Good evening everyone!
I got Penny on the 14th of last month (a Saturday). His breeder told me he was fed every Tuesday (so weekly) on rat fuzzies. I’ve been doing the weekly feeding, and am unsure now if that’s enough.
I did his first feeding that Wednesday. He’s never had an issue with food and has always taken it. However, he’s gone from 86 grams to 95 grams (weighed him today since he just pooped for the first time) in 3.5 weeks. Is that normal? Do BPs just gain weight slowly?
It’s my first snake so jw. Thank you!
Here’s Penny! 
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The problem with weighing is to get a true idea you need to do it on empty each time, which is hard to do since animals are fed before their next bowel movement.
If the first time they weigh in on full but the second time they weigh in on empty this obviously does not show the real weigh gain.
My advice pay less attention to weight and more to body condition and making sure that the animal is fed approprietly each week.
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I think your feeding schedule is ok. Especially if you have no need for him to grow faster. He looks healthy to me, his weight is going in the right direction, and he’s eating for you so you’ve got the most important thing covered.
Since I’m wanting to breed most of my ball pythons and having them grow a little faster is a plus, I personally feed my hatchlings every 4 or 5 days with rats about 15% of their body weight for a few months and then switch to weekly. That’s an option for you if you want him to grow a little faster while not being unhealthy for him, but there’s no reason you need to.
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Snake doesnt look overweight or to skinny. I feed my girl once ever 10 days (though she is a bit older and on slightly bigger foods). I’d say keep doing what you’re doing. Sometimes the pics of snakes you see are of breeding females and they are usually beefy to help with egg production. If you’re just having a pet then I’d say everything is fine 
Also gorgeous first snake choice! Congrats
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Beautiful snake! I can see Penny’s enclosure slightly in the background… Im really interested in what you have going on there! Could you post a couple pics of it ?? Just curious is all =]
This is his setup @iamgroot: (he has some moss in there right now for when he was shedding)
the water stains are on the outside of the tank when I was figuring out where I wanted to place his name, and if I wanted to draw a little snake to represent him (obvs no snake drawing made it lol)
Also the little aquarium LED light is turned off every night so please don’t roast me for it >.<
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Super pretty setup. Mine are in tubs and it’s convenient and “space efficient” but I would love to have at least one in a sweet terrarium like that someday.
As for feeding you’re probably doing fine. I weigh about once a month or so and try to give mine meals of 12-15% of their body weight but I’m a nerd and like everything to be precise if you keep eyeballing it you’re going to be fine:)
@thecrawdfather Next week I’m going to weigh out his rat fuzzy to actually make sure it meets the size requirement. I hadn’t been weighing them, and I think I’ll personally feel better once I see that the rat fuzzy is accurate to what he needs, or if I need to move to a different size.
I actually ordered a rack system from TGR and it should be here by the beginning of November. I have some other snakes I had on a payment plan so I could make sure they had a home before I full out purchased them, ha-ha. I’m going to give the racks a shot, but if I feel bad about them being in a rack after awhile then I’ll move them to a setup like Penny’s, but I think I’d splurged out the money of a custom built setup that way they can all have their own little place. Ha-ha. >.<
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I’m sure some could classify their rodents differently but my supplier counts a fuzzy as 10G-20G. If yours are roughly the same that should be a pretty appropriate sized meal for him for awhile.
Mostly I would just echo Stewartreps, if his body is healthy there’s no need to rush he will grow on his own enjoy his baby days haha
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@iamgroot here it is as I got home with the moss. He’s hiding in the back right hand corner behind his vines
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@thecrawdfather it’s a 20 gallon
Not to get to far off topic but gotta agree it’s a gorgeous setup. Always nice to see tanks. I myself to a mix of tank and tubs depending. Seems your gorgeous boy has a sweet home to be confident in. I’d normally say that you need more coverage and hiding spots between cold/warm ends, but if your dude is eating then obviously he’s happy enough with the setup. Do you plan on upgrading once he gets bigger?
@meerkatlyndz I was told a 20 gallon would be good for him for the rest of his life, but he probably will get an upgrade. I have a rack system coming in for my other snakes, but I feel already guilty about having them in tubs and I don’t even have the snakes or the rack system here yet lol.
I’ve actually been looking at Show Case Cages a lot, and will probably move in that direction in the next couple of years. I don’t plan on haivng many snakes, or breeding them a lot. I just like cool looing morphs, and I think that most snake morphs out there almost look like art, and I think should be shown off.
However… having snakes on display like that in my house would keep my family away.
Maybe I should do the cages a lot soon. 
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@akirby91 another option you can check out is The Reptile Factory from Miamisburg, OH. I got a super nice display box like that from him but his are lightweight fiberglass and all black so better suited for BPs but still give you some viewing ability. I am not sure what his shipping situation is but they look great and like I said super lightweight and easy to move around should you ever need to.
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@akirby91 That looks awesome! I currently have my little guy in a tub set up, but I’ve been getting ideas to do a display set up for when he gets a little bigger. Thanks for sharing! Also, I do like the aquarium light a lot! It always adds a nice touch. so no roasting. lol =]
