Sucess!!

Well as some of you may know I recently aqquired two ball pythons. At first I was worried about them not eating.. being picky eaters etc etc but yesterday was theday of reckoning.With the advice of quite a few people I put them in (one at a time) a seperate 10 gallon tank along with a rat hopper to do their thing. An no more do i put the hopper in and wham the snake gobbeles it up.I only had 4 hoppers total so I decided id split them up, ok so time for the second hopper.. first snake stiil.Put it in... he goes for it .. misses....... these hoppers arent to smart eh? It jumps twice in front of the snake and on the second jump he grabs it outa mid air!!! What a voracious eater!!!! I was hopeing the second snake would be the same.... sure enough within minutes both hoppers were gone : ). They probably would have ate more but I didnt want to over feed them and make them regurg. When do you think they should eat next?... I was thinking try again on friday? Ill get some pics of the beautys when their food settles. Hurray for the hungry little guys!!!

Remain consistent with your feeding schedule, by the way CONGRATS on the feeding..LOL Keep in mind that if you plan on handling from time to time, give them 24 - 48 hrs to digest before you handle. Soon there after you should be ready to clean out the present they will leave behind, another opportunity to handle again. Then it's a bout feeding time again. Just pick a day of the week to feed and stick with it. Routine is a good thing. Best of luck.

Feeding once a week is more than adequate. If you are concerned it was a small meal, then just feed a bit more the next week. They don't have to have monster sized meals, and sometimes will just keep eating whether or not they need it. (the little piggies) Congrats on the feeding.

Ok.. next monday it is then.... Maybe next time ill just abit bigger hoppers out. I think two is plenty.

Sounds like a nice successful set of feedings...congrats. Just to help you out though, rats are not referred to as "hoppers", a hopper is a stage of development for mice. Here's an excerpt from our brand new Feeder FAQ to illustrate. It includes a link to Rodent Pro which has some great pictures and information on both rat and mice sizes.


1. What are the different names for the different sizes of rats/mice?

Birth to 9 days old - pinks (both mice and rats)

10 to 13 days old - fuzzies (both mice and rats)

14 to 24 days old - hoppers (mice) pups (rats)

25 to 35 days old - weans aka weanlings aka weaned

After weaning (anytime from 3.5 weeks to 5 weeks depending breeders choice) they are both classed by size...small, medium, large, extra-large, etc. RodentPro (www.rodentpro.com) is an excellent resource for a clear idea of what each prey size looks like.

If you are feeding rat pups they can range quite a bit in size from a very small, barely pup sized (around 13 or 14 days old) to a quite large pup almost ready for be weaned from it's mother.