worried about size of new ball python

Hi, I got my first ball python saturday. I bought him from an exotic pet store that has amazing people. The lady that helped me did not want me to go home with one of the feisty ones they had on display and instead grabbed a male from the back. He apparently struggled to thrive in the beginning and almost didn't make it. She was able to nurse him back to health and she said he eats amazing on a weekly basis. Because of his rough start he was handled very often and is very calm and not nervous at all when handled. Over all he seems like the perfect first time ball python. My worry is that he is very small. She said he is 6 months old. I just weighed him and he is 96 grams. They gave me frozen fuzzy mice but I'm wondering if maybe rat pups would be better to get his growth caught up? She said that he is small because he was the smallest in the batch and then they had trouble getting him to eat. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right.

Yeah, fuzzy mice are too small, which is why he's stayed small for so long. BP hatchlings straight out of the egg eat mice hoppers.

You can start him on smaller sized rat pups or rat fuzzies though.

Congrats on your first BP!!

Hopefully this helps you out with your feeding question and helps you moving forward.

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Thank you guys :) Yesterday was his first feeding day with me. I wasn't expecting him to eat since he's about to shed and he's so new but he took it like a champ. Gave him a second one a couple hours later and he ate that one too. I'm going to give him 2 fuzzy mice at a time until I get rid of the feeders the store gave me. I'm going to weigh him weekly as well to make sure he's gaining weight. Called around and found someone local that has frozen fuzzy rats so I'll be picking those up soon.

I'm in the same boat. Usually two or three feedings, move up a size for those guys. I wouldn't rush. If they don't eat for long it's hard on their little system. I have two at work going through this.

I agree that the store should have been moving up his feed size. At least they got him to eat but they just maintained not increased.