Long Awaited Rock Pics

I don't know.....she isnt very old so I would think she could keep growing, though the last two years she has mostly grown out as opposed to longer. When they go together for breeding I will get some pics. There are some pics of her from like 3-4 years ago on here and some of her I believe over on Kingsnake (search Rock pythons) from within the past two years, but she looks smaller than she really is. She is huge, and has only gotten bigger. Dan M.

Originally Posted by fuscusking13

She is too big to even move because she is so much dead weight.

Excuse my ignorance, but wouldn't it be healthier for her if she dropped a little weight so she could move easier?

Originally Posted by 99Vengeur

BTW- Is 15 ft. about the upper limit for rock pythons?

Not hardly, lol. Most references offer the same average lengths for P. sebae as P.m. bivittatus. Figure the average female will run in the 15-18 ft range, but larger Afrocks are far from uncommon.
The record was a specimen killed in 1932 (I think...its been a long time since I spouted off this information) that measured just a squeak over 32 ft.

Originally Posted by texasnewbie

Excuse my ignorance, but wouldn't it be healthier for her if she dropped a little weight so she could move easier?

Sorry.... I meant for us to move her...she gets around just fine on her own lol. She is pretty quick for a big girl hahaha. She is "healthy" but not really overweight, primed for breeding as she could lose some weight and still be in great shape. Dan M.

Originally Posted by fuscusking13

Sorry.... I meant for us to move her...she gets around just fine on her own lol. She is pretty quick for a big girl hahaha.

Oh I see. My bad. I understand what you mean now.

Originally Posted by hhmoore

Not hardly, lol. Most references offer the same average lengths for P. sebae as P.m. bivittatus. Figure the average female will run in the 15-18 ft range, but larger Afrocks are far from uncommon.
The record was a specimen killed in 1932 (I think...its been a long time since I spouted off this information) that measured just a squeak over 32 ft.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't that a retic?

Originally Posted by fuscusking13

and some of her I believe over on Kingsnake (search Rock pythons) from within the past two years, but she looks smaller than she really is. She is huge, and has only gotten bigger. Dan M.

Since there were none posted under your username and you said she belonged to a friend... I just started opening the photos of the only bigger one posted in the Kingsnake galleries, saw the user who posted them was based in Connecticuit and am working off the assumption that she's the one.

If she's gotten even fatter than she is in those photos, I'd say there's a pretty good argument for animal abuse. Anyone who takes a species with a string, agressive feeding response and turns it into a sausage with a pinhead needs to sit down and re-evaluate their ability to maintain live animals in good health. It's just grossly irresponsible to manipulate an animal's feeding regime and have that as a result. There's a world of difference between "nice and thick" and "fat choking off internal organs, bloated to the point where the scales are being pulled apart" and- again if it's the big girl from connecticuit in the KS gallery- that snake was already past that line two years ago.

Seamus, you are correct in which one she is, however as she has put on weight she is also still growing in length. She only eats a couple of times a year and not big meals for her size by any means(rabbits mostly). She just steadily grows. If she was getting overfed she would be absolutely overweight as the few rabbits/chickens/rats and such that she eats a year keeps her steadily growing. She is fairly lazy in her cage, but very active when out. It's hard to make a snake lose weight which is why it would be great to see her breed as that would take some weight off of her. Actually her feeding response has never been manipulated. When she was originally brought in she was eating one rabbit(occasionally two) every 3 weeks to a month, and then has only really had less than that since. Sometimes all she gets is a large rat, and she wont want to eat again for a month or longer(which seems crazy, but she does it). She doesn't even need to eat right now, but every 6 weeks or so she will get really annoyed if you don't give her something. Other times she just wont eat for a couple months, then she will all of sudden eat two rabbits the next time. She is a strange girl, but the tamest snake(not just Rock Python, snake period) hands down I have ever seen. Also by the way her head is huge, not a pin head at all. As a matter of fact it is broader than most rocks I have seen. Not trying to start an argument by any means, but you are wrong. Pictures can be deceiving, but stretched out and moving she is no thicker(actually less thick) than a typical burm of similar size. Rocks are much heavier than burms for whatever reason. My male rock was the exact same length as two of my burms and he was on the thin side if anything and outweighed them by almost 18 pounds. They seem to be much more muscular for whatever reason. She has not been overfed, she just keeps growing. She put on about 1.5-2 feet and about 20 pounds which is certainly a reasonable amount of weight for that amount of length on a girl that big. Anyways she isn't mine so I can't really say much more....the point of this thread was to showcase my patternless rock whom I believe to be in perfect shape lol, unless you would like to dispute that.

He is eating more than I would normally feed him(1 rabbit every 10 days), but he is 3 years old and needs to do some catching up to match the size he should be at that age. Plus as I said I don't want an expensive stain, or to lose my buddy. Him and I are doing quite well with getting used to each others habits and such. When I first got him we were both a little leery of each other, but now we are all good. He is very happy...larger cage, more food, and minimal interaction, not to mention he has a very bright Christmas coming up if he plays his cards right! He is a bit cage defensive, but he is not being aggressive at all anymore. In fact I can go in and change water and such and he doesn't even look my way anymore. When I clean his cage he usually sits on the floor and just looks around, but has never struck at me from that position. I wouldn't say I trust him as much as others I have owned as he does have a bit of a "temper" if you will, but he is coming along nicely. I swear he is a smart little though. My vision cage has a tiny hole in one corner(barely visible) but it will leak there if anything is spilt(h2o, urine ect). Without fail everytime he goes out of his way to go to that corner and piss his little heart out and out of the cage it comes. I sort of solved it by putting a couple paper towels over there under the newspaper. Its kind of funny, but not really lol. The first time it happened I was pissed off, and my floor was pissed on. Thankfully its not carpeted so it wasn't the end of the world! Anyways everyone have a good week, Dan M.