How fast to up food size?

[Cam]

We have a BP Frank (the Crank) that is almost 2 months old.
We have had him for about 3 weeks now.

We were told he was eating live fuzzy mice.
He has eaten f/t fuzzy mice for us every 5 days 3 times in a row now.

I am wondering how fast do these guys go up in food size???
To me he already seems like he should be onto hoppers or even weanlings.
Perhaps if he had a bigger meal he wouldn't want to kill us when we hold him.

It seems odd to me that he is eating the same size as our Hognose and our '07 corns...

Thank you

[starmom]

Live fuzzy mice for a 2 month old ball python seems too little. I would move up to something about 19g or so.

[Cam]

Thank you.
This is our first BP... the people I talked to said "they are like corn snakes but more docile and thicker"...
So far that has not been the case and I want to be sure he gets the right nutrition when he is growing.

I have read a lot about the ills of power feeding and wanted to make sure I did not mess him up either by over or under feeding.

He ate two f/t fuzzy mice tonight...
that would be about 10-14 grams total (5-7grams per mouse fuzzy)
Should I could go ahead and offer him another one?

Should I go ahead and bump him all the way up to
Rat fuzzies-19 grams???
Weaned mice are only 15 grams and
Adult mice are 25 grams

I just don't want him to regurge by going from so little to such a big food item...
Sorry to be such a pain...new BP mommy nerves

[the_Ryno]

I feed my 275gram ball python a 25gram adult mouse every week.

I try to feed a mouse that is 10-15% of the snakes weight, but with mice being so small that and no rats available readily in my area that is kinda of tough.

If you know the weight of your BP that could help get some better advice on what size you should be feeding.

[Cam]

I will weigh him on Tuesday...I don't want to handle him tomorrow and make him barf

So 10-15% is a good rule of thumb for the BP's entire life or just when they are growing?


Thank you!

[blackcrystal22]

I will weigh him on Tuesday...I don't want to handle him tomorrow and make him barf

So 10-15% is a good rule of thumb for the BP's entire life or just when they are growing?


Thank you!

Not necessarily. Sometimes if they are skinnier in size but still bigger by weight that can mess up that amount. ;]
Take it by the rule of thumb of the mouse (or rat) size being about the same size as the THICKEST point on the snake. If the snake is a bit skinny, you can go down to a bit smaller than that.
It's not necessary to overfeed him, he will eat bigger mice than corn snakes at a younger age as corns don't get nearly as much diameter on their body as ball pythons.
My 120g year old male ball python is about twice as thick as my 5 year old female corn snake! :]

[starmom]

...My 120g year old male ball python is about twice as thick as my 5 year old female corn snake! :]

What's going on with him? That is REALLY thin for a yearling

To the OP: Your snake is just little right now and so I would stick to the 10-15% amount until it gets a little older and has a little more weight on him.

[blackcrystal22]

What's going on with him? That is REALLY thin for a yearling

To the OP: Your snake is just little right now and so I would stick to the 10-15% amount until it gets a little older and has a little more weight on him.

I think he's gained weight since I've gotten him to feed twice. He did go on a 3 1/2 month fast and I think thats a while for a yearling.
Hes a year old today actually! Woah I didn't notice that!

Anyway, I may have weighed him wrong. I had to use my uncles scale (I've already ordered one for myself) and it's in .pounds. So I converted and I think I could be off.
We'll see when my new scale comes, because he doesn't seem skinny by any recent pictures does he?

[starmom]

It will be good when you get a gram scale
It really sounds very skinny. You ought to post an update on this guy and how the feeding is going and changes you have made to encourage feeding.

[blackcrystal22]

It will be good when you get a gram scale
It really sounds very skinny. You ought to post an update on this guy and how the feeding is going and changes you have made to encourage feeding.

Definitely!
As soon as I get my scale and get him eating a few more meals then I'll throw in weight updates.
But if you look at pictures like this.. which I took a week before he ate (sorry to hijack!) http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...2/DSC03794.jpg

OP: So if you follow either rule with the weight percentage or the size comparison, either way you'll probably notice a gain of weight one way or the other and move up as he grows. :]