Feed BP until she stops eating?

[Pyth]

Hello,

The pet store clerks said try to feed her 1x per week.

However she's exhibiting signs of hunger after eating her first live prey.

At this point do I continue feeding her mice?

Best,

Pyth

[purplemuffin]

Snakes will still just 'check around' after a meal, even if they are hungry or not. Make sure your prey size is adequate---The mouse or rat must be as wide as the widest point on the snake. If not, your snake is probably still hungry.

[stratus_020202]

How big is she? Young ones are almost always hungry. If she's under 500 g's I would feed her every 5 days a prey item that is about 10% of her body weight. She would probably take more though if you offered.

If she doesn't go into her hide and sleep, go ahead and feed her another mouse. Or, you might want to try bumping her to rats. I have an adult male who is a mouse eater, and my young spider gets his leftovers. You don't want to over do it, but there is nothing wrong with a little extra.

[Pyth]

Thanks for your rule of thumb purplemuffin. The prey I fed her was much smaller than her greatest width. I'll get a bigger mouse today.

Stratus, I've had a Ball Python for 2 months. She's about a year old. 29". Female. Unsure of her weight.

She has been noticeably active during the night hours, a lot more exploring, trying to get out of the terrarium, tunneling, swimming, etc. Observing her new behavior I put two more hides in her cage to characterize the enclosure a bit more.

Today she seems to be back to her normal hiding. I'll have to see how she reacts tonight.

[TheWinWizard]

My youngster weighs 344 grams and I'm feeding a small rat a week to him.

[Pyth]

Thanks Stratus.

I just gave her another, more sizable mouse, about 5 times the size of the one I gave her yesterday, which equals the width of her body by a rough estimate, and she ate it right up.

Pyth

[stratus_020202]

Thanks Stratus.

I just gave her another, more sizable mouse, about 5 times the size of the one I gave her yesterday, which equals the width of her body by a rough estimate, and she ate it right up.

Pyth

It's hard to tell without looking at the snake, but at about a year old she should be able to handle a weanling rat no problem. Or, 2-3 big mice. My full grown male usually will put down two mice, becuase he's a dork and for some reason has decided mice smell much better than rats. But, he took a rat this weekend for the first time in a year!

Hopefully you can get her/him a full belly now. I'm sure she'll be just fine.

[Pyth]

Hello,

Update

She's eaten an infant rodent, a full weanling rat, and a smaller weanling.

Pyth :-)

[Pyth]

Hey, I'm going to ask again (2nd time) : Should I keep feeding her as long as she appears to be hungry? I can bet she'll eat another one, because she looks hungry. When's the magic number? Is it possible to overfeed?

[Jeo123]

they will eventually stop(I think mine once ate 3 in one sitting when the mice were too small).

After a while though, they start going off feed and you begin to wish you could get back to this point. Enjoy it while it lasts.