Is my young ball python fat or sick? Photos

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Originally Posted by stratus_020202

Agreed. It's ok. I mean they are way small, but at least she was getting two a week. You weren't hurting them by any means. And, now we can get them on a steady food schedule. :)

You can continue to feed them, but you would need to feed a lot. I'm guessing your little ones are in the 300 g range. Just out of the blue guess, not educated or anything. That means they can eat 30-45 g's of food a week. I'm lucky to find an adult mouse at 20 grams. Lets say your mouse hoppers are around 5. Thats 6-9 hoppers a session. That's alot. And at under 5 grams your bp's would be good on a 5 day schedule. For 3 bp's that's over 100 hoppers. :P

Don't worry yourself though. I think they look fairly healthy. Just need to upgrade thier num nums. :) And then, they will start fasting for you. So, it's a roller coaster no matter what.

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Thanks for your help! I do appreciate it. I just now weighted them (I have a postage scale for my ebay sales). The girl pictured weights 200 grams. Her brother weights 198 grams. Her sister weights 178 grams. They are each 24 inches long. They last ate on Tuesday. Not sure when they last poo'd as I don't record those. Their hopper mice are averaging at 5 grams a piece. So maybe 2 of the hoppers twice a week? 4 total for the week? Next time I go to a show I can pick up some larger food. What size of food should they be eating? I buy from Rodentpro and they go to one of the shows here in Ohio once a month.

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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

I personally would save the hoppers for future little ones or emergencies, and go buy some adult mice. Or weaned rats depending on their size. Feed 1x weekly and that will give her a good schedule.

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I'll save them for in the future. Do you know how long they will keep frozen? I just always worried about giving them too big of food.

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Originally Posted by lusciousdragon

Thanks for your help! I do appreciate it. I just now weighted them (I have a postage scale for my ebay sales). The girl pictured weights 200 grams. Her brother weights 198 grams. Her sister weights 178 grams. They are each 24 inches long. They last ate on Tuesday. Not sure when they last poo'd as I don't record those. Their hopper mice are averaging at 5 grams a piece. So maybe 2 of the hoppers twice a week? 4 total for the week? Next time I go to a show I can pick up some larger food. What size of food should they be eating? I buy from Rodentpro and they go to one of the shows here in Ohio once a month.

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Awww. They are wittle. :P Sorry, babies are my favorite.

They will do fine on 20-30 grams of food. So, they need about 4 a week. You can try all at once, or 2 twice a week. It seems like a lot of work, but your guys are pretty small so it probably won't stress them out too much. At this point they will take what they can get. The great thing about young ones.

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Originally Posted by stratus_020202

Awww. They are wittle. :P Sorry, babies are my favorite.

They will do fine on 20-30 grams of food. So, they need about 4 a week. You can try all at once, or 2 twice a week. It seems like a lot of work, but your guys are pretty small so it probably won't stress them out too much. At this point they will take what they can get. The great thing about young ones.

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Ok I'll try that out! So if they all start swelling up like that, then thats a good thing huh? Here I thought there was something wrong with her. I am honestly not an idiot, just not familiar with baby balls. :P

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Originally Posted by lusciousdragon

Thanks for your help! I do appreciate it. I just now weighted them (I have a postage scale for my ebay sales). The girl pictured weights 200 grams. Her brother weights 198 grams. Her sister weights 178 grams. They are each 24 inches long. They last ate on Tuesday. Not sure when they last poo'd as I don't record those. Their hopper mice are averaging at 5 grams a piece. So maybe 2 of the hoppers twice a week? 4 total for the week? Next time I go to a show I can pick up some larger food. What size of food should they be eating? I buy from Rodentpro and they go to one of the shows here in Ohio once a month.

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Mine are about the same size and they are currently on rat Pups. I live in Northern Kentucky and there is a pretty good reptile show in Cincinnati (near Kings Island)http://cincityreptileshow.com/ and DK Reptiles will be there. http://dkreptilesales.com/index.php?...d=53&Itemid=50 They have a large variety of frozen. You may have a hard time changing them over to rats (I heard that can be tricky) but you never know, as hungry as they act they may love it.

The next one is this Sunday April 10th. 10am-4pm :) Were going! :D

The frozen will keep for a good long while. I'm not to sure on an actual use by. Bc things tend to go quickly out of my freezer. But as long as it's airtight I think they'll be fine.

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Originally Posted by MoshBalls

Mine are about the same size and they are currently on rat Pups. I live in Northern Kentucky and there is a pretty good reptile show in Cincinnati (near Kings Island)http://cincityreptileshow.com/ and DK Reptiles will be there. http://dkreptilesales.com/index.php?...d=53&Itemid=50 They have a large variety of frozen. You may have a hard time changing them over to rats (I heard that can be tricky) but you never know, as hungry as they act they may love it.

The next one is this Sunday April 10th. 10am-4pm :) Were going! :D

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Oh cool Northen Kentucky. I am heading to Pittsburgh this weekend as a romantic weekend thing with my husband. I am hoping to stop over at the Pittsburgh show there on Sunday. A friend of mine is going to the Cinci show this weekend though. I think I am just going to "look".
I can't see these guys turning down rats. I fed them each 2 of the mice a little bit ago and they ate them right up. Maybe I'll pick up rats next time then.

Don't worry about thinking you were doing the right thing only to find out you weren't. The important thing is you came here looking for help, so now you can do right by the babies!

One word of advise on keeping the hoppers for a long time, divide them up into smaller amounts and vacuum seal them, they'll last about a year. The way I know they are too old? If there are ice crystals in the bag, or the feet and ears and tails have white spots from freezer burn.

For your three, if you go ahead and feed all three two hoppers twice a week, you'll go through that 100 in no time flat. If the bigger girl will take three, let her have them. Just watch that she's digesting them if you offer that many. Basically, if she eats three hoppers and is out hunting for more food on the next feeding day, let her have three. If she doesn't seem as eager as the others keep her at two.

And just so you know, BP's are very thick, heavy bodied snakes that should feel like solid tubes of muscle. So chances are, your girl is just putting in the weight she needs, and is starting to feel like a healthy, well fed snake. :)

Gale