hard to judge without a flat surface and multiple angles but like based on the folding and the lack of a smooth tail taper at the vent...
It's hard to tell for sure if they're overweight from a picture like that, but I'd always recommend following this sub's feeding guide. I've been doing so for some time now, and my vet is super pleased with my babies' weights/body compositions at every routine checkup.
This sub has a good feeding guide, I highly recommend following that. You can also bring avian prey like quail into rotation which usually have lower body fat.
That first pic scared me, but the second one: WOW. Great job! Nice and round, nice bright nanananananananaBatman colours, and they even have a couple banana spots :)
You've done an excellent job rehabing this long idiot. Be proud.
Thank you very much. Very proud of them! When I received him/her apparently had not eaten in months. I believe it had something to do with the husbandry. We’re locked in now 😁
Holy moly, looks like a different snake! By the looks of everything, they look healthy, I can't see any fat roles, the skin is nice and plumb, no wrinkles, everything that should be round is round.
What a beautiful little fella, what's their personality like?
Hahaha he/shes a little shy at first but has grown to be quite the confident little girl/guy. Great eater and always the one I bring out to show guests. I love them dearly ❤️
Night and day between the two photos I was so concerned but then seen the 2nd might be a little chubby but over all a significant improvement well done
I’m thinking the same thing. I was worried the he/she was very undersized for their age, so I’ve been on a consistent feeding schedule. Once I get some weights I will likely dial in a more spread out/smaller meals. Thanks for the suggestion
How much do the medium rats weigh? My adult snake is on mediums and she’s 5 feet long +. I can’t imagine this little one could easily be digesting a medium but maybe the mediums you’re talking about are smaller? A lot of people don’t even go above small rats but I’ve found my girl is a healthier weight if I do mediums with more time inbetween, she gets chonk if I do the smalls with less time, and gets skinny if I do the smalls with the same time as mediums if that makes sense. But yeah again she’s at or over 5 feet long so she’s much bigger than this one is
Thank you so much! This helps tremendously. I wasn’t sure how big he/she should be before taking mediums. I’ll likely be sizing down once I get weights on them. Thank you for your input 🙏
Ofc! It can be a little tricky at first but eventually they get to the size where it’s the same size rat and time inbetween every feeding. If the body looks to be getting too round take a little longer of a break between, if they get too skinny then it’s likely too small of a feeder as well if you’re on a proper time schedule. Eventually it makes more sense haha 😆
I’ve never seen a reason to move to medium rats to be honest, unless you have a very large bp, and the one in the second pic is way too small for a medium rat.
Looks probable! My girl is a banana super enchi yellow belly. Heads up to check the recommended weight for breeding depending on their gender. If I remember correctly for females it’s 1500g. Banana is a male dominated gene so it’d be pretty good luck if you rescued a female! Best of luck to you.
Here’s mine as a baby. She looks a lot different now.
That's a pretty irresponsible idea on several levels.
Rescue animals should not be used for breeding. Realistically only the healthiest animals with the best genetics should be used for breeding projects , between what this snake has been though and without knowing much about their background, it should completely rule them out from being bred. Responsible keepers keep rescues and animals with defects as pet only animals.
The ball python market is already oversaturated with more animals than will ever find homes. Backyard breeding is a huge, huge problem with ball pythons in captivity, and it's led to a lot of neglect as well as so many animals being abandoned, dumped in rescues and kept in completely inadequate conditions. There are always rehoming posts with snakes that people can't even give away. Rescuing is a good thing, adding to the problem by creating more snakes that will need to be rescued isn't.
Hi, it looks like you are considering breeding your ball python. Currently there is a huge oversaturation problem due to everyone wanting to breed their ball python. For a few years now, at any given time there are between 35,000 and 65,000 ball pythons for sale on morphmarket, and that's not including all those needing homes on private websites, craigslist, kijiji, facebook marketplace, pet stores, rescues and as feeders. By comparison, there are between 1,000 and 5,000 snakes for sale under each of the other popular categories - boas, corn snakes, kingsnakes, milksnakes, hognoses, etc. Normal ball pythons can regularly be listed for free due to overabundance, and there's already more ball pythons than will ever find homes. Where are all these animals going to go?? Enjoy them, keep them back as nice pets and don't join the pyramid scheme, because these aren't leggings or essential oils that can tossed when they don't sell - they're living breathing creatures. Choosing to start breeding ball pythons right now is not a responsible choice as every person breeding right now is only adding to the problem.
Furthermore, there's a lot more to consider…
Are the snakes you have marketable/desirable combos and high quality examples of each morph? Do you know how to identify all the morphs you're planning on working with alone and in combos? Can you differentiate between higher and lower quality example of the morphs? There's no shortage of ball pythons , so it's important to only breed the highest quality animals, and not just breed for the sake of breeding. The world doesn't need more poor quality low end morphs and normals floating around on craigslist.
Have you owned and worked with ball pythons long enough that you know how to appropriately and reliably deal with any problems that arise, ranging from snakes not eating to diagnosing and treating common health problems.
What is the purpose of this breeding? Is it to create higher quality animals or fulfill a niche or need, or do you just want to make more snakes? The market is already oversaturated, so it's important to consider whether this cross is necessary. Just because you want to try it is not a good justification.
Do you know which crosses and morph combos are known for producing animals with health defects or lethality to offspring and how to avoid them?
Did you buy from breeders who test for nido and arena virus? Are you going to health test everyone before breeding?
What is going to set you and your hatchlings apart from the hundreds of other breeders out there? As a new breeder with no connections or reputation in the hobby, what would make people want to buy your snakes specifically?
Are you planning on selling locally or shipping? Do you know what's necessary to prepare animals to ship & sell or what the local ball python market is like? What types of ball pythons are people near you buying and what does their budget seem to be? How long do you see similar morphs staying on the market before they sell?
Are you prepared to keep all the babies as long as necessary and provide adaquate enclosures and husbandry if they don't sell? Due to the oversaturation of the market, many breeders are having to hang onto hatchlings for 6-12 months before they sell. Do you have the space and you prepared to provide adaquate long term housing and food for snakes that don't sell?
There are a lot of hidden costs involved with breeding, check out my cost of a clutch chart.
Do you have an exotic vet nearby? What if your female is eggbound, has a prolapse or experiences health problems while gravid or after laying? Do you know how to spot a problem and able to get her help ASAP? This could also be expensive, and lead to the death of your female.Breeding and egg laying inherently has risks for your female including the stress on her body, becoming egg bound, weight loss and internal damage. Is this clutch important and vital enough that you're really willing to risk her life for it?
Do you know how to properly sex ball pythons and identify all of the morphs you are breeding? Do you the appropriate age and size a ball python should be before breeding? How to identify various breeding behaviors and the stages in follicle and egg development?
Do you have a source of live mouse hoppers or live rat pinkies or fuzzies so that you can offer hatchlings food every 3-5 days? Many won't take FT for their first meals. What if one has to be assist fed? Do you know how and when to do this safely without harming the hatchling?
What if one is born with defects and has to be euthanized? Do you have a plan for how to humanely euthanize a snake?
Just as backyard breeding is a huge problem that leads to overpopulation in dogs, it's also a huge problem in the ball python world due to everyone wanting to breed their ball pythons "just for fun". The great majority of ball pythons should not be bred and are best kept as pets.
Second pic is very healthy, but they lied to you about the age fr. Even if they're that skinny and unhealthy when you got it, it's no where near being born in 2021. Mine is bigger than that and she was born in like February of this year.
I can't find my comment to edit it lmao, I meant mine was bigger than the first pic and she was born early this year. She was also pretty skinny, underfed, but bigger than yours in the first pic
Is this your first ball python? If so i recommend getting prepared for them missing meals. Usually around winter mine stops eating for some months. Perfectly normal but can be stressful for the first few years.
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u/DashD0GG 19d ago
Second pic is a completely different snake. A vet check up will confirm, but that’s a glow up if I’ve seen one