Feeding help

The place I get feeders has large mice and then small rats. My little guy has been eating 2 small mice usually, occasionally only 1. But they seem awfully small for him. I talked to the people who worked there and by the as big around as his largest coil, a small rat would be okay, but I, as a newb I'm worried about my noodle eating that. Last time i weighed him he was. About 498 grams. Any input would make me feel better. I guess part of what I'm asking is, will they eat something that is too large or will they give up?

Thanks!

Hello. For a 498 gram ball python a small mouse is definitely to small for him. Mine are 160 and are eating 1 medium mouse every 6 days. Im not sure about rats because i havent got that far yet but your guy should definitley be able to eat a large mouse with no problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wickedpix

will they eat something that is too large or will they give up?

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Sometimes they will give up, sometimes they will get it down.

If they get it down, there's a chance they regurge if they eat something too big, and you don't want that. Better to feed multiple small prey than something too large.

If you don't feel comfortable eyeballing food sizes yet, see if it's possible to return a rat to to store if needed.

If it is and you really want to know, buy a rat, bring it home, weight the rat first. In your snake's case, if it's around 60g or less (probably bigger, but don't go too big) he can get it down easily even if it doesn't look like it. If not, return the rat.

Thanks. I unfortunately had it thawed already but he didn't hesitate to attack it right away. And he had no trouble getting it down at all. I usually give him at least 36-48 hours after I feed him so I'll just peek in on him and make sure he doesn't have any regurg issues. He hadn't eaten in two weeks since he was shedding, but the way he nommed that thing you'd think he hadn't eaten since summer lol. Thanks for your help!!!

I have to actually wrap my finger around first the snake them "measure" the rat. They always seem so big compared to her long thin neck but she has had no trouble with sm rats (weanling size I think according to store)


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When my BP moved up from pups to weaned rats I doubted he'd be able to even fit one in his mouth but he managed fine.