Hi,

I got my royal python hatchling around May this year. It was very small, 57grms, and wouldn't eat for a few weeks. A soon as it decided to start eating it's never stopped.
It will eat 3 or 4 food items in one feeding. Depending on size of food item. The last feed it had 3 rat pups and a small mouse. The feed before it had a small rat weaner and the one before that it had 3 rat pups. I feed it every 4-5 days.
It is nearly 4x the weight it was in May.
Is this a very fast weight gain and growth????

royalbabylover

I would slow down the feeding. This is what is referred to as "powerfeeding" and will result in rapid growth. It will also reduce the animals life expectancy.
One apprpriately sized food item once a week is the accepted regimine.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I tried to cut down the feeding and she strikes at me constantly. I would have been tagged if I weren't so quick.
I've not had a young royal before and the older one I have is very docile.
When I got her I was told to feed her, they said if she stirkes at the food then to give it to her, every 4-5 days until she was about a year old and then take it down to about every 10-14 days. She will happily strike at 3 food items one after the other.
I have just weighed her as she is due another feed tomorrow and she weighs 203grms. She doesn't look fat although she isn't very long, maybe 18-22 inches.

Hatchling snakes tend to be nervous. After all they are on the dinner menu for everything that gets close to them!
Feed a food item approx the size of the snake's body at the widest part. Gentle handling will do more to solve the striking problem than attempting to keep the snake so stuffed it cannot move.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I understand the nervous hatchling thing, I've had snakes for over 20yrs on and off although she is the first royal hatchling I've had, she's no longer showing any nervousness when I go to handle her.
The food items she is having are no bigger than her girth. Probably a little smaller.

I tried giving her a rat pup and leaving her the usual 2-3 days before handling and she went mental. She was obviously hungry and on her next feed took 3 rat pups. This was when she was a little smaller herself. When I gave her the small weaner she was up and hunting in 2 days.

I'll try her with just the 2 rat pups tomorrow, I have no weaners until I get my order, and then leave her. 2 of my rat pups will weigh about 25grms whereas the weaners are about 32grms will that be enough for her if she is showing that she is hungry??

I would actually go a bit larger than the body width. After the feed there should be a slightly noteable bulge for a couple of days. If not go a bit larger.
Since the snake has been getting so much food it may take a week or so to settle down and not expect so much food at one time. Sort of like if you or I went out and gorged ourselves at every meal and then suddenly restricted ourselves to a salad. We would look around wondering where the rest of the food was.
Snakes tend to be opportunity feeders. In the wild they might come across a nest and gorge themselves but then it may be several weeks before they found such a bounty again.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

When I fed her the weaner there was a, just discernable bump, not much.
I have an order coming next week so if I were to give her the 3 rat pups she was haivng before that would be OK until the weaners arrive????
That would make a meal approx 32-35 grms in weight which is almost proportionate to a small rat weaner.
She will happily accept any food items I give her including mice.
What kind of weekly/monthly weight gain should I be aiming at for her age and current weight???

As I say the other royal I have is 2.5 yrs old and a male. He was a non-feeding rescue I got in March. He is still a little erratic, he's eating about every 3-4 weeks. He is 4'9" and weighs about 1200grms. He weighed 900grms in March when I got him.

We keep detailed records of our snakes' body weight and the weight of each food item and when/how often fed. The "mistake" I made with my royal baby in the beginning was feeding him items more around the size of his tiny head than the middle of his body. So I kept feeding 3 or more small fuzzy/pinkies when he could have taken a much larger mouse or rat pup.
Since she's a female, she'll probably be better about eating in general than your male.
Try feeding once a week. If you have a food item that is about as big or a bit bigger than the fattest part of her body, feed one of those and wait 7 days before the next feeding. If you don't have that size, you can feed a few smaller sizes till you see a noticeable bulge. (In general because of the fur that is not digested, one food item has more nutritional value per gram than several small ones.) I've never had a problem with any of my snakes over-eating, but I suppose it can happen. Try to adjust the size and gradually increase over time. As Merlin said, they are opportunists and their bodies are not programmed to be fed the same size meal on a regular schedule, so you'll pretty much just have to figure out what works for your little girl.
Generally when I fed Monty 34 grams of rat pinkies, he'd put on about 10 grams of weight.
That has been our experience with growing baby pythons in general: about 1/3 of the weight of the food will be turned into body weight.
I hope that helps.

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Andrea

I do know about the 'size of food item' issue. I have had snakes now for quite some time.
I was concerned about the fact that Tatyana is prepared to eat so much and is putting weight on at what seems to be an alarming rate. She doesn't look fat. She has gone from rat pups to a small weaner / xl mouse in a matter of just a few weeks. She can easily take a weaner rat without any discernable bump appearing.
She has gained 152grms since her first feed on the 25th May 2007.
I also have 8 week old gerbils I could give her that are about as big as the weaner rats I gave her.
I was advised that youngsters are better fed at 5 day intervals until about 6-12months?????

Thankyou for the advice.

Now that she is feeding I will try and cut her back to weekly feeds and see what she is like. She is due tomorrow andshe has been hunting all day. That is on a 5 day regime. I also have a full record of feeding/weights and shedding, she has shed four times with me.

No offense is intended. We frequently deal with a lot of folks who are just starting out so we do tend to first approach things starting at the base level and work up.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!