Feeding mice that are too big?

Most snakes are more forgiving about prey size than most people realize, everyone tends to boil it all down to an exact science but in the end it's really simple. Pythons in general can eat some rather surprising meals, and in the wild nobody weighs or measures their prey for them, so they eat whatever they are lucky enough to catch. As long as you wait a few extra days between feedings and your temps are warm enough, prey that is a bit bigger than the norm is fine on occasion.

Gorgeous critter Hannie. If your BP is 200g then a 40g jumbo mouse is a large meal but not too big at all. I've fed jumbo mice to 125g carpet pythons with no issues whatsoever. I'd just wait 10-14 days before feeding her again.

He’ll be fine, just lengthen the interval for your next feeding and feed a slightly smaller item, he’ll be ready for the jumbos soon.We’ve all been there, this guy is a little over 300g’s and this was a small rathttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...45d8cca1f1.jpg


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Remember that a ball python, left to its own devices, is an opportunistic feeder. This means they will take what they can get, when they can get it. They don't have a scale or weight chart out there in the bush. Large pythons take down antelope and boars, etc., and while they may have to sit there in a vulnerable state to digest, it doesn't stop them from eating a large prey item. I would say you can continue to feed her the jumbos just as long as you increase the time between feedings. If the jumbo mouse is 50% bigger than what you would normally feed and you feed once a week, just stretch it out to once every 10 to 12 days. What will likely happen is she will grow pretty quickly with the extra nutrients and as she does, every meal will be less disproportionate. Soon it will be an appropriate size meal anyways.