Opinions please :]

[Generationshell]

I am currently away at college and my ball python Xander is being cared for by my parents. Which have done a wonderful job so far. Im actually impressed. But there are a couple things I'm concerned about. He is eating a small rat every 7 days. My parents say he seems like he is hungry a lot. And is more active sometimes like he is looking for food. So when they mentioned this to the exotic store who sells the rats the guy said that you may want to feed him every 5 days.
I know we recently had to switch his hides because he grew out of one. And the only way to get him into the bigger one was to take the smaller one out. Which im not sure he liked lol. They also replaced my paper towel bedding with aspen. Im not rlly a fan of aspen to be honest :/ Could those changes cause the bp stress? Or is he actually still hungry?

Also Im so paranoid about him living with mites. Ahh I mean i would usually check his pits and scales for mites every week. And now its going unsupervised. He didnt have them when I left. He had been once but I still checked regularly because those mites suck!!! Im sure im just paranoid. But should I ask my parents to look in his pits and what not? I will be going home in about 2 weeks.

[llovelace]

How much does he weigh? If under 700g yes a 5 day feed schedule would be fine. You'll be home in 2 weeks, then you can show your parents how to check for & treat mites.

[Generationshell]

I would assume he is under 700 grams. Unless he gained 250 grams in the 6 weeks i have been gone. But my parents keep telling me he is getting really big and long since we switched him to rats. Which is awesome because for the longest time he was a scrawny snake no matter what I did. I can't wait to see him!

[Generationshell]

Here he is in his scrawny days. He had that triangle thing going on.

[Exotic Ectotherms]

As long as he is still eating I wouldn't worry about the switch to aspen causing stress. It sounds like he has a pretty good appetite, so i woulnd't worry too much.

As far as mites go....do your parents handle your BP? If he had mites, they would most likely see them on their hands after a handling. They multiply pretty quick.

[joepythons]

You will be suprised at the weight they will gain when they are eating rats.I only feed my snakes rats and they gain the weight

[Generationshell]

After I switched to rats and I saw such improvement I am never going back to mice again. Its such a huge difference.
I really hope he is over 700 grams now. I would be so happy!!
And I guess I got lucky because he has never refused a feeding in the past 9 months ive had him. Even when I switched to F/t and then to rats. But I think that is because he was very underweight when I got him. 2 yrs old and only about 250 grams. Idk if he was neglected or what.