When to space out feedings?

I've got a 10 month old female sterling vanilla ball python and she at about 890 grams. She has been eating a smaller sized weaned rat and a rat pup for the last 7 feedings, which is every Monday. I'm about to move her to small rats and was curious if I should move her feeding days farther apart. I'm worried that she is getting a little fat!

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890g at 10 months doesn’t sound like anything to concerning. You can move from weekly to every 10 days but you don’t absolutely have to. I normally space out my feedings to 2 weeks after they hit 1500g


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If you think she’s getting too chubby then you should space out her feedings or offer smaller meals. I don’t weigh my snakes but 900g at 10 months doesn’t seem extreme. I base my snakes feeding schedules based on their age and body condition. They typically eat once a week their first year, every 10-14 days the 2nd year, and every 2-4 weeks after they turn 3.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

If you think she’s getting too chubby then you should space out her feedings or offer smaller meals. I don’t weigh my snakes but 900g at 10 months doesn’t seem extreme. I base my snakes feeding schedules based on their age and body condition. They typically eat once a week their first year, every 10-14 days the 2nd year, and every 2-4 weeks after they turn 3.

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Agree with Ziggy. My male was pushing 900g when I swapped him to a 14 day feeding schedule. Not because of his weight, but because his body condition was starting to look a tad on the chunky side. Since he's just a pet I'm in no rush for him to put on weight and am trying to keep him a healthy size. He also started refusing about every other weekly feeding attempt around 17 months old, so the 14-day schedule has eliminated that. Not saying that would work for everyone but in my case it did. Essentially, apart from my concerns over his size, I let him tell me when he was ready to space out his feedings. Once he was pretty much skipping meals every other week I figured I could save myself some feeders and just move to 14 days.

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Originally Posted by Piwaket187

I've got a 10 month old female sterling vanilla ball python and she at about 890 grams. She has been eating a smaller sized weaned rat and a rat pup for the last 7 feedings, which is every Monday. I'm about to move her to small rats and was curious if I should move her feeding days farther apart. I'm worried that she is getting a little fat!

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Just curious, what is the weight of the rat you’re feeding?


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The weaned ones she was getting were about 25 to 30 grams. The were on the smaller side if the weight range. Same with the pups. I'm nervous to change her because since I've gotten her she's never refused a meal! But she does look a bit chunky to me.

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Originally Posted by Piwaket187

The weaned ones she was getting were about 25 to 30 grams. The were on the smaller side if the weight range. Same with the pups. I'm nervous to change her because since I've gotten her she's never refused a meal! But she does look a bit chunky to me.

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Since none of us are actually seeing your snake, I think it's inappropriate for us to speculate on whether your snake is over or under weight.

People have very different perceptions of body weight, whether it's our own, our family & friends, or that of our pets. Some of us eat heartier & accept a more "robust" physique as "normal" & preferable, while others think anything over a very slender profile is "over-weight". (If you need an example, just look at the late singer, Karen Carpenter- she was always quite slim but her eating disorder made her see herself as "overweight"- and unfortunately, it didn't end well-she damaged her health.)

Anyway, maybe this chart will help you: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f42b352b68.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f42b352b68.jpg

I know it's difficult won't seeing her. To me she look to between the ideal weight and over weight pictures. I know being over weight isn't good for any animal. And she isn't easy to photograph alone really. Like person sometimes she looks better in some pictures then others!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7c185d5a7c.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ef337c8b41.jpg

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She does not look overweight to me


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