how often to feed

I have recently acquired a new ball python. He is a nine year old normal male and weighs in at 1080 grams. His previous owner was only feeding him every two weeks. He was eating a small rat. I would like to know how often I should feed him. Every two weeks seems like a very long time in between feedings. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

feed him every 7 days, his weight seems pretty low for the age. How long is he???

He is 4 feet in length. I was thinking that his weight was a little on the low side for his age.

A good size large or med rat, but not bigger than the thickest part of your body. you would be amazed what they can swallow:P

I would go with a medium rat every 7 to 10 days! Feed him then try again in 7 days, if he doesn't take it them go 8, 9, 10 days until he does and that is your feeding schedule. They tell you when they are hungry!

Congratulations...a pic would be nice:D

One small rat every week should be fine. Small meaning ~45-85 grams, but even just ~50 grams is fine. His weight is good and at his age he doesn't need to do any growing. You just need to feed him enough to maintain his size. There's really no reason to feed him medium rats or larger unless you just want to spend more. Quite a few breeders and people on this forum only give their breeding females one small rat eat week. If you over feed you're more likely to cause him to refuse food.

Can he eat bigger meals? Yes. Does he need to? No.

I usually go by 10% of their body weight, unless it is a breeding female and occasionally they get something slightly larger. I feed every 7-10 days, depending on when I cat get to the store. This works for my snakes. I would feed your male a small rat every 7-10 days.

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Originally Posted by withonor

One small rat every week should be fine. Small meaning ~45-85 grams, but even just ~50 grams is fine. His weight is good and at his age he doesn't need to do any growing. You just need to feed him enough to maintain his size. There's really no reason to feed him medium rats or larger unless you just want to spend more. Quite a few breeders and people on this forum only give their breeding females one small rat eat week. If you over feed you're more likely to cause him to refuse food.

Can he eat bigger meals? Yes. Does he need to? No.

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If you use the 10-15% body weight rule than that would be a rat that weighs 100 to 150 gram which would be a medium rat. Also he did not want to maintain his weigh, he wanted the snake to gain weight!

While a male that is around 1000g doesn't necessarily NEED to gain weight, a 50g rat seems a bit small. My smallest 07 female (750g) eats an 80g rat every week. 50g is the equivalent of only 2 mice, which is far too little for an adult ball python.