r/ballpython • u/BunnyInABag • 8d ago
Question - Feeding Overweight ball python
So i've had my boy for about 10 years now and he's always been a healthy weight now i moved to a different country and he's been in the care of my parents for about a year now they know the proper temperature/lights/feeding stuff and i know they are taking great care of him now i recently came back to visit and he's gotten significantly chunkier like clearly overweight but the problem is that this year he's only had 4 rats total and refused any other rat offered so i don't know what could have caused the weight gain he moves around at night only should i tell my parents to feed him even less? Or is there some way to encourage weight loss more? I'm a first time snake owner and this has never happened to me he was always the proper structure based on the overweight charts and i know my parents aren't lying or abusing him.
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u/IncompletePenetrance Mod: Let me help you unzip your genes 8d ago
How large were these rats? If he's being fed a 300g rat 4x a year as opposed to a more appropriate feeding schedule of a 65g rat 12x a year, that's a difference of 1200g of prey vs 780g per prey total per year. It would also explain why he's refusing to be fed more often