Feeding

[CliveBixby]

Okay so I have kept snakes for about 10 years. But I have never a Ball Python. I was recently at my local animal rescue and saw a small BP sitting alone in a cage with nothing in it. Literally, i mean nothing. He was just sitting in a empty cage with no bedding. I asked the lady working what was going on and why he was there and why he has nothing in his cage. She said he was dropped off by a family and no one really wanted to work with snakes there (Which then prompted me to ask for who was in charge and yelled at the guy for a good 20 minutes for ignoring a poor snake and being a douchebag). So I instantly fell in love with him and took him home and let him sit around in his cage for about a week to get used to everything. He has been the sweetest snake I have ever owned. He is about 18-20 inches long. I decided it was time to feed him. I always feed my snakes frozen and thankfully he did too. I have had him for around 4 weeks now and have been feeding him one fuzzy per week. He seems happy and content, he has never tried to strike at me or anything, seems to tolerate handling very well. I'm not really sure about the feeding habits of Balls. I am a zoology student so I know basic stuff like balls are very picky and males (and rarely females) stop eating during the winter. But I just wanted to see if one fuzzy a week was enough for him. I'm just concerned about underfeeding him. Any advice would be my appreciated.

[Mike.P]

I think you're on the right track. The fact that he's eating regularly is a good sign, especially coming from those conditions. When you say fuzzy... Mouse or rat? Try to get him eating rats, they're more nutritious. If he's twenty inches, you can probably start feeding him rat pups. Rule of thumb, is the meal should be no bigger than his thickest point. Or about 15% of his body weight, if you have a scale. Once a week is fine, you may want to bump him up to every five days depending on size. How much does he weigh? Btw, I think it's great that you decided to adopt him and get him out of that environment.

[CliveBixby]

Yeah I actually put him on the scale and it broke so I am currently trying to get a new scale. But he is on mice right now. I figured it was about time to make the switch. But thanks for your help. I did an internship at a zoo over the summer and took care of everything from vipers to ret. pythons no problem. But its just something about having a baby that was in terrible conditions that just make you wanna make sure he is taken care of. Thank you very much for the advise.

[Vypyrz]

Hello, and to BP.net. Thank you for giving the little guy a home. It sounds like you are off to a great start. I am sure that by studying Zoology, you will have insights that many will find useful. Welcome aboard...

[mattchibi]

Welcome and glad you got that lil guy out of there! Try to feed 10-15% of his body weight once you get a new scale.