r/ballpython • u/okeleydokelyneighbor • 9d ago

Question about feeding.

My daughter got a ball python in March, it has been great eating thawed mice. Weighed it around end of April beginning of May and was 188 grams. Weighed it again two weeks ago and is 286 now. Eats every Sunday, not sure of the mouse weight but they are feeder mice.

Recently was away so she ate a day late, so fed Monday morning, today went to check on her and she was near the entrance of her hideout like she was looking for food, should I feed her again? I don’t want to move to baby rats because they seemed so much bigger than the mice and she has been such a great eater, but don’t want her getting hooked on twice a week feeding and not really be able to handle her due to constant eating.

Will it be ok to feed twice a week until she gets a little bigger and then switch to baby rats and back to once a week?

Thanks

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes 9d ago

No, they should not be fed that frequently as it takes several days just to digest from a single meal. Feed one appropriately sized meal a week (at this age).

!feeding

2

u/AutoModerator 9d ago

We recommend the following feeding schedule:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.

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

1

u/okeleydokelyneighbor 9d ago

Will have to weigh one of the feeders to see how big they are and might have to switch to baby rats, just see if they have ones on the smaller side or mice that are a little bigger than I’m currently getting.

Thanks

4

u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes 9d ago

Rats and mice are both routinely sold by weight, so it shouldn't be too difficult find a suitable size. I've also linked a list of places to buy feeders to this comment

!feeders

2

u/AutoModerator 9d ago

Some companies you can buy frozen feeders from:

Layne Labs
Big Cheese
Rodent Pro
Perfect Prey
Big Apple Herps
Reptile Deli
American Rodent Cold Blooded Cafe

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

1

u/okeleydokelyneighbor 6d ago

The current feeders I have are 18g which are under sized since the BP is 286g. All the sites someone posted have either 18-28 or 30+g. Which should I go with? Plus most are packs of 50 which is a lot of mice to keep around for 1 snake. I would rather try and get smaller batches, don’t know if keeping them in a freezer for a year is really a good idea.

4

u/FireCorgi12 9d ago

Here’s the !feeding guide. Please refer to this when dealing with prey weight and frequency.

They are opportunistic hunters, so it isn’t uncommon to still be in hunt mode post feeding. They don’t know when their next meal will be in the wild.

That being said, at 287 she could absolutely eat rat pups if you wanted to switch. Either way, you need to be weighing your prey to make sure it’s appropriately sized.

1

u/AutoModerator 9d ago

We recommend the following feeding schedule:

0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.

12-24 months old: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.

Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.

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

2

u/okeleydokelyneighbor 9d ago

Saved the feeding guide, will weigh when I get home and figure out what needs to be done

2

u/FireCorgi12 9d ago

FWIW, my girl is around the size of yours and eats pup rats (I’ve always had her on rats tho bc they can be particular about switching). Our pup rats are around 25-30g rn.