feeding question

I bought a ball python a couple of days ago and I'm unsure when to give her, her first meal. She's an adult, 6 years old, she was in a tank with a light with nothing more than a bowl of water. So I guess she's pretty nervous?!? Now she has 2 perfectly snug hides on each side, in a tub covered with a blanket. Would 2 weeks be a good idea to try to feed her?

I would wait a full week without handling before you feed her. I would also invest in a kitchen scale so you can get her weight. That will help us decide what you should feed her. Assuming she's a full grown adult, I would offer her a weaned rat if she very, very skinny (a picture of her would help). If she's not too thin, I would feed her a small rat. Again, it's best to know her weight and have a picture of her so we aren't guessing on what to feed her.

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Originally Posted by BHReptiles

I would wait a full week without handling before you feed her. I would also invest in a kitchen scale so you can get her weight. That will help us decide what you should feed her. Assuming she's a full grown adult, I would offer her a weaned rat if she very, very skinny (a picture of her would help). If she's not too thin, I would feed her a small rat. Again, it's best to know her weight and have a picture of her so we aren't guessing on what to feed her.

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She's normal size, I was planning on giving her small size rat. I would take a picture but as for right now I leave her alone. Alright, I'll try to feed her on day 7 like you said.

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Originally Posted by ballpython70

She's normal size, I was planning on giving her small size rat. I would take a picture but as for right now I leave her alone. Alright, I'll try to feed her on day 7 like you said.

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Well... "normal" size is very subjective. If they are thin (they have a triangular look to their backs), it's unhealthy to feed them a large meal (thus the need for a picture and a weight). But if she's a healthy weight for her age (2000+grams), then I would say a small rat would be fine. You just don't want to over feed them.

I'm a new owner too, but I think the rule is 10-15% of the snake's weight should be the weight of the mouse/rat.

Having a kitchen scale should be a necessity...I see a lot of them on sale these days.
I'd assume 6 years would have some good weight, but from what I've been reading, use the 10-15% rule & the width of the food should be pretty close (or a little bigger) to the width of the snake.

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Originally Posted by Greekinese

I'm a new owner too, but I think the rule is 10-15% of the snake's weight should be the weight of the mouse/rat.

Having a kitchen scale should be a necessity...I see a lot of them on sale these days.
I'd assume 6 years would have some good weight, but from what I've been reading, use the 10-15% rule & the width of the food should be pretty close (or a little bigger) to the width of the snake.

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the 10-15% rule is just for babies and juveniles...not for adults. No matter how big the snake gets, you don't feed anything larger than a medium rat weekly (usually 150-200g per rat).

But yes, a kitchen scale is very valuable to have to track weight and such. They don't cost a fortune and are important for every snake owner to own.

For the first meal in a new place, smaller is always a safe bet! Do you know what she was fed previously? She'll probably eat fine after a week of leaving her alone if she's hungry. If she doesn't eat, this is kind of the season for them to be fasting so be prepared for anything.

I guess she's kind of fat, a medium rat is small compared to her body size. So that would be a small meal for her, that would be perfect. At the petshop they said that they fed her medium to large rat.

Maybe I should only stick to medium rats.

She had her first F/T medium rat last night, leaved it overnight, she didn't take it. Better luck next time I guess. I'll try to get a picture and her weight this week.

Some additional details. She acted interested in the rat when I got it in the cage. She went to smell it. After a minute she went back into her hide. I put the rat on a plate and go away. I check a minute later, her head pops out of the hide and she's looking at the rat but does nothing. She spent a good part of the night besides the rat and she ended up curled up in her another hide.