Weight of my B.P

[Ray]

Hi guys,

I am not so happy about the wait of my new male and female B.P
My female is 4 years old and weights a little over 1100 gr.
and my male is 3 years old and weights 505 gr.
Help!!! what should i do about this light weights of my B.P??


Thanks Ray.

[HumphreyBoagart]

What are you feeding them and how often?
Are they CB or WC?
Hump.

[Ray]

Hi Humphrey,

They are CB.The person wher i bought them from always fed them
mice every 2 weeks.I feed the female every week 1 rat and the male every week 1 mice.But i looks like they want more than that every week.Is it also possible to breed with them next year
because ther weight is so low??


Thanks for your comment humphrey.

Ray,

[HumphreyBoagart]

I would imagine that part, if not all, of the weight problem is directly related to feeding them mice. Get the male switched over as soon as possible to rats too. They probably look like they want more, because they probably do want more. Give them a rat that is equal to or 1.5 times the thickest part of them. If your male won't eat rats, try giving him a mouse as usual to get him in the feeding mode and then throw in a rat that is just a bit bigger than the mouse, and see what he says to that. I find it works like a charm to get them to switch over.
As far as them being breedable next season, for sure, they are probably ready now, but I would try and get some more weight on them first as the female will more than likely cease feeding after ovulation. You're better off to just wait and get a good body weight on her first and then try next season.
Hump.

[Ray]

THANKS HUMPHREY!!!


I whas thinking the same to feed the male little by little a bigger
rat.I am gonna try this and hope it will work.
The female has no problems with rats. I give her rats that are about 16 weeks old.They are just as thick as the famele ore mabey little thicker.
I am also glad that you guys help me and that i can lurn a lot from you all.

Humphrey how much must they weight next year so i'll can breed with them?? I ask this Becourse they are so light right now.


Thanks for your time Hump..


Ray,

[Markus Jayne]

Hi Ray!

It's always nice to hear from ball python lovers from all parts of the world. You write very good english. I wish I could speak another language.

Regarding your ball pythons. Breed your female! Yes you heard me right. Breed her. Sometimes when I have females that stall in the growth department, I breed them and for some reason they start to feed much better. A 16 week old rat sounds very big for such a small female. The biggest rats I feed are 4 weeks old and I feed every week. If they take one easily and they look like they want more, I give them another one. Two is generally my max, with few exceptions.

Your male is ready to breed as well. Size is really not an issue. It's more of an age thing.

Females need weight and energy to produce viable eggs. If she was never bred, she might be saying to herself, "why get big and put on weight? What's the point?" Give her a reason to put on the feed bag. Breed her! She could easily be ready this fall.

Hope this helped.

Mark

[Ray]

Hi Markus,

Thank you!! It's still hard to write english.But i will do my best.
I'am so glad that you guys take the time for me.I can better
read english than write it hahaha.
But you are sure that i can breed them this year??So the only thing is that they must gaining weight right now??
I must sey they look a lot better then when i bought them.
And i also hope it will workout for me this year to breed them.
That would be somting :p
I mean 6 week rats and not 16 week rats.Sorry

Markus your site looks real great:thumbsup: And you have very
beautiful B.P.And i'am also gonna read your caresheet.looks
interesting.


Thanks Ray.ps the male is 1.10 cm and the
female between 1.30 and 1.40 cm.

[HumphreyBoagart]

Hey Ray,
You're welcome and thank you for appreciating the help, so often on here people will ask for help and you try and give it to them, but they already have it set in their heads what they want to hear. They will either disrespect you or so no appreciation whatsoever, let alone a thank you. It's people like you that make me feel good about trying to help others out, as opposed to those that are just rude and disrespectful when you put so much effort into trying to help them. They make you feel like not wanting to help anyone at all. It makes me feel very good, even if I didn't help the problem at hand, to know that my efforts weren't a waste and that they were appreciated. Thanks Man.

[HumphreyBoagart]

Whoa!?! that was weird. I was in the middle of typing and it just sent my reply. Sorry for the double post. I would have just edited the rest of what I was saying on to the first one, but there was two copies of it. I tried deleting the second one but it wouldn't let me, so I just edited it to this!

Anyways, what was I saying?
Oh yeah, I agree with Markus they will be sexually mature now and able to breed now. I just suggested waiting because I didn't know if they were just small or if they were at an unhealthy weight. Maybe you could post pics if possible so we could see their body size.
LOL! I think that you mean 1.3m and 1.4m maybe. If they are 1.3cm and 1.4cm they are about the lenglth of the line at the end of this sentence ____! If you did mean cm, you were right they are small for their age! LOL!
Hope I helped some.
Hump.

[nita]

At 505g I can't see a snake being 1.3 m or 1.4 m!! That would be a very skinny snake. That would mean that the smallest snake is only 4ft 4" so at only 505g that would be extremely skinny. My biggest guys at 2000g are in that length range and are not skinny not fat so if I quartered their weight I'd be counting ribs. I'm not sure what 1.3cm was supposed to mean but can't see it logically being m instead.

[greenman1867]

Actually he said the Male was 1.1m or 3' 7". Still a bit skinny but not as drastically as you might think.
Pics would be great though.

Shawn

[Ray]

Thanks for your kind words humphrey.

hahahaha (lol) Yes they are 1.10 meter and 1.3 meter.
I know that the shed of the male is 1.10 meter.But i dont know if this is the length of the snake itself.???
And yes i know what kind of people you mean.Here in holland whe
have lots of them.In the and they all know better. thats why i think it's great that you guys help me.So i can lurn a lot more about B.P.hahahah but the big problem is that i must think rael hard to write this down(lol).I'll also try to post some pictures.But i have a problem with that to.But i'll try.
Can you se the pics???

cheers Ray.i'll write some more tomorrow becours
it's a little late right now.Guys thanks for your time


http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/507/74189ytf.JPG



yes yes yes !!!! hahahah it works.http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/507/741847777python_feeding_on_rat.jpg

[HumphreyBoagart]

Greenman: actually he said:
"Thanks Ray.ps the male is 1.10 cm and the
female between 1.30 and 1.40 cm."

but either way we know he meant meters not cm's.

Ray: They look like they are a healthy body weight to me, not too skinny at all. I'd go ahead with trying to breed them this year.
Good luck.
Hump.
PS. Are you saying "yes, yes, yes it worked" talking about the pictures working or getting the male eating rats? either way congratulations! : ) both can be a real chore!

[greenman1867]

Ya I was referancing this post

Originally posted by nita
At 505g I can't see a snake being 1.3 m or 1.4 m!! That would be a very skinny snake. That would mean that the smallest snake is only 4ft 4" so at only 505g that would be extremely skinny. My biggest guys at 2000g are in that length range and are not skinny not fat so if I quartered their weight I'd be counting ribs. I'm not sure what 1.3cm was supposed to mean but can't see it logically being m instead.

moot point anyways,

Shawn

[Ray]

Hi hump,

Yes i whas meaning uploading the pictures..And when the male starts eating rats I'll let you know.I hope he does eat rats.
In the first picture the b.p wher to together in one cage.
But now the are separated.
Hump what is the best time to introduce them to itsother for breeding them??

Thanks Ray

[dystopia]

Ray,

I Love the picture of your BP coiling/eating the rat while in it's "flower pot." Very cool picture indeed.

Cheers
Jeremy

[Ray]

Thanks Jeremy!! :thumbsup:

After the picture whas taken i took the flowerpot out while he whas eating becourse i whant to se him eating his meal.




cheers Ray.;)

[HumphreyBoagart]

Hey Ray,
There is alot of debate on the topic of breeding balls, as I'm sure you will find out after I write this. Everyone has their own ways and they're own opinions. I'm not saying that this way is the way it should be done, or the way it has to be done. There have been many successful breedings done in many different ways, but the basics are generally somewhat the same. This is how I do it, and it would be great if others could share how they do it, instead of the "that's not how you do it, this is how it's done" attitudes. Like I said there are many different ways of doing it, this is just how I do it.
Ball pythons must go through a brumation (cooling period) in order to produce eggs, even though breeding may occur without cooling them. What I do to cool them is I powerfeed them up until the cooling period to prepare them for their fast. After they have deficated for their last time, I turn the heat source off for the nighttime for a week, so it's not so all of a sudden. After that week, I turn the heat source of for the day and night so the day time temps are around 80-82 degrees and the night time temps are around 72ish. Some people shorten the daylight hours to 8 or 9 hours a day, but I keep them in total darkness for this period. This cooling period lasts from 6-8 weeks. After the cooling period I basically do the same thing in reverse. I turn the daytime heat back on for a week, so it's not just all of a sudden too. Then after this week I turn both the daytime and nighttime heat back on. I offer food a few times and if they take it, I wait until they've digested it and deficate. I then introduce the male and female. If they refuse food, I usually just introduce them right away to get the show on the road. I leave them together for a week or so at a time, unless they are mating or showing interest. If they aren't, I seperate them, offer food and wait for them to digest/deficate it. Keep doing this for a week on, week off, week on, week off etc. and remember to keep your fingers crossed! LOL! It is really hard to give a crash course in breeding balls, so you should do a search on the net or get some books and just collect the most information that you can. Hopefully others will add to what I've written, or write their own methods if it is totally different from this one. And please remember, anybody and everybody's opinion counts. If it is a different opinion, it doesn't necessarily mean you're right and I'm wrong, and vice-versa. There are many different ways of doing things that can ALL be right. Lets use this as a sort of comparing notes thread. Good luck with the eggies Ray and keep us posted!

Hump.

[Ray]

Hump thank you so much for this little carcheet/breedingcheet(LoL)
.I think mabey it's better if i stick to one opinion dont you think???
And yes i apriciate all opinions.Thats why i can lurn the most from all you guys.I know my self if i start with somting i'll give it a 100% .
Thats why i wanna know everyting about feeding breeding and housing .And thats why apriciate it that you guys help me and take the time for me.And you guys also must read my bad english LoL.
And every time i'll try a little harder te write good english LoL.


Guys you are all:thumbsup:


cheers Ray,

[HumphreyBoagart]

No problem. Your english is pretty good I think. There hasn't been one sentence so far that I didn't know what you were trying to say, which is alot more than I can say for some of the english speaking people here! LOL!
As for sticking to the one opinion, that's your call, but I think that you'd be better off listening to as many opinions as you can get. There are alot of people on here that know alot more than I do, and limiting yourself to to just one opinion is limiting yourself from alot of information. You're best off to take as many opinions as you can get, then putting them all together to what sounds most logical to you, and best for your situation. Obviously, some of the opinions are going to be way off and not make much sense, but you'll be able to tell who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't. For all you know, I could be one of the people that has no clue what I'm talking about, and you could just be sticking to my opinion, which could be totally wrong, you know what I'm sayin? Anyways, keep an open mind and listen to everyones suggestions, and you'll be able to figure out what works best for your animals. After all, you're the only one that knows your animals, we're just telling you what works for our animals.
Good Luck with the breeding and my fingers are crossed for ya man!
Hump.

[Ray]

Hump i didn't mean it that way to stick to one person.I do mean
that i keep a strate line in to taking care of my B.p Not that i do somting different avery day.I hope you know what i mean??
I hope ther are more people ho are willing to tell me more about breeding B.P??

Ray.ps I do like it if you send some pics of your female's;)

[HumphreyBoagart]

Hey Ray,

Here's the only pic I have right now of the one I thought looked very similar to your female. She's the lighter one. (obviously)

Hump.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/54915491BlackBackLove-med.jpg

[zero&stich]

I like the flower pot feeding picture. :D

[Ray]

Yes she looks a lot of my female i think.But the darker one is also very nice .If everything works out for me mabey i will by a pair of hetrozygoot for albino next year .I think the albino's are
very beautiful.And I also think it's becomming a obssesion for me;) Hump do you have morph B.P?? if you do what colors are they??


Ray;)ps zero stich thanks for your comment;)