Am I feeding too much?

[HateCrewCn]

Hi, Guys. I'm relatively new to Ball Bython and having a question concerning feeding issues. It would be very much appreciated if you could help me out. Any information is helpful.

Yesterday, I've got a 2012 April born (according to its previous owner) female ball python. It's about 74cm(29") long,weights just 352g. It feed on a 30g mice once a week despite its good appetite. By contrast, my another BP born last year(I'm not sure the exact month but I guess it's safe to say it's younger than the newly-purchased ) which I've been keeping since last December weights 495g last time I checked, she's been a great eater for me and have never off feed once. Basically I feed her a 30g mice every 4-5 days , until one and a half month ago I noticed his active activity the second day I feed him, I guess her wanted more ,so I moved up to 2 mice every 5 days and she seems to be quite satisfied. She weight 374g on Feb 26, 452g on March 25 and now is about 490g. All was measured empty-stoached.

It's under my impression that the small BP had not been feeding enough since she weights only 352g exactly one year after she was born. Unlike some hatchlings sometimes go off feed, this one is a great eater too. She's been feed so little only because her previous owner thought it was safe to do so, moving up to one mice every 4-5 days would be defined as power feeding and thus cause sterility, I think this was kind of ridiculous. In my opinion feeding prey weights 10-15% of snakes every 4-5 days in their early stages is quite reasonable as long as they don't go off feed or show any bad signs. And that's exactly what I've been doing the last couples of months for my snake.
I'd like to hear what you have to say about this. Am I overfeeding or what? Thanks very much.

[Adin]

From what I've read around its okay to feed them 4-5 while they are younger but ad long as the meal I sizable for them to eat they should be fine. That's just from what I've read. Anyone feel free to correct me if im wrong but as long as They can't eat it with out choking they are fine to eat every 4-5 days then once they hit a certain weight think they should be fed every 7-10 days but someone else will have to tell you what that threshold is when you feed every every 7-10 days if your power feeding when they are young.


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[BigJayPiercer]

Get them on Rats, They will have better weight retention and start growing a little faster for you.

As to the size of your prey items you seem to be spot on IMO. 15% of overall body weight every seven days is perfect for a progressive growth rate.

Feeding 30% of their body weight, which is what your doing by feeding two prey items a week is excessive. With my Babies I feed every 5 days until they hit 250 grams and then it's bumped to every 7 days.

Now, that being said I would think that the female you just acquired was on a bare minimum diet for her first year. Ball pythons can be raised on a diet consisting of prey items 15% of their overall bodywieght every 14 days but it will cause them to grow more slowly (obviously) but cause no lasting Ill health effects.

[HateCrewCn]

Thanks for your informative input. although I think there's a certain point you didn't get it right. Maybe that's because I didn't make it clear.Sorry for that.
"Feeding 30% of their body weight, which is what your doing by feeding two prey items a week is excessive. " as you put it. That's not the case. When she was 374g I feed her 2 mice weights 60g in total every 5 days . 60/374=16%, and now it's still 2 mice when she reaches 500g,that's 60/500=12%. It's nowhere near 30%, so I suppose it's on a healthy diet. Other than that, I totally agree with you ! As for appropriate-sized rat, that's what I've been having trouble getting my hands on, it's just kind of hard to come by in my city. But I'll keep an eye on it. Thanks for sharing.

[Adin]

Maybe you could start breeding your own rats if your able too and If you have excess supply you could sell them off you other keepers in your area for a little extra cash. But as for the way your feeding right now it doesn't sound like its too much to me.

[HateCrewCn]

Basically that's not an option for me ,I have limited space and they really smell. Maybe I'll try to keep them when I've got more BPs but denifitely not now. Thanks for you kind advice

[Adin]

Not a problem glad to help as much as I can.


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[BigJayPiercer]

You are correct, I hadn't properly done the math.

For a 500 gram animal 60g prey is fine. You seem to be at the right prey weight. However it is going to start costing you considerably more to feed them as they grow if you cannot find a supply of rats.

Imagine, your snake has reached 1000g and by following the 15% prey/body weight ratio. You would have to feed five 30 gram mice every seven days versus a single medium rat in the 150g range.

Where I live, if I am buying Frozen prey, a rat that size is $3.99 and the mice would be $1.59 each. So you would be looking at a cost of $4 versus almost $8 a week.

I personally have come across a local rodent breeder who gives excellent prices and my feeding cost has dropped exponentionally.

Before I found my new supplier it cost me over $100 a week to feed my collection and they were all on frozen rats. Now I spend about $150 a month. It would benefit you greatly to find a local supply of food for your animals prior to adding to your collection.

So in answer to your original question. No, you are not feeding too much IMO. However you could probably cut back to every 7 days at this ooint and still see them growing like weeds.



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[HateCrewCn]

I just feed she 3 mice yesterday, she ate like crazy. Took them all in 20 minutes. It's been 6 days since last time she ate.
I'm struggling to find rat supplies, as feeding multiple mice tends to be a little bit time-consuming. Thank you guys. It really helps a lot