I have a Ball Python (named Lola) that I got from a friend last April.
I was told she was approximately 2 years old when I got her. However
she was very undersized for her age, around a foot long.

As far as I can tell, the problem was that she was never kept at a
proper temperature. (They told me she had taken maybe 10 mice total in
the two years they had owned her.) I've had her under a heat lamp
since I got her and have been carefully monitoring her temperature and
she's growing like she's trying to make up for lost time. She's shed
three times since I got her. I expect that she'll always be undersized
since she's missed a good-sized chunk of her major growth stage, but
she's healthy and has become very comfortable with me.

So here's my question.

When I first got her I offered her an adult mouse every two weeks.
Once she was eating regularily I upped it to two mice every two weeks,
and that's what she's been taking for about the last six months. What
she will usually do is eat one, wait 12-24 hours and then eat the
second one.

Lately she's been exhibiting the "hunting" behaviour that indicates
she's hungry in as short a period as a week so I've been feeding her
more frequently. Although I'm delighted that she's got a good
appetite, I'm a little worried that there might be health implications
if she gains weight too fast. I know that feral cats that have been
adopted often have absolutely no appetite control - they'll eat 'till
they burst because they were starved as kittens. Obviously a python
isn't as mentally sophisticated as a cat, but I don't really know what
the long-term effects are of calorie deprivation.

Anybody run into a situation like this before? Advice? Do I worry too
much?

Siobhan

...Normal is what cuts off your sixth finger and your tail...
http://www.virulent.org                  siobhan@virulent.org
"Nothing Says "f.ck Off" Quite Like Setting Somebody On Fire."
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