Wrinkles on new BP

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Originally Posted by ckenney35

So the place I bought her from said she is a blue eyed however looking at her eyes she looks like ahe has black eyes. I know she's not a 'perfect' leucistic because you can kind of see a pattern at the top of her spine but she's my baby lol

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Id bet she's an ivory by that dorsal stripe. As long as youre happy with it then thats all that matters :)

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Originally Posted by ckenney35

Offering her what id call a juvenile mouse. It's just what I get at the local feed store that sells feeder mice. The mouse is never larger around than she is.

How often should I be feeding her then. The store I get my mice told me to feed her the pinkie in between main feedings just as a ex tra boost to help her gain weight

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Follow this chart and you'll be fine.
There are two general rules of thumb. First, the prey item should be approx the same size around as the snake at its widest point. Second, the prey item should be 10-15% of the snake's body weight. The guidelines change as the snake reaches adult size, but this will get you started.

I wouldn't put too much into what that store is telling you. Whoever told you to feed a BP pinkies between meals is either clueless or trying to take advantage of you to increase sales. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...bb9919dbeb.jpg

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Should I offer her more often for now since I've got allot of comments she's underweight

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

Follow this chart and you'll be fine.
There are two general rules of thumb. First, the prey item should be approx the same size around as the snake at its widest point. Second, the prey item should be 10-15% of the snake's body weight. The guidelines change as the snake reaches adult size, but this will get you started.

I wouldn't put too much into what that store is telling you. Whoever told you to feed a BP pinkies between meals is either clueless or trying to take advantage of you to increase sales. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...bb9919dbeb.jpg

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Originally Posted by ckenney35

Should I offer her more often for now since I've got allot of comments she's underweight

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I wouldn't. An appropriately sized meal weekly will fill her out in no time. She doesnt look real skinny to me either, she could just use a little filling out. Nothing at all to worry about.

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Originally Posted by ckenney35

Should I offer her more often for now since I've got allot of comments she's underweight

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1 properly sized meal a week. Just by eyeballing the picture, it should be on small rats but you should use the chart craig gave you. Ball pythons can generally consume much larger items than people think, but also need to eat less often than people assume. Adults will often go four months sometimes more a year when they will eat nothing.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

1 properly sized meal a week. Just by eyeballing the picture, it should be on small rats but you should use the chart craig gave you. Ball pythons can generally consume much larger items than people think, but also need to eat less often than people assume. Adults will often go four months sometimes more a year when they will eat nothing.

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I couldn't see her being on small rats just yet. Last week I bought a small mouse and measured and the mouse was as round as her widest point (middle of her back) and she ate no problems. I'm afraid to feed her anything bigger at the moment cause I know petco was feeding her a frozen pinkie once a week until I bought her so she was getting only that for at least a month. I waited until they had their big reptile sale to buy her cause the $350 they wanted was a little more than I could afford at the moment

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Originally Posted by ckenney35

...I bought a small mouse and measured and the mouse was as round as her widest point (middle of her back) and she ate no problems. I'm afraid to feed her anything bigger at the moment...

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I think you're fine with that assessment, I'd keep doing what you're doing. No need to rush to "fatten up a snake": let her grow at her own pace, she'll be fine.

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Originally Posted by ckenney35

I couldn't see her being on small rats just yet. Last week I bought a small mouse and measured and the mouse was as round as her widest point (middle of her back) and she ate no problems. I'm afraid to feed her anything bigger at the moment cause I know petco was feeding her a frozen pinkie once a week until I bought her so she was getting only that for at least a month. I waited until they had their big reptile sale to buy her cause the $350 they wanted was a little more than I could afford at the moment

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Use the chart. Pics can be deceiving. In the first two pics the snake looks fairly small. Ready for rat pups or maybe weans. The last pics it looks much larger. Ideally you go with the chart or by body width, at least until they are mature. Males never need anything bigger than a small rat and females mediums once the hit adulthood. If i went by the body width rule for my breeding females they would be eating cat sized stuff.

That chart was on of the first things I found on this site. Seems pretty consistent with a couple others I’ve seen. It’s what I am going by. Both my snakes are very close in weight so Rat Fuzzies for mine until 200 grams is reached although I just got my male and he has not eaten for me yet. I initially fed hopper mice to my female but once she had 4 feedings moved up in mouse size and decided to just switch over to rat. Seems like switching prey can be difficult and at some point a mouse will not be big enough anyway so I figured I would do it now. She has wrinkles like pictured but she is also gaining weight every week so I’m going with the it’s normal answer.
I would suspect an under feeding issue would be a long process and doesn’t sound like your starving your snake. Curious how breeders feed more frequently as apposed to the pet colum. I personally go by the 5 day week, pretty much right down the middle between both those suggested feeding frequencies. Can’t say I found a supplemental smaller prey size ever recommended in between main feedings in my extensive research. I have seen on you tube vids how more than one pray item is offered during a single feeding session though.