Feeding

[Benjo_08]

My ball python is about 4 months old and is eating meadium sized mice but one mice a week isnt doing the job anymore. I feed him every monday and by friday he is following my hand around the cage looking for food. He's a little over a foot long. What is the appropriate size mice or rat i should be feeding him?


EDIT: Also, whats a good bedding besides news paper for a ball python? I have aspen bedding in there right now but some of the shavings sometimes get stuck on the mice if it bleeds. Will swallowing aspen hurt my bp?

[andrewrks123]

no sir, ball pythons normally dont ingest bedding. even if he does eat some with the mouse he will be fine.

[Didgie]

I'm too new to owning balls to feel comfortable answering your feeding question (though, I think what you're feeding is fine - overfeeding seems to be pretty common...an overfed snake doesn't live as long!)

I can help you on the bedding question! Balls usually don't have a problem with ingesting bedding and getting impacted - so unless he's ingesting mouthfuls really frequently, he should be fine. It might help if you fed him somewhere other than his usual tank, if you're really worried about ingestion and the mouse blood on the shavings.

As for bedding, I actually prefer Reptile Cage Carpet. It's washable, and they can't ingest it on accident when feeding. http://www.reptiledirect.com/browsep...ge-Carpet.html It's easy to change and clean, and saves you money you would spend buying new shavings.

[iCandiBallPythons]

I feed 1 appropriate size rat/mouse close to widest part of the snakes body. For example I have 09 babies that are 80-100 gram range on adult mice every fifth day.Once they gain size I switch them to small rats and then on upto medium rats every on a 7 day schedule.This works for me. If you have a scale, What is the weight of your snake? As far as substrate I prefer unprinted newspaper for my racks. When I'm spot cleaning its easier to see on the paper compared to shavings.

[CANO27]

I use aspen as well pretty good i haven't had any problems with it cuz i feed my ball python outside of its cage. But my ball python has been looking for more after i fed it an adult mouse so recently fed it 2 adult mice see if that works.

[seeya205]

I have a 31/2 month old and I feed him a rat pup every 5 days and I use cocnut fibre for a substrate. It hold humidity and it is so fine that if he does eat it, it won't bother him!

[Kaorte]

I'm too new to owning balls to feel comfortable answering your feeding question (though, I think what you're feeding is fine - overfeeding seems to be pretty common...an overfed snake doesn't live as long!)

I can help you on the bedding question! Balls usually don't have a problem with ingesting bedding and getting impacted - so unless he's ingesting mouthfuls really frequently, he should be fine. It might help if you fed him somewhere other than his usual tank, if you're really worried about ingestion and the mouse blood on the shavings.

As for bedding, I actually prefer Reptile Cage Carpet. It's washable, and they can't ingest it on accident when feeding. http://www.reptiledirect.com/browsep...ge-Carpet.html It's easy to change and clean, and saves you money you would spend buying new shavings.

Cage carpet is horrible if you reuse it. You will quickly find that it will be a pain to clean and will always leave a stinky smell. Meaning it can never be fully cleaned.

Personally, I prefer paper towels. Disposable, clean looking, and cheap! Although the aspen won't harm your snake. They can digest bone, I don't think wood will be much of a problem!

Your snake could for sure take an adult mouse or maybe even two! 10-15% of the snakes body weight is a good rule to keep in mind.

[Didgie]

Cage carpet is horrible if you reuse it. You will quickly find that it will be a pain to clean and will always leave a stinky smell. Meaning it can never be fully cleaned.

Fffft, I knew it was too good to be true. Ah well, so I guess I'm switching after I use up these cage carpets! ^^

[Lolo76]

First, I agree about the repti-carpet being a pain... I tried it with my geckos, and it was nice for about a week. Then it got really gross, and I ended up throwing it away instead of cleaning it. I use newspaper or paper towels with my BPs, and couldn't be happier.

To answer the feeding question, like Kaorte said 10-15% of their body weight is a good rule to follow... my babies are around 3 months old and range between 180-200g, and have been getting one or two adult mice weekly. My Mojave is particularly piggish, so I occasionally give him a little extra, or a second weekly feeding. You can feed them every 5-6 days when they're young, so maybe try that with yours for a while.