Giant ball python

[ChrisBowsman]

Wow, this got ultra-ridiculous.

I've never heard any good reason to house multiple BPs together, but Davevh, if it's working out for you, congrats

[davevh]

Wow, this got ultra-ridiculous.

I've never heard any good reason to house multiple BPs together, but Davevh, if it's working out for you, congrats

Thanks, it has for 18 years!

[JenH]

I have a girl like that -she is around 3000g and has a huge head. Here is a shot of her with an 800g spider.



Not a great head shot, but you can see how much larger she is than the male.

[Brimstone111888]

Thats interesting about the possibility of a ball python sub species. Post more info JnJReptiles please!

[wolfy-hound]

First, here's my big girl Haurie. Unknown origin, as I bought her at about 1700g, with another large girl.


Secondly, I kept two male ball pythons together, and when I did seperate them, both ate better, gained weight at double the rate as before, and calmed to be handled easily any time.
Thirdly, I kept ten baby balls together, and seperated them into two groups of five, and then finally into individual bins, and they ate horribly in the large group enclosure, terribly in the small group enclosure, and superbly in the individual enclosure. In the individual enclosure, each snake would stay in a hide, or hang out in a section, instead of constantly roaming around, and trying to get out.
I know it's not definitive, and it's not a scientific test in lab conditions. I just wanted to let you know what my personal experiance has been.
I think that more than one snake can be kept in a enclosure if it's properly set up, and the keeper is very experianced and knowledgable about that species, but I don't see any real benefits to keeping more than one in a enclosure.
Welcome to the forums, and I look forward to the pics if you can get some! And pics of your other snakes too! Especially pics of the enclosures.

edit: Oh, and I'm hoping Haurie is gravid by my het clown male!! *fingers crossed*

[Shelby]

Yes, this is entirely true!
Snake growth is based on the condition known as indeterminate growth. They grow rapidly until maturity and then growth slows down but never quite stops. Plants also exhibit this same phenomenon (hence old trees getting pretty darn large).
This explains why snakes continue ecdysis (keratin skin sloughing) throughout their lives.
Interestingly, many arthropods slough their outer shell but I am unsure if they have indeterminate growth (100 year old giant scorpions anyone?)

This is one of the reasons I have a lot of respect for the giant snakes in nature because they must be very old and is very sad when people kill them.

Facinating.. thank you for clearing that up for me.

Most insects and arachnids do not molt after they complete their final adult molt. Emperor scorps usually live 7-10 years.. I had an adult female for 3 years or so and she never molted.

[davevh]

That would be very cool if she was gravid with the clown!
I was very excited when my large Boa was gravid shortly before leaving South Africa. I was very disappointed that I would not see her offspring but thats how life goes. I made a large effort to find her a good home with a breeder who would take good care of her though ...

First, here's my big girl Haurie. Unknown origin, as I bought her at about 1700g, with another large girl.


Secondly, I kept two male ball pythons together, and when I did seperate them, both ate better, gained weight at double the rate as before, and calmed to be handled easily any time.
Thirdly, I kept ten baby balls together, and seperated them into two groups of five, and then finally into individual bins, and they ate horribly in the large group enclosure, terribly in the small group enclosure, and superbly in the individual enclosure. In the individual enclosure, each snake would stay in a hide, or hang out in a section, instead of constantly roaming around, and trying to get out.
I know it's not definitive, and it's not a scientific test in lab conditions. I just wanted to let you know what my personal experiance has been.
I think that more than one snake can be kept in a enclosure if it's properly set up, and the keeper is very experianced and knowledgable about that species, but I don't see any real benefits to keeping more than one in a enclosure.
Welcome to the forums, and I look forward to the pics if you can get some! And pics of your other snakes too! Especially pics of the enclosures.

edit: Oh, and I'm hoping Haurie is gravid by my het clown male!! *fingers crossed*

[josh@outbackreps]

We will see how big the babies are and how fast they grow compared to normal balls soon, as the sub Sahara female in the pics we posted above just dropped 8 eggs, and didn't even look gravid.

She was 3000 grams before, and now is 2272 grams, after 8 big eggs.

If these girls lay 8 eggs when they dont even look gravid/ look a little skinny it will be interesting to see how big a clutch is from a female who is fed well and bred in captivity. We sold a gravid one to a friend the other day so will see how many eggs she dropped compared to her weight.

[davevh]

Well, here are some shots I took today of the specimen.
Length = 6'2"
Unfortunately I forgot to weight the brute
It was found in Ghana, 31 May 2005
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/30a1cd6a.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/a39664b9.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/6430dff1.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/42bb22b5.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/784b6d17.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/7f2dcadd.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/ef299228.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/e2d5beb3.jpg
http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/b0bbab46.jpg

[Patrick Long]

actually it doesnt look all that much larger than some bigguns i have seen.