200 g ball python

[newbtile]

My 200 g ball python dnt quite know his age but he's 24 inches long
And he is eating one adult mouse a week wich are about 20 to 30 grams no problem my question is cuz I have heard a lot of talk bout it should I try and work him over to weaned rates at about 30 to 40 gs

[Zombie]

Maybe try him out on pups first. But yea, i am a firm supporter of the "rats are better than mice" initiative. Get em on rats and notice how they grow

[Slim]

I'm not smart enough to debate the nutritional values of mice vs. rats, but I my anecdotal experience tells me that once you switch them over to rats their growth takes off!

[SlitherinSisters]

If you want to stick with mice you can, you'll eventually have to start feeding him multiple mice since one adult mouse is not enough for a larger bp. I think about 400 grams is when I started feeding my mouser 2 mice per feeding. It's easier to feed one rat, but it's not a have to. Totally up to you and/or the snake.

[newbtile]

He is a really good eater so ill probably try and switch to rats to see the growth there is a show here in pa and it will be my first and pic up a second ball kinda want a yellow belly

[RobNJ]

I have mouse eaters and rat eaters and don't find that one or the other really promotes growth more if the mousers will take multiple mice when they should. Sometimes it takes them a while to eat 2 or 3 mice at a time, while a rat eater will just be eating 1 appropriate sized rat. The only advantage of feeding rats that I find to be a big plus is that with rats, you only need to feed one throughout their entire life. A hungry 2,500+ gram mouser can easily put down 6-8 mice at a time.

[Vinny 4]

I've been wondering the same thing, because I really want to fatten my normal up, not for breeding reasons, just because I want him to be nice n fat .. only problem is i can't seem to find and live rat pups or even pinkies here in CT. should i just try to order some frozen and switch him off the live (not prekilled) adult mice he's been eating weekly? i don't have a scale yet and can't get a good measurement on him but he's probably a little less than 24 inches.

[jjcunaz]

I have mouse eaters and rat eaters and don't find that one or the other really promotes growth more if the mousers will take multiple mice when they should. Sometimes it takes them a while to eat 2 or 3 mice at a time, while a rat eater will just be eating 1 appropriate sized rat. The only advantage of feeding rats that I find to be a big plus is that with rats, you only need to feed one throughout their entire life. A hungry 2,500+ gram mouser can easily put down 6-8 mice at a time.

I have had my normal for around 2mo she is 200g and I'm feeding two 20g mice. Is this overfeeding?

[Mastil]

2 at 20g is 40g that's 20% of the snakes weight and from what I understand you should feed 15 to 20% every 5 days so seems to me your not overfeeding