Anyone feed their BPs large rats?

I fed my breeder female an xl once when she was on an eating binge. It was amazing to watch her take down that huge thing. She's in the middle of a breeding fast now though. She was a great eater before I started paring her, so I'm sure she will be again when she's ready.

Other than that I usually stick with smalls. Maybe mediums for fattening up breeder females. It really depends on a variety of factors like their weight, appetite, feeding habits, and my breeding plans of course. I only fed the xl because one of my breeder rats died and I didn't want to waste the body. I gave the snake three weeks to digest it and she went right back to slamming smaller rats. The fast started a few months later.

I wouldn't feed her rats that large on a regular basis, that's for sure. I could still see the lump after week 1.

Chubby... :(

He is actually all muscle. LOL. He doesn't feel soft or "doughy" at all.

He is just big all over, and long. Also a active bugger, likes to climb up and down his shelf and also likes to be out and exploring. Esp. on the desk behind my monitor.

He is sort of a odd duck. 6 1/2 years ago I got 5 hatchlings (not from same clutch, different breeders)

I fed all 6 the "same", and I fed conservatively. I wasn't interested in growing them quickly, because I wasn't interested in breeding them in a hurry.

Despite being on roughly identical schedules, this one male grew a lot faster and bigger. Was always more active, too, always looking for more food. Even his head was always bigger then the others. In time I just assumed he must have been sexed wrong, and that he was actually a female. But nope, I sexed him again this year and he is all male. He is just a big snake. He isn't as big around as my big female, but longer then her.

And he is also a sweetheart. :)

Off to exploring his favorite place...LOL

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens.../large/2_6.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/morgens.../huge/Jag1.jpg

Zina, he doesn't look chubby at all to me, I love his build.

These ball pythons are so different to me, it's like they are baby feeders compared to the reticulated pythons I used to keep. Those guys, the bigger the better. I don't think I ever had them refuse a meal. My 2 yo tiger was up to 14' already and pounding 2 5lb rabbits at a time. He was nuts but he was also the most non aggressive care free snake ever, never even struck a meal. He would just go up to it and start swallowing. Great snake! They were much easier to judge with feeding, if they still had the lump they were still digesting, if the lump was gone they were out looking for food, eating machines lol. The only thing I don't miss are the massive dumps from those meals! Ball pythons are great for that, very little cleanup, I just wish they fed a little more aggressively. From my little experience with them, they do seem more consistent with a smaller feeding weekly. None of mine are that large though.

Zina, I'm far from the most experienced or most knowledgeable here, but that looks like a big, healthy boy to me

I couldn't imagine my bp eating a large rat lol and he's about 5 pounds. Takes a small rat every few weeks. My sstp and rtb are a bit bigger, they eat medium sized prey usually, I have thrown them large rats in rotation but don't make it a regular.

I have to agree with Deborah, there was a thread on here from a couple of years ago about over feeding. It was epic, very informative. Maybe someone could link it.

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Originally Posted by cchardwick

I would think that with a larger rat you could go longer between feedings. I'd try it, some snakes will refuse it if you get too big. My reticulated python is on super jumbo rats LOL. (520 grams) For my ball pythons I go with as large as they will take, usually because I raise my own and have an excess of rats, I try to feed off the largest ones first so I don't get too many jumbos.

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Thanks. I appreciate your opinion ** and your arial views
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