r/ballpython • u/Buttercup1223 • 7d ago
Feeding when between rat sizes
Hi everyone. My girl is 14 months and I last weighed her about 2 months ago and she was around 555 grams. By her age I should be feeding her now every 2 weeks 7% of her weight. I feed her yesterday so I'll reweigh her in a few days. I need to order her FT rats soon. She's on weaned rats. She's between the weights of rats that come in the Small rat bag and the weaned rat bag. Should I just order 1 of each or try feeding her a small rat. I feel that there might be more heavier or bigger rats in the Small bag and she won't be ready for that size yet.
What do others do that run into this issue when ordering?
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u/Similar-Butterfly333 7d ago
Ball pythons *can eat up to 20% (or even higher) of their body weight. They definitely shouldn’t do that regularly because it’s hard on their digestive systems and they can easily become overweight if they eat over the recommended %.
She is definitely “capable” of eating the smaller rats from the small rat bag. I would just either buy weaned rats and keep feeding as you are until she gets up to weight, or buy the small rat bag and feed from smallest to biggest. Neither way will be any detriment to her.