Worried about size and weight of yearling MD.

[sam]

Hello, I'm new to the forum. Made an account so that I could ask about my new MD. I'm fairly new to herps, bought a hatchling stimmie a few months ago and named him Monty (how original). And recently bought a Murray Darling named Bowie (who the breeder says was born in Jan 2015).

Introductions aside. Ive recently stumbled upon videos and pictures of other carpet yearlings being easily double/triple Bowie's size. Right now he looks like a hatchling and I'm worried his age is either wrong, he is underfed or is just a slow grower. He is currently feeding on fuzzies once a week and is feeding well.

Im having trouble linking pictures as my post keeps getting denied, but he weighs 56g (with a meal in him), has a skinny build and is roughly 60cm long. Is this an appropriate size? And how quickly will he grow? :confused:

Sorry for not posting any pictures. I'm not an avid forum user and I'm sure ive done something wrong. Hope my description is enough though.

Thankyou for taking the time.

-Sam

[travesty]

You need a minimum of 5 posts first and/or have a moderator approve before you can post pictures. I'm sure someone will chime in as soon as you get pics up.

[EL Ziggy]

Welcome to the forum and best wishes Sam. If your snake is eating, pooping and shedding without any issues I wouldn't worry. All snakes grow at different rates. If you just recently got him it's also possible the breeder was feeding him pretty conservatively like many breeders do. I generally feed my young carpets 15-20% of their body weight per feeding. You can try offering a second prey item on occasion or increasing the prey size or feeding frequency. He'll probably grow quickly if you try these things. My coastal carpet was hatched on 6/24/14. I got him on 9/2/15 and he was only 85g. That's pretty small for a yearling. He's up to 505g now. I feed him every 6-7 days for now. I'll move him back to every 10 days when he hits 1kg. Same thing with my jungle who was hatched on 7/30/15. He was 31g when I got him on 9/22/15. He's up to 213g now. I feed him every 5-6 days now and will move him to every 7 days when he turns one. Just keep feeding him decent sized meals and he'll come around.

[Albert Clark]

Everything that EL said! Also, you can estimate the the girth of the carpet at his largest abdominal region and offer prey that will create a slight bulge at that point.

[sam]

Thank's for the replies, yes I read the rules and felt like an idiot!

He's been feeding, pooping and shedding fine, I was just worried he was underweight. I fed him two fuzzies and he has a nice bulge now.
I scoured the internet for a spreadsheet on weight and growth of CP's and couldnt find anything, so I'm glad everything seems to be okay with him.

Thankyou for the warm welcome :)

[sam]

Everything that EL said! Also, you can estimate the the girth of the carpet at his largest abdominal region and offer prey that will create a slight bulge at that point.

Ive heard of people feeding much larger prey items to young CP's, around double the largest girth? from what I know CP's can take quite large prey compared to some other pythons, so I might switch to rats soon, before he becomes a mouser. :)

[sam]

Here's a pic of Bowie last night after his second meal
http://s23.postimg.org/ladqty52z/IMG_2095.jpg

Another one of him.
http://s22.postimg.org/yvcbsr3pt/View_image_IMG_2091.jpg

Edit: fixed images

[EL Ziggy]

Very nice carpet Sam. You're right they can take down much larger prey than one might think but I don't push the envelope too much :). My jungle weighed 55g on 10/29/15. The mice fuzzys were a bit too small for him. I was giving him 2-3 of those per feeding. I decided to try a large single prey item so he got a 14g rat fuzzy on 10/30/15. That was a hearty meal for him but he had no issues getting it down. I agree with you that it's a good idea to get yours on rats ASAP.

[Andy_G]

Some species can't take prey very large in comparison to their girth and therefore shoudn't be offered them. With carpets, this is NOT the case due to their physiology. :)