Feeding large BP once per month?

I have been given a Ball Python by a friend. I don't know the age or sex, but the snake is fairly large - a little over 4 feet it seems. I have most things figured out except the feeding.
The previous owner says he gave the snake 1 medium rat once per month for over the past year 1/2. I hear most owners feed their snakes a lot more frequently, so:
1) Is 1 medium-sized rat once per month healthy for this snake?
2) If not, how do I change the feeding arrangement successfully?


Any thoughts would be appreciated, thank you!
Chris

one properly sized rat every two weeks or every week if you wish to get him bigger.

sure you can feed it once a month. I could also feed my child one meal every other day if I didnt want them to grow.. it's kinda cruel...

1 sm to med sized rat every week to 10 days

I would feed it about a 80-100 gram rat every 10 days. Depending on where you buy your rats this size can be on the high end of the small rats or the low end of the medium rats. A digital scale for weighing the rats can help in getting the right size. Alot of pet stores have scales that they use to weigh their dogs and cats, you might have to convert grams into ounces though. If I remember correctly it is 3-3.5 ounces...

10-15% of it's body mass/week to 2 weeks
Or around the same diameter rodent as the snake's largest diameter every week to 2 weeks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vypyrz

Alot of pet stores have scales that they use to weigh their dogs and cats, you might have to convert grams into ounces though. If I remember correctly it is 3-3.5 ounces...

---

I believe its 28 grams to an ounce

I would feed it one appropriate sized prey item once every 14 days assuming you are just maintenance feeding. I'm guessing a snake that size doesn't need to gain weight, and since you don't know the sex you aren't planning to breed.