Potential feeding problem

[DandD]

So I was quite sure that me and my daughters ball python was still hungry after eating fuzzies. He would crush 2 of them every Wednesday about an hour apart. Today we decided to try and step up a size and all the store had was “small mice” . Mike struck hard and got it but he is trying to eat it feet first and I’m not sure he is gonna be able to eat it. What potential problems should we look out for if any. I’m fairly certain he just won’t eat it if it’s to big but did we make a mistake by going up a size too early?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

No it is not an issue, your BP is finally getting a appropriate size prey (well maybe) and since he has no experience in handling a proper size prey he is learning how to.

Your BP was still hungry after being offered fuzzies because it was underfed, fuzzy mice are not BP food even out of the egg they eat hoppers and quickly move to adults.

What is the weight of your BP?

[DandD]

To be 100% honest we have never weighed him. But he has taken the mouse back into his hide so I feel confident he’s gonna figure it out. We are relatively new to this and it does seem weights can tell you a lot about your snake.

[larryd23]

Sneak into the kitchen when no one is looking and steal the digital scale. At least that's what my daughter and I did. We are using a Cuisinart digital scale that sells for around $25 on Amazon.

Our pastel banana boi is a few months old and growing rapidly. We've gotten in the habit of weighing him weekly. He's been eating rat pups since he was around 180 grams. Since their size varies greatly from our local reptile shop, we've also started weighing them to make sure our boy is getting enough to eat. We're a little (OK a lot) OCD, but it's not much effort when you only have one BP to worry about.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

To be 100% honest we have never weighed him. But he has taken the mouse back into his hide so I feel confident he’s gonna figure it out. We are relatively new to this and it does seem weights can tell you a lot about your snake.

If he is young know that the ideal prey his a prey that his the size of his girth, but ideally until you get a hang of it and know what the prey should look like get a weight and follow this.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2493722

As some point after you have fed him over and over again you will just look at a feeder and know if it's the right size, if you are unsure weigh the prey and weight the snake, because remember young BP are programmed to eat and you want to feed them the right amount so they can have a normal growth.

[DandD]

If he is young know that the ideal prey his a prey that his the size of his girth, but ideally until you get a hang of it and know what the prey should look like get a weight and follow this.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...=1#post2493722

As some point after you have fed him over and over again you will just look at a feeder and know if it's the right size, if you are unsure weigh the prey and weight the snake, because remember young BP are programmed to eat and you want to feed them the right amount so they can have a normal growth.

Thank you all so much for the great info. Tmr we will be picking up a scale! All is good I just took a peek at mike and he has ate it no problem. Once again thank you all