Getting the right feeding size

[chadcite]

Hey guys I'm trying to figure out what feeding size is best for my BP, I've been getting alot of suggestions that my feeding size is too large and its cause me inconsistency with feedings. I feed medium sized rats. The smaller rats I see available are really tiny more like mouses lol , do you think that can leave a 2-3yr male BP satisfied ? The medium size rats are as long as a 2 pencil including the tail and are slightly thinner than a 1 dollar bill.

[dalvers63]

I feed my adult male BP a medium rat (anywhere from 165g to a bit 0ver 200g) every 10 days or so. For my adult male that bred this year, I'm feeding him every 7 days as long as he's eating so that he'll put weight on. He fasted for a couple of months when he was with the female.

How much does your snake weigh? I've found it's much easier to deal with them by weight than age/size. The same with feeders. If you can pick up a digital scale it helps a lot. I found one for $30 at one of the local stores and it works great for everything up to my adult BPs.

deb

[Purrrfect9]

The rule of thumb for feeding BP's is to feed them prey size that's no wider than the girth of the snake. It makes them easier to digest if you feed them something slightly smaller than girth size.

[chadcite]

Well yeah, the Mediums are usually his girth or below , but the small rats that the petshop have available are just tiny...... and I don't have scale to get his weight.

[rabernet]

An adult male does not need much more than a small/small rat every seven days (40-50 grams). All my adults get one that size every week. For me, that's about a 4-5 week old rat.


Think that's not enough? Take a look at this:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...8&postcount=15


Here are a few discussions on the same topic:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...highlight=rats

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ht=small+small

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ht=small+small

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I agree with Robin, I too feed small rats (4 weeks old) my BP feed with consistency, and do not fast to catch up.


Because they can eat a large prey does not mean they need a large prey.

[KIBPLOVER]

ok we got a 4 ft male , 1544 grams, we rescued him from a neglected guy.. he had mites and a ri, we have had him for almost a month , mites are gone the ri is gone.. he won't eat anything, we have tried frozen and live rats and mice... doesn't want it he moves away from it.. i got no clue what he was eating before.... but he needs to eat unless he is fasting..... he shed 2 1/2 weeks ago and all and now weighs 1524 g... any suggestions.......



speaking of this topic we are on, i have read somewhere that captive balls are actually overfed.... they don't eat that much in the wild....