Help please fast!

[shelliebear]

Hi,
I bought Cleomantra a medium rat last week from Petco, (frozen) and he ate it just fine, but the one this week is quite a bit fatter around the middle, and I'm worried he can't eat it. It is just about the same width he is around his widest part, maybe a little tiny bit wider, and I think he weighs around 600 grams (he is smaller than Nergal by a good bit and I estimate Nergal is 800-900 grams ish)
Can I safely feed this to him or should I just give him one small rat? He was getting very skinny off of just the small rats and he will not eat mice, period.
Should I try two small rats at once? Or just the one medium?
Thanks

[RichsBallPythons]

For one a medium rat is huge for anything under 2000g IMO. Anything above Sm rat is a waste of food with ball pythons. Especially since hes only 600g, i would have him eating large wean to small rats.

I don't even have mediums in the freezer, nor have i ever fed any to my bps except for females after laying eggs to fatten them up faster.

One small rat ever 5-7 days is all they need. Keep in mind just cause they can eat it don't mean that's what they should eat.

[Kymberli]

Mine are eat rats that are just slightly larger in girth than my BPs and they have no problem. One small rat every 6 days.

[shelliebear]

Ok will give him a small rat then, but last time he was losing weight pretty steadily despite eating a small one every week. they are 40 g, the small rats, mediums are 100 g
last week he took the medium one and has been in his hide instead of wrecking his tank while roaming and hasn't lost weight. he looked so skinny 2 weeks ago it was worrysome.
but am giving a small rat, will just have to buy some more if he loses weight again

[RichsBallPythons]

Small rats run 50-70g, and if hes eating them every 5-7 days he should not be losing weight. If he is i suspect internal parasites and may need a deworming if thats the case.

[shelliebear]

the rats from petco always run small. small ones are 40g or less always, they are only about 1.5 longer than an adult mouse, and very skinny. they have no meat on them at all.
i guess i'll get him tested then just to be sure

[Simple Man]

I think a small rat sounds fine if it is 40g. You might try dealing with http://www.glacierrodents.com/ They are in WA and have some great frozen rodents. I dealt with them recently and they earned my business with their prices and the quality of the rodents. They are a big step above the pet retail stores.

Regards,

B

[Kymberli]

Yeah, the small rats I purchase from a breeder average 56g. The weanlings were 30-40g. I absolutely hate those pre-packaged pet store feeders. More expensive and tend to run smaller.

[RichsBallPythons]

Buying live from petco can result in the possibility of tape worm. They have other animals coming in and out all day that can bring in Fleas.

In turn your snake ingests the flea and gets the parasite.

This is how i label rats in freezer for snake size

rat fuzzy 5-15g fed to hatchlings
rat pups 15-29g fed to bps 200-400g
wean rat 30-50 fed to bps 400-700g
sm rat 50-70 fed to bps 700+
med rat 70-100 fed to only egg laying females

[Kymberli]

Buying live from petco can result in the possibility of tape worm. They have other animals coming in and out all day that can bring in Fleas.

In turn your snake ingests the flea and gets the parasite.

This is how i label rats in freezer for snake size

rat fuzzy 5-15g fed to hatchlings
rat pups 15-29g fed to bps 200-400g
wean rat 30-50 fed to bps 400-700g
sm rat 50-70 fed to bps 700+
med rat 70-100 fed to only egg laying females

Edit: Maybe I've misinterpreted what the OP has said. I was under the impression they were feeding f/t.