Feeding to much?

[chrid16371]

The 0.1 Ivory I'm getting from my friend weighs 1072g and between 1 year and 1 year 6 months old. He has been feeding a medium live every 7 days. Ik he is in the 10%-15% range but I'm thinking it's to much. He was on frozen once but my friend said he liked live better but I'm going to try to transition him back to frozen but feed smalls. I see people that feed medium have a lot larger snakes. Just wondering what you all think. I can post pics so you can see the size of him if you want.

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[Slim]

I always feed adult males smalls. One per week.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Mediums are too much for a male unless you are going to do 15 to 30 days between feedings.

Also after about 500g the 10%-15% rule is gone.

[Crowfingers]

Mediums are too much for a male unless you are going to do 15 to 30 days between feedings.

Also after about 500g the 10%-15% rule is gone.

Just curious, but why do you stop the 10%-15% rule after 500g? Is it just that at this point they aren't growing as much or what. At this point do you just go by width of snake vs width of prey or do you decrease the percentage?

[PitOnTheProwl]

Just curious, but why do you stop the 10%-15% rule after 500g? Is it just that at this point they aren't growing as much or what. At this point do you just go by width of snake vs width of prey or do you decrease the percentage?

At 500g you are up to a small sized small rat, you don't need to feed more than a small every 5 to 7 days.
Width of the snake helps but many people don't know what a true small or medium rat look like.

[chrid16371]

Mediums are too much for a male unless you are going to do 15 to 30 days between feedings.

Also after about 500g the 10%-15% rule is gone.

That's what I thought. Only heard large females being fed mediums. I told him before a medium is way to big and the Ivory ended up going on a 2.5 month fast. Could such a big rat cause the fast? I don't plan on feeding any of mine anything but smalls unless my females end up big.

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[For Goodness Snakes]

I feed anything larger than 500 grams small live rats, anything over 1500 grams gets live mediums and my 3000 to 4500 gram females get large rats.



Brian

[Albert Clark]

I feed anything larger than 500 grams small live rats, anything over 1500 grams gets live mediums and my 3000 to 4500 gram females get large rats.



Brian

How often do you feed them that size prey Brian?

[For Goodness Snakes]

How often do you feed them that size prey Brian?

I feed more and more often than most people that keep ball pythons.

I offer my babies one or two live fuzzy rats about every 4 days or so, I offer my adult males a live small to medium rat about every 5 to 7 days, my adult females (2000 to 3000 grams) will be offered one or two mediums per week especially during the breeding season and my big girls (over 4000 grams) will be offered a large rat once a week especially during the breeding season. Most people don't feed their males very much, but I have found that if my males are a little light going into the breeding season, there is a very good chance that they will go off food and will starve to death. I expect my males to go off food so I buy a little insurance by feeding them heavy during the off season, with anticipation of the fast.

I want my snakes especially my females to be borderline overweight.

I know that most breeders would disagree with my feeding schedule, all I can tell you is that it works fantastic for me.

This year I'm going to produce 32 clutches out of a possible 35 adult females the average eggs per clutch so far is just over 7. I've had several 9 egg clutches, and a 14 egg clutch with several more double digit clutches just about to drop. I believe the reason for these large clutches is because of how I feed. A female that is a little robust will produce more follicles than a snake that is a little on the thin side. More follicles more babies, works for me.


Brian

[Eric Alan]

Just curious, but why do you stop the 10%-15% rule after 500g?

Because the larger a BP gets, the less the math makes sense. To put it in perspective, you'd be feeding a 3000 gram female a 300-450 gram rat. Just no...

The "rule" (or, more appropriately, the guideline) was likely made after someone realized that it just happened to work for hatchlings. It's a nice way for new keepers to learn properly sized food until thy can eyeball it with more experience. It was not made because it is the proper nutrition for a BP based on anything scientific.