Bredli Snake Size

[fqwxs]

My bredli was born in Jan 09 and is around 1m long.

When I look at the same snake with same birthday(month) at the local pet shop it's length is only around 250mm long.

Why the big difference in length?

I feed my snake once per week (weener rats).

Should I be concerned that I may be overfeeding my snake?

Cameron

 

[bigguy]

Cameron, no need to be concerned. The other snake is way underfed. Even your snake is slightly undersized for the age. Maybe, increase food size slightly more then you give now.

 

[vinny86]

I have a bredli hatched in feb and its about the 1m mark at the moment. Its not your snake you should be worried about....its the pet shops 1!

 

[J-A-X]

Cameron, no need to be concerned. The other snake is way underfed. Even your snake is slightly undersized for the age. Maybe, increase food size slightly more then you give now.

did you even stop to consider the possibility that the petshop one was a slow starter, ....
or do you enjoy jumping to conclusions


when i bought mine she was a slow starter, and very 'small for her age' but in the 9 months i've had her she has made up for it,

If your snake seems healthy then keep doing what you're doing, there is no 'size for age' formula.

 

[JAS101]

did you even stop to consider the possibility that the petshop one was a slow starter, ....
or do you enjoy jumping to conclusions


when i bought mine she was a slow starter, and very 'small for her age' but in the 9 months i've had her she has made up for it,

If your snake seems healthy then keep doing what you're doing, there is no 'size for age' formula.

have U ever thought that the pet shops dont feed them as much as they should , because they dont want them to grow at the "normal" rate .? because small snakes seem to be more apealing to new snake owners ,and they dont have to upp the enclosure while its in the petshop .

 

[J-A-X]

Petshops are a business, MOST are reputable ones, and have no desire to gain a reputation of providing sub standard animals - of any species. They like to turn stock around quickly as it makes economic sense to do so, and i don't think i have seen any here in SA with larger clutches of hatchies/juvies of any snake species at any given time,
Having said that i don't suggest buying reptiles from pet shops, most of the time they wouldn't know a healty one from a sick one,

stick to the reputable breeders.

 

[pythons73]

Snakes grow at different rates,ive had 2 female Darwins from the same clutch,one was a terrible feeder the other a great feeder,the good feeder is 1.2m while the other is 70cm.It all comes down to how much there fed,how frequently there fed.My male BHP is nearly 5feet and he is only 10months old...my male Darwin is 3year old and also 5feet...MARK

 

[ozziepythons]

I just bought a juvenile bredli to pair with my female, both were hatchies from earlier this year. The one I just bought is much smaller than the one I currently have, it was skinny and very hungry. I'm feeding it on fat little pink rats to bulk it up, as I have with my other specimen. So it does have to do with feeding rate and size. Given that your feeding it rats once a week, thats a spoilt life for a python so no need to worry, at that age that just grow, its with age they put on weight.

 

[Sock Puppet]

I have a couple of Bredli that hatched mid Jan 09 also.
Here's some pics of my male at 6 months (back in July, haven't got a recent pic), so he's bigger now he's 9 months old. I don't think he's a metre yet, but not far off. The one you saw in the shop is being slow fed if it's also the same age but only 250mm.
Mine are getting a fuzzy rat every 7-8 days, but I'm upsizing their food when the current packet is finished, they're finishing off fuzzies like tic tacs now. I've also added a pic of when I got my male in March, as a comparison to show how much he'd grown in that 6 months.

My male at 2 months old:

...& at 6 months old

http://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad50/tonksy_01/Eddy Baby/100_1315a1.jpg

 

[fqwxs]

fantastic replies - much appreciated guys!

FWIW - they told me that I am feeding my snake way too much.

And, they did not even know about having to put the snake into a separate feeding box on feeding time. I told them this is what I do every feeding time and they freaked out with amazement - saying WOW - we're goign to do that now....

Anyways, onwards and upwards!

BTW - Can snakes be trained into doing anything?

Cameron

 

[Brown_Hair]

have U ever thought that the pet shops dont feed them as much as they should , because they dont want them to grow at the "normal" rate .? because small snakes seem to be more apealing to new snake owners ,and they dont have to upp the enclosure while its in the petshop .

Spot on ZOOJAS

 

[frosty7]

i completley agree with you too zoojas but that jaxrtfm knows it all so maybe she is right!!!!

 

[southwazza]

sounds like that pet shop may be a bit average, but some pythons can take time to get feeding well, when i got my olive she was about a year and a half old and barely bigger than a hatchie and very troublesome to get feeding well, the reptile shop i got her from told me this from the start though and helped me get her going and now i wouldnt even dare walk in the room with food unless its dinner time or she'l go crazy, oh and shes already almost at normal size for her age

 

[Slyther83]

have U ever thought that the pet shops dont feed them as much as they should , because they dont want them to grow at the "normal" rate .? because small snakes seem to be more apealing to new snake owners ,and they dont have to upp the enclosure while its in the petshop .

I have found this to be true in my experiences. They feed minimally so that the snake doesn't grow too big too fast. I feed my yearling+ bredli every week to 10 days. She was a little over a foot when I got her and shes over 5 feet now. I've been feeding her 180g rats since she was 4 feet or so.

At a meter I would at least be giving the snake small preferably medium rats. Thats what I fed mine at that size anyway.

 

[fqwxs]

All good.

Gees they grow quick!

BTW - Can snakes be trained into doing anything?

Cameron

 

[sacred_DUC]

All good.

Gees they grow quick!

BTW - Can snakes be trained into doing anything?

Cameron

my snakes poop on command put them on grass at the right moment and bam

no snakes can't be trained