Questions and such.

Hey there. I joined this forum awhile back but for some reason my first post never showed up i guess, however i read a bunch of advice and tips on here and it really has helped a lot. I have a 10 month old ball python who i just weighed a second ago that weighs 245 g. I have had him, a little over a month, and took him to the vet two weeks after i first got him. They said he was very healthy and lively, but i stupidly forgot to ask how much he weighed at the time. l have been feeding him medium size mice. He was on fuzzies at the pet store which i thought was to small, so went and bought him a medium mouse which was only slightly bigger than his belly at the time. My question is, do ball pythons hit crazy growth spurts? Because even thought i forgot to ask it seems that he has grown A LOT since the short time I have had him. His head is bigger and neck seems fuller. Literally since he has grown i feel like he needs to up his feeding size to a large mouse or to a rat. He eats great, always willing to eat with no problems. I think he would eat everyday if i let him (which of course i wont). Should i go ahead and start him on rats? The small rats are pretty large for him and the pinky rats seem to small so im kind of in a situation where I want to switch him over but dont want it to hurt him either. T.T i feed him every 7 days. Any comments are appreciated. When i went to the vet they actually told me to feed him the size of his head 0.o.. but it was ok for me to feed larger. I just want to make sure this growth spurt will not harm him.

Thanks -whit

He grew a lot because his feeding changeg drastically, but there is still room for improvement at his size he can eat a large mouse or a rat pup.

Ideal prey at this stage should be = the girth size of your animal.

Sounds normal. Valentine was underweight when we purchased her, we increased her mouse size after receiving good advice from the forum (what Deborah said ^). Since then she has grown at an amazing rate - literally every time I feed her she grows. I think if your ball was underweight it's probably just catching up, it will shed faster with these growth spurts.

Thank you so much for the fast replies. I was under the impression that ball pythons grow slowly.. which is why i stocked up on medium mice (which was dumb of me) which was the perfect size at first, the last two feedings was when i really noticed how smaller the mouse had become. Gonna go out and get him started on something bigger. I have a fridge full of medium mice and have no idea what to do with them T.T lesson learned.

You can feed multiples. Wait till the first is all the way down then immediately offer the second. When those are gone I would attempt to get the animal on rats. It will be cheaper and easier in the long run.

Thanks i will probably do that. When i took a look in my fridge I realised i did not have as many as I orginally thought, which is good. And he did go through a shed with me pretty quick. Im glad he's growing well :)