I have a ball python who’s two years old now (Marshmallow) and growing veeeery slowly. I got her about the same time as another one of my BP babies (Sepia) and they’re only a couple months apart in age. She seems to be growing much more normally - I’ve been weighing them (and all the rest of my snakes) about once a month to track, and I just plotted their weights against each other to highlight the difference. Any ideas why Marshmallow is growing so slowly? Their care has been the exact same: fed once a week on rat fuzzies (Sepia is now on weaned) and for a while they were living in the same rack at the same temp until I moved Sepia to a larger enclosure as she grew. For a while Marshmallow was having really loose stools and I asked the breeder about it and he said it was fine as long as she keeps eating and pooping regularly, but her stools have firmed up now for the most part. Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this? Should I take Marshmallow to a vet?
2 Likes
It’s fine to me.
Growth rates aren’t set in stone. Just like people, our snakes will grow at different rates. Even just the individual genetics can be a factor in size.
I have a 5 year old girl who only weighs 1300gm. And a 2 year old at 1600gm and growing.
Here’s one set of siblings. One female is larger than her brother and sister.
Here’s another group of siblings. All females. The size difference is enormous. The smallest hatched at 32g and the other 2 at 52g and 55g.
4 Likes
Do u use a app for growth charts im curious i take photos of them on the scale but now that 2 r almost identicle im thinking that when i look at the photos of them now im probly ganna get mixed up and i dont like sifting through my photos anymore have u used any other apps that work well to that you recommend
Personally, I just use Excel to track everything. It’s easy and I get to design it for my needs. There are some good apps out there, but they do come at a cost. cltch.io has a good tracker, Husbandry Pro is another. Even MM has a tracker. I just prefer to have my stuff in an excel sheet or 2 where I can track the info I want to track. This is one of my trackers. It’s color coded weights tracked, food size tracked, frequency of feeding, genetics, and species if not ball. Example, Ikhavod is a super dwarf retic. I don’t care about his weight, I care about his body condition. As long as he stays slender healthy looking, he’s good. Plus once you get him out, good luck keeping him still for any length of time. Zoe, she’s a blood, so I’m not nearly as concerned about her weight, as long as her body condition is good. I also have another sheet where I track weights. I don’t do weekly weigh-ins currently. Usually, I do weigh-ins every 6-8 weeks, unless there’s a concern, or it’s close to breeding time.
3 Likes
Thank u thats pretty cool i might try that i mainly want to do once a month mine are young so i want to make sure im upgrading size on the right schedule
1 Like
I use an app called Exotikeeper that someone on here recommended. It’s free and I find it to work quite well. I mainly use it for keeping track of feeding, but you can track weight, length, and sheds (among other things) as well.
I also like it because it has additional categories for exotic animals other than reptiles, and I also keep spiders, so I use it for them as well.
1 Like
