Is my ball python hungry?

I feed my baby ball python every Tuesday. Last feed he struck almost instantly. Now whenever he sees me in the room he raises his head like he does when he smells food. I've never noticed him doing this before. I'm gonna try feeding him later tonight anyways so I guess I'll find out lol


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Sounds like he's hungry. What are you feeding him?

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Originally Posted by Timelugia

Sounds like he's hungry. What are you feeding him?

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I feed him large mice


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How big is the prey in regards to your snake? You should strive to feed 10-15% of the body weight (So feed a 300g snake a 30g prey aprox.) or feed a prey that is about the same thickness as the thickest part of your snake's body (I've also heard someone on her mention maybe feeding 1.5 the thickness of your snake, but I have not done this). Snake should look thicker after eating, but not like they've swallowed a football lol :D Hope this helps!

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Originally Posted by Booper

How big is the prey in regards to your snake? You should strive to feed 10-15% of the body weight (So feed a 300g snake a 30g prey aprox.) or feed a prey that is about the same thickness as the thickest part of your snake's body (I've also heard someone on her mention maybe feeding 1.5 the thickness of your snake, but I have not done this). Snake should look thicker after eating, but not like they've swallowed a football lol :D Hope this helps!

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Yep I feed him big enough prey! I'm going to try to start feeding him 1 large mouse and a smaller one


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If you're feeding a big enough prey, I don't think they need to eat more... you want to avoid overfeeding for sure. Maybe a more experienced member can give their two cents?

I'm not super experienced but I had the same concern with mine when I first had him and he was in the mouse spectrum. Little dude was all coiled up and watched me like a hawk almost every day, and was out looking for food every night. Only when the food was borderline too small would he be out looking directly after feeding or come out in broad daylight almost every day and surf the glass, be poking around all over, etc. How much does he weigh and how old is he? Mine is still on a five day feeding schedule, I plan to start the full seven days when he's a little bigger.

Also, as opportunistic eaters, he may just be hoping to get plenty of food in case it stops coming? Mine is on weaned rats, which is plenty large enough for him, but still, after a day he is back out every night poking around and watching me, but I know he is just fine on food. He just always is thinking about it, lol.

If he is out looking for food right after you feed him, you could give the second smaller mouse a shot. Mine was pretty unsatisfied with the one adult mouse every five days, I made the bump up to rats, and it seemed to calm him down and help him actually grow. Also, before I switched he stopped pooping, only making a poop after weeks when he shed, and I was told that was him holding back because there wasn't enough sustenance in the current food to last him before the next meal. He previously would poo like clockwork. I don't know how true that is, as he still doesn't poo nearly as often as he used to when he was a baby.