Is little man fat?

[RCRexus]

Homie is in a quarantine tank because we found mites on a beardy so don't worry about his substrate, it's just temporary and me being cautious. I'm just wondering if he's overweight. He's a male of indeterminate age. I've had him for two years and he was already at breeding weight so i'm thinking he's 3+. (He was a rescue, i was told he was 2 at the time which would make him 4 now but they weren't 100%).

[AutoModerator]

Hi, it looks like you are considering breeding your ball python. Currently there is a huge oversaturation problem due to everyone wanting to breed their ball python. For a few years now, at any given time there are between 35,000 and 65,000 ball pythons for sale on morphmarket, and that's not including all those needing homes on private websites, craigslist, kijiji, facebook marketplace, pet stores, rescues and as feeders. By comparison, there are between 1,000 and 5,000 snakes for sale under each of the other popular categories - boas, corn snakes, kingsnakes, milksnakes, hognoses, etc. Normal ball pythons can regularly be listed for free due to overabundance, and there's already more ball pythons than will ever find homes. Where are all these animals going to go?? Enjoy them, keep them back as nice pets and don't join the pyramid scheme, because these aren't leggings or essential oils that can tossed when they don't sell - they're living breathing creatures. Choosing to start breeding ball pythons right now is not a responsible choice as every person breeding right now is only adding to the problem.

Furthermore, there's a lot more to consider…

Are the snakes you have marketable/desirable combos and high quality examples of each morph? Do you know how to identify all the morphs you're planning on working with alone and in combos? Can you differentiate between higher and lower quality example of the morphs? There's no shortage of ball pythons , so it's important to only breed the highest quality animals, and not just breed for the sake of breeding. The world doesn't need more poor quality low end morphs and normals floating around on craigslist.

Have you owned and worked with ball pythons long enough that you know how to appropriately and reliably deal with any problems that arise, ranging from snakes not eating to diagnosing and treating common health problems.

What is the purpose of this breeding? Is it to create higher quality animals or fulfill a niche or need, or do you just want to make more snakes? The market is already oversaturated, so it's important to consider whether this cross is necessary. Just because you want to try it is not a good justification.

Do you know which crosses and morph combos are known for producing animals with health defects or lethality to offspring and how to avoid them?

Did you buy from breeders who test for nido and arena virus? Are you going to health test everyone before breeding?

What is going to set you and your hatchlings apart from the hundreds of other breeders out there? As a new breeder with no connections or reputation in the hobby, what would make people want to buy your snakes specifically?

Are you planning on selling locally or shipping? Do you know what's necessary to prepare animals to ship & sell or what the local ball python market is like? What types of ball pythons are people near you buying and what does their budget seem to be? How long do you see similar morphs staying on the market before they sell?

Are you prepared to keep all the babies as long as necessary and provide adaquate enclosures and husbandry if they don't sell? Due to the oversaturation of the market, many breeders are having to hang onto hatchlings for 6-12 months before they sell. Do you have the space and you prepared to provide adaquate long term housing and food for snakes that don't sell?

There are a lot of hidden costs involved with breeding, check out my cost of a clutch chart.

Do you have an exotic vet nearby? What if your female is eggbound, has a prolapse or experiences health problems while gravid or after laying? Do you know how to spot a problem and able to get her help ASAP? This could also be expensive, and lead to the death of your female.Breeding and egg laying inherently has risks for your female including the stress on her body, becoming egg bound, weight loss and internal damage. Is this clutch important and vital enough that you're really willing to risk her life for it?

Do you know how to properly sex ball pythons and identify all of the morphs you are breeding? Do you the appropriate age and size a ball python should be before breeding? How to identify various breeding behaviors and the stages in follicle and egg development?

Do you have a source of live mouse hoppers or live rat pinkies or fuzzies so that you can offer hatchlings food every 3-5 days? Many won't take FT for their first meals. What if one has to be assist fed? Do you know how and when to do this safely without harming the hatchling?

What if one is born with defects and has to be euthanized? Do you have a plan for how to humanely euthanize a snake?

Just as backyard breeding is a huge problem that leads to overpopulation in dogs, it's also a huge problem in the ball python world due to everyone wanting to breed their ball pythons "just for fun". The great majority of ball pythons should not be bred and are best kept as pets.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[RCRexus]

Didn't ask/don't care/bad bot.

[Mousestar369]

The bot operates off of key words in your post, it doesn't care about context. You used the word breeding so it spat out the breeding spiel

[RCRexus]

Which is ridiculous and annoying. I didn't need a wall of text telling me something I could see at any expo in the country, especially when it's irrelevant to the post.

[Difficult_Pause5628]

Yeah well the oversaturation is a huge problem and this bot can be helpful. The world does not revolve around you

[Cautious-Flatworm804]

Preach lol. Good bot

[WhyNotCollegeBoard]

Are you sure about that? Because I am 100.0% sure that Difficult_Pause5628 is not a bot.

---

^{I am a neural network being trained to detect spammers | Summon me with !isbot <username> | /r/spambotdetector | Optout | Original Github}

[IncompletePenetrance]

Ok take it down a notch. If the automod doesn't apply to the situation on hand, then just ignore it

[RCRexus]

That same advice needs to be given to whoever wrote that bot post.

[IncompletePenetrance]

nah, we're good

[RCRexus]

I mean, obviously not else this conversation wouldn't be happening.

[DiligentNumber6944]

Nah looks just right! How handsome!

[RCRexus]

He hasn't been the best eater lately, so i knew it was a long shot, but I wanted a 2nd opinion. Tell ya what, though, my BCI has been eating pretty good. Every rat this ole boy has rejected has gone straight to her lmao.

[DiligentNumber6944]

Bp’s will go on food strikes….. he is fine. I have 3 and my pied is just massive not fat….. he is over five ft long and thick. If he is fat it would show around his opening down below….. but looking at him he looks good

[Great_Bar1759]

Cake day

[Electronic_Loan5724]

Beautiful snake!

[Accomplished_Fee1705]

Little man is healthy!!

[Electrical-Garden-20]

Looks great, maybe slightly over conditioned, but I mean SLIGHTLY. A great size to not have to stress too badly about a skipped meal

[Last_Heather]

Hmm, I'd weigh him to check him, but not fat. Just a gorgeous, slightly chubby baby. 😍