still hungry?

[westherocker]

I just fed my 18'' bp a live hopper, and its been about an hour and hes pretty active, roaming around the box. Should I offer him a thawed pinky?

[Elvyra's Keeper]

You should feed the snake something that is about equal to it's girth size.

[westherocker]

Yeah, the mouse was about the size of the snake... but the snake is moving around the box like he is hungry.... aren't they supposed to be calm after eating?

[Elvyra's Keeper]

Yeah, how long have you had him?

[westherocker]

I got him like 2 weeks ago, this is the third time ive fed him (the first two were thawed pinkies) and someone suggested that he was starving so i bumped up to a live hopper. he was moving around in the cardboard box i feed him in, but i just put him back in his tank and he went into his hide.

[Elvyra's Keeper]

well if he is hanging out in his hide, he was probably just looking at the box. If he moved around inside the cage too, then bump it up to a little bigger next time you feed him. He will be ok until next week. They can go a while with no food at all.

[Kara]

Pinks & hoppers are not appropriate-sized meals for most 18" ball pythons. At a foot & a half in length, your snake should most likely be eating adult mice or rat pups. It is OK to feed your ball python a meal that leaves a small but noticeable bulge in it, especially as it's young & growing. You don't want to overfeed, but you don't want to underfeed, either.

Feeding a ball python that size a pinky is like you sitting down in anticipation of Thanksgiving dinner & only being served a CheezIt.

Make sense?

K~

[westherocker]

an adult mouse? really? I fed it the hopper, which was the size of the snakes width, and I was worried that it was too big for him.

[Noek]

Some snakes stay in 'feeding mode' after eating.

[Kara]

an adult mouse? really? I fed it the hopper, which was the size of the snakes width, and I was worried that it was too big for him.

Live rodents also look a lot bigger prior to being constricted. If you've ever handled a pre-killed or thawed rodent, you'll notice how "streamlined" and soft they become, and how compacted by the motions of constriction & swallowing. I'm willing to bet a hopper didn't put much of a dent in your snake. No, it doesn't mean he's starving to death, just that you may want to consider upping his prey size to something a bit more substantial for a young, growing animal.