# How long does it take for a snake to lose weight?



## VioletHill69 (Jun 7, 2021)

My BHP has been living with my parents for a few years due to circumstances. I've only just taken her back a few months ago and I've noticed she's become super fat to be quite frank.

My parents had been feeding her every 10-14 days (1 extra large rat). Since having her living with me again, I've been doing the following:

Feeding her 2 large rats rather than 1 jumbo (I figure extra large rats are high in fat content).
Only feeding her every 4-5 weeks.

How long will this take before she starts to become noticibly thinner? 

Would anyone recommend cutting her down to just one large rat every 4-5 weeks? Not feeding at all during winter? I've never had a fat snake before and I want her to be healthy, so any advice at all is much appreciated.


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## Herpetology (Jun 7, 2021)

Post a picture,
If you want it to lose weight, stop feeding all together for 6+months, it might lose a few grams, get her active (once winters over)

bhp in particular are notorious for getting overweight quick

a few years back, an overweight stimsons(?) was put on a diet of no feeding for 1 year


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## Pythonguy1 (Jun 7, 2021)

VioletHill69 said:


> My BHP has been living with my parents for a few years due to circumstances. I've only just taken her back a few months ago and I've noticed she's become super fat to be quite frank.
> 
> My parents had been feeding her every 10-14 days (1 extra large rat). Since having her living with me again, I've been doing the following:
> 
> ...


I would definitely recommend cutting him down to a large rat once a month. That's what I have my bigger BHP on. I would also take him out for a stretch outside his cage at least once a week so he's getting lots of movement happening. An extra large rat is higher in fat content. I certainly wouldn't give him a jumbo.


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## Sdaji (Jun 8, 2021)

If you want her to lose weight, about 3-4 feeds per year of around 200g per feed (I've often actually bred large pythons on around 6 feeds per year). Once she has become accustomed to generous feeding she'll be used to it and quite likely do her absolute best to kill and eat anyone who goes near her, possibly forever, possibly until she has come to a healthy weight and then spent some time, perhaps two years or so stable at that weight. 

The fastest way is to get her to produce a clutch of eggs. As with many animals, including humans, once the body has had the opportunity to accumulate a lot of fat reserves it is likely to be reluctant to let them go. This is especially true for animals with low metabolic rates, like pythons, so merely putting them on a maintenance diet will simply maintain their current weight.


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