Days between feedings for adult female?

[Smoked Oyster]

Hi everyone, new here. I will be getting a female adult ball python this weekend from a reputable local breeder. He usually sells hatchlings but he has a few adults for sale and I've chosen one in particular. She is 4 years old, not sure of the exact weight yet. I'm getting her tank set up this week and I'll be picking up the snake this weekend.

Anyway, I've done a ton of research on these snakes and I think I'm prepared for almost everything. However, I've read a lot of interesting information about feeding cycles.

Most of you on this forum seem to feed your animals anywhere from 5-10 days, but then again most of you seem to have smaller snakes. I read on some sites that adults need to be fed every 10-14 days. My local breeder feeds these snakes every 7 days, but he said I could do 10-14 days with a larger rat.

So what's the consensus for an adult, 4 year old, female, unknown weight at this time.

BTW, see attached picture of the animal, and please advise if you see anything wrong with this snake. I am not an expert but I have an idea of what to look out for. Thanks!

[BbyBoa]

People on this site have a very wide variety of snakes shapes and sizes, it might just seem like everyone has smaller stuff because a lot of pictures are people showing off there new stuff.

Really its up to you how often you like to feed, I personally would go once a week with a snake that size. You would be fine going 5 days, or up to 12 or even more depending on the size of the rodent. basically its whatever you wanna do. GL with her!

[pbjtime8908]

feeding depends on breeding plans. most ppl like to feed their breeders every 7 days with a medium rat. some will feed every 5 days also depending how much weight needs gained. if your not going to breed then every 10 days with a medium rat is fine and if she starts losing weight from that then get a slightly bigger rat.

[Annarose15]

Feeding smaller meals more often allows BPs to digest their food more efficiently. I feed my adult females a small to medium rat (80-100g) every 7 days. The size range is based on the girl's size - 1200g girl gets ~80g, but 3000g girl gets ~100+g.

Oh, and nice pastel!

[Smoked Oyster]

Thank you for the quick replies! Wow, this board moves fast!

Anyway, no I will not be breeding her. She is strictly a pet for my family and me. I guess I will just carefully monitor her weight and adjust feedings accordingly. I want to do this right and I'm trying to get the most precise data possible. Thank you again!

[Smoked Oyster]

Oh, and nice pastel!

I was wondering about that... you say "nice pastel". I am less familiar with the morphs. What specifically would you call this morph? Is it a straight-up "pastel"? I've seen all sorts of other "pastel" lines as well in pictures, and they look yellower than this snake. This snake is definitely lighter in color than the normals, but I'd be hard pressed to call it a "pastel". Maybe I just need to become more familiar with the morphs.

[loonunit]

It depends on the time of year, whether or not you want to breed her, and on the particular female. In the summer she'll probably have more appetite, so you might consider every week, especially if you want to breed her. You probabably want to offer multiple rodents in the summer.

In the winter you probably want to drop back to every other week, and only offer one or two items per feeding. But it'll really depend on her appetite---every snake and every year is a little different. So you have to gauge, and sometimes you have to guess. And sometimes they just don't eat.

I'm crazy busy with school, so right now I'm feeding my adults every other week, and my hatchlings every week. My adult girls (and some of my guys) are eating between 3-5 rats per meal on that schedule. Most of them would happily eat every week, but I also expect them to suddenly stop eating and switch to breeding in the next month or so.

[TKByrnes21783]

Just looks like a normal pastel to me. Nice looking one though.
As far as feeding.... On my larger snakes "Breeding Size" I feed on fridays med-large rat.