Just a Q?

what is a general rule of thumb on feeding ball pythons size of rat and how often?

General consensus is thickness of body at widest point, and I feed mine once a week. Seems to be working out great for me.

Ok great...will it hurt the snake if the rat is a lil wider than the snakes widest point of her body?

Either something that is about the width of the snake's widest point or slightly larger, or if you have a gram scale, something that weighs 15% of the snake's weight.

Don't risk feeding something that might be too big for your snake; a bit larger than her widest point is fine, but be extremely careful because if she eats something then realizes it's too big she will regurgitate. NOT fun, trust me! Regurgitation stresses the digestive system so much that it often takes up to 6 months for full recovery.

As for frequency of feedings, everyone is going to tell you different things. There's no "right" answer, but the generally accepted rule of thumb is one appropriately sized meal every 5-7 days for hatchlings and every 10-14 days for adults. If you're feeding smaller meals (thinner than her widest point or less than 15% body weight), that's fine, but then you should increase feeding frequency.

i feed mine 1 appropriately sized meal every 5 - 7 days. unless all i have are smaller rats, then i feed 2 rats every 5 - 7 days.

For the most part, my bp's stay in their hides during the day, and will come out at night. But when they come out in day, they seem to be searching for food so, sometimes ill feed them if i see them out during the day, regardless of whether its been 5 - 7 days or not. but thats pretty rare.