Prey Upgrade?

After being a lurker for sometime on this board I decided to finally post, I love all the advice and tips that are given out so hopefully someone can help me with a little question I have. I've been feeding my ball python, which i think was hatched in August of 2008, 2 mice a week, I weighed him today and he was at 698 grams, the question is should I move up to small rats or continue feeding him adult mice?
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../clarence1.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../clarence2.jpg
sorry about the picture quality, they were taken with a cell phone
I should also note that he's currently in shed and will be shedding probably in the next couple days, he will be hungry for sure:D

Two mice are a little small, I would move up to good sized small rats.

also forgot to add, if I do move him on to small rats, have often should I feed him? Every 10 days?

He's a little under weight for a 2 year old you should still feed him once a week. Infact most people always feed once a week no matter how big they are.

Since he is used to mice, he may not take a rat right away. I would suggest getting a mouse and rat about the same size. Feed the mouse first and then offer the rat and see if he takes it. If he takes the rat, then the next week do the same thing except offer the rat first. If that goes well, then just start offering 1 rat per week. Once you start on one rat per week, offer somewhere around a 40g rat. Increase the size a little over the next couple of weeks until he is eating 60-70g rats. Good luck on converting him over...

I have always had a lot problem with my snake taking rats and i finally just gave up on it. A lot of people have different people have different opinions on what to feed how much and when. Given that BP's can be know for being picky eaters you really just have to find what works best for your particular snake.

For me, my snake wants nothing to do with rats of any kind what so ever. So at this point i feed her 4 mice every 2 weeks. If your snake will take rats more power to ya man, i wish mine would cause it would be a lot easier for me, but she is a stubborn and knows what she likes!

thanks for the advice guys, he shed sometime last night and I will try feeding him a small rat today, hopefully he takes it with no problems :please:

Sometimes you get lucky with switching over. I just had 2 of my bps switch very first try. I thawed a mouse with the rat each time and made sure to heat the rat up a bunch first. I was talking to a breeder who felt as though heating the rat up very warm was the best thing to do. Also, you might miss the first weeks feeding to make the snake extra ready to eat.
Good luck.

You questions seem to be answered, so I'll just welcome you to the site, Welcome to BP.net :), I have the same comforter lol

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Originally Posted by llovelace

You questions seem to be answered, so I'll just welcome you to the site, Welcome to BP.net :), I have the same comforter lol

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Pretty stylish comforter huh? lol, thanks for the welcome by the way