Is this rat too big to feed Snickers?

[Superpop]

Sorry for the bad quality/lighting but I don't like to take Snickers out during the day...



Anyway we don't have a scale but this is not a full grown rat either and Snickers has never eaten a rat before(although she has eaten 3-4 full grown mice a few times before)

Admittedly I have been scared to offer her the rat for a few months now(we keep the rat in a non-defrosting freezer so I'm sure it's still good.)

I am also very worried about overfeeding at this point because Snickers used to eat a F/T mouse right out of her dish in her tank and then if another was added she would eat it and another, etc.

Then she wouldn't eat for weeks and a bunch of mice ended up being tossed in the yard for scavengers.(we don't "re-freeze")

Then after that it came to the point where Snickers would "watch" the dead mouse all night and then not eat it.... Now we have to use a grabber and make the mouse dance for her until she latches on and eats it.

Snickers is almost 2 years old now and if we have to buy her a scale we will but besides the scale I can't find many "feeding frequency" guides for ball pythons that are not newly hatched....I don't want to overfeed her either.

We were so accustomed to trying to feed Snickers once a week and now I can't find a guide on how OFTEN to feed her!

[mues155]

From the picture that rat looks appropriately sized.

Believe me when Snickers gets full grown the mouse feeding thing will get really annoying lol.
Most people have to do a "zombie dance" a rodent in the wild would be moving and it only natural to have to mimic that.
The way you word him "eating from his dish" is almost comical.
Ball pythons are notorious picky eaters and Snicker's may develop some feeding issues. Like you may need to do the zombie dance now, or he may go on small fasts.

If Snickers is just a pet I would think a feeding of every few weeks of an appropriate sized meal would be just fine. But you sure can feed him once a week if you'd like.

[Superpop]

From the picture that rat looks appropriately sized.

Believe me when Snickers gets full grown the mouse feeding thing will get really annoying lol.
Most people have to do a "zombie dance" a rodent in the wild would be moving and it only natural to have to mimic that.
The way you word him "eating from his dish" is almost comical.
Ball pythons are notorious picky eaters and Snicker's may develop some feeding issues. Like you may need to do the zombie dance now, or he may go on small fasts.

If Snickers is just a pet I would think a feeding of every few weeks of an appropriate sized meal would be just fine. But you sure can feed him once a week if you'd like.

I think it may be time to offer Snickers that small rat but I don't even know when to do so at this point because of "overeating" issues.


Snicker is "just a pet" but I care very much about her. I wish there was some feeding guide about frequency as relates to age. I have recently read about overfeeding and it scares me because they can possibly die. I just want a guide so I don't inadvertently overfeed her.

[mues155]

Honestly your over thinking this.
Unless your feeding her more than once a week and they were LARGE meals then you dont have anything to worry about with overfeeding. Example, feeding her that sized meal every 4 days would be a bit much, that could be very close to dangerous.
There is no guide to feeding because there is no need for one.

Just feed her that size rat every 2-3 weeks and that would be just right. You wouldnt even need to feed her that often, 3-4 weeks would be just fine too.
Relax, you honestly have nothing to worry about.

[mues155]

And I didnt mean "just a pet" being that I dont care about my breeders the way I would as a singular pet.
Its just that when breeding, weight and eating is everything. Most people who are breeding and growing bps will feed a bp an average meal every 5-7 days. This is NORMAL, its not overfeeding.

So if shes just a pet and wont be bred then her need to gain and maintain weight is not as critical. Snickers looks healthy and can eat that sized rat every couple weeks with NO problem.

[mackynz]

At first I thought you were feeding a rat a snickers bar

Looks about the right size to me, get a scale!

[Orijin0XazN]

At first I thought you were feeding a rat a snickers bar

Looks about the right size to me, get a scale!

LMAO! Same here. I was like what??!!

[Superpop]

At first I thought you were feeding a rat a snickers bar

LMAO! Same here. I was like what??!!

Sorry about that. Upon further review of the title of this thread I understand why people could come to that conclusion. LMFAO!

[JaGv]

that size rat is ok for your snake to be eating once a week. a snake won't eat if they are not hungry so over feeding won't be a problem

[Superpop]

It is my understanding from other threads that Walmart sells "gram scales"(And I will assume that means Target sells them as well in case I can't find one at Walmart)

In what section of the store could I find a scale like that? I'm assuming it won't be with the step-on pounds scales for people.

The only reason I ask is because I know if I ask a random Walmart or Target employee they will act like I am nuts for asking them such a specific question and then I will get the response: "Well I dun know if we sell somethin like that which weighs grams but my Brother Mark has a scale that weighs grams. You wanna get high?" and I'll end up waiting 20 minutes for a manager to come over and show me where it's located only to discover they are out of stock! LOL