Questions and such.

[MutterBuffin]

Hey there. I joined this forum awhile back but for some reason my first post never showed up i guess, however i read a bunch of advice and tips on here and it really has helped a lot. I have a 10 month old ball python who i just weighed a second ago that weighs 245 g. I have had him, a little over a month, and took him to the vet two weeks after i first got him. They said he was very healthy and lively, but i stupidly forgot to ask how much he weighed at the time. l have been feeding him medium size mice. He was on fuzzies at the pet store which i thought was to small, so went and bought him a medium mouse which was only slightly bigger than his belly at the time. My question is, do ball pythons hit crazy growth spurts? Because even thought i forgot to ask it seems that he has grown A LOT since the short time I have had him. His head is bigger and neck seems fuller. Literally since he has grown i feel like he needs to up his feeding size to a large mouse or to a rat. He eats great, always willing to eat with no problems. I think he would eat everyday if i let him (which of course i wont). Should i go ahead and start him on rats? The small rats are pretty large for him and the pinky rats seem to small so im kind of in a situation where I want to switch him over but dont want it to hurt him either. T.T i feed him every 7 days. Any comments are appreciated. When i went to the vet they actually told me to feed him the size of his head 0.o.. but it was ok for me to feed larger. I just want to make sure this growth spurt will not harm him.

Thanks -whit

[Stewart_Reptiles]

He grew a lot because his feeding changeg drastically, but there is still room for improvement at his size he can eat a large mouse or a rat pup.

Ideal prey at this stage should be = the girth size of your animal.

[Snoopyslim]

Sounds normal. Valentine was underweight when we purchased her, we increased her mouse size after receiving good advice from the forum (what Deborah said ^). Since then she has grown at an amazing rate - literally every time I feed her she grows. I think if your ball was underweight it's probably just catching up, it will shed faster with these growth spurts.

[MutterBuffin]

Thank you so much for the fast replies. I was under the impression that ball pythons grow slowly.. which is why i stocked up on medium mice (which was dumb of me) which was the perfect size at first, the last two feedings was when i really noticed how smaller the mouse had become. Gonna go out and get him started on something bigger. I have a fridge full of medium mice and have no idea what to do with them T.T lesson learned.

[JodanOrNoDan]

You can feed multiples. Wait till the first is all the way down then immediately offer the second. When those are gone I would attempt to get the animal on rats. It will be cheaper and easier in the long run.

[MutterBuffin]

Thanks i will probably do that. When i took a look in my fridge I realised i did not have as many as I orginally thought, which is good. And he did go through a shed with me pretty quick. Im glad he's growing well