Feeding suggestions?

[Flicker]

Hello! If you have been responding to some of my recent threads, you know that my 2 BPs are underweight because I was underfeeding them.

What is your suggestion to getting them back up to a healthy weight fairly quickly? I feel so bad I had been underfeeding them, and I want them to be back to normal ASAP.

I'm picking up a rat for each of them tomorrow (and some materials to build their tubs!) anyway, what are your suggestions of feeding right now? I heard that 10% of their weight each week-ish is good, but should I give them a little boost to help them get started?

The male python is 524g, about 3.5 years old, and about 3 feet long.

The female python is 656g, about 4 years old, and about 3 feet long.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Are they on live rats? I would think you could do 60-80 gram rats with each of them for now. As you up the prey size, be attentive as to whether they eat within say 15/20 minutes...a larger rat can do damage. But don't stare at them while they eat, as your heat signature can disturb them.

I would be more worried about the female than the male. In fact, are you certain she's a female?

JonV

[Flicker]

Are they on live rats? I would think you could do 60-80 gram rats with each of them for now. As you up the prey size, be attentive as to whether they eat within say 15/20 minutes...a larger rat can do damage. But don't stare at them while they eat, as your heat signature can disturb them.

I would be more worried about the female than the male. In fact, are you certain she's a female?

JonV

Actually no. I'm hoping to get them resexed soon, but she was sexed years ago by someone who (it turns out) gave crap info to me about taking care of them. ... so, yeah. It would really suck if she was a boy. O_o

Yeah, live rats, I fed them rats last time, and they usually eat within seconds.

[llovelace]

I responded in your other post, put them on a 5 day schedule of appropriate sized meals for now.

[frankykeno]

You got poor advice but now you know better, that's all that really counts so don't beat yourself up. What you do with your knowledge gained here is what really matters for those snakes now.

Personally I always like to proceed conservatively with snakes unused to a proper feeding schedule. A 5 day feeding schedule for a time to help them start to grow but not a huge jump in prey size at first. First I'd up them just slightly on prey size with that 5 day schedule and do that for 3 feeds or so. Once I saw they were doing fine with that, then an increase in prey size and so forth. Once they are at an acceptable weight range and taking a prey item big enough for that size snake, I'd drop back to every 7 days. I'd also be keeping close records of their weights on a weekly basis for now.

Check Google for reptile shows in Colorado to see if there's one near you that you might attend to find someone to sex those snakes for you. Call around to local vets to see if there is one that has experience with popping or probing snakes to determine their gender (it should not be that expensive). You could also try popping them yourself, it's not that hard to learn and unless you're horribly rough, it will not hurt them. Here's a couple of links to show you how to pop.

YouTube - 8 Ball Pythons - Popping Lessons (Adam has some wonderful youtube stuff, well worth checking out)

YouTube - Sexing Baby Ball Pythons - part 1 (part 1)

YouTube - Sexing Baby Ball Pythons - part 2

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Actually no. I'm hoping to get them resexed soon, but she was sexed years ago by someone who (it turns out) gave crap info to me about taking care of them. ... so, yeah. It would really suck if she was a boy. O_o

Yeah, live rats, I fed them rats last time, and they usually eat within seconds.

I wouldn't be surprised if she was a boy....

JonV

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Personally I always like to proceed conservatively with snakes unused to a proper feeding schedule. A 5 day feeding schedule for a time to help them start to grow but not a huge jump in prey size at first. First I'd up them just slightly on prey size with that 5 day schedule and do that for 3 feeds or so. Once I saw they were doing fine with that, then an increase in prey size and so forth. Once they are at an acceptable weight range and taking a prey item big enough for that size snake, I'd drop back to every 7 days. I'd also be keeping close records of their weights on a weekly basis for now.

Smaller prey size more often is an excellent idea as well.

JonV

[snakedork]

I would suggest staying with the prey size for the first few feedings just uping your schedule to a five day schedule. The snake is already used to this size so there will be no problems with the size. after they get used to a five day schedule i would increase prey size slightly. jumping in from wiened rats to medium will definately scare the snake. I still feed my adults small to medium small rats. What i consider a small rat is about 60 to 70 grams. That is the same size food i feed my 600 gram juvies. I do offer multiple prey to my adults during feeding days. My supplier of rats does tend to have some varience in size sometimes i get bigger and some smaller. I have to pick a size that will feed many different age snakes due to buying them in large lots.

[Wh00h0069]

I suggest feeding each one small rats every seven days. That is what I feed all of my ball pythons.