Re: Is it safe to feed a ball python 2 rats?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Bogertophis
You've gotten great advice above from Deborah and I think you're stressing too much over this. Your snake will not be massively over-fed if you feed him
2 of the size you have, & as long as it's not something you keep on doing. It also won't hurt him a bit to eat just ONE item...it's usually better to underfeed
just a bit than to over-feed. The issues with feeding 2 at a time are that (1) some snakes will only accept one prey item at a time no matter what, and (2) of
those that accept both, you run the risk of overwhelming their digestion and causing them to regurgitate...a very real set-back that can be harmful. So between
the 2 options, I'd personally just feed one under-sized item for now & not lose any sleep over it. Snakes have evolved eating far less than most of our pets
get (even with more activity) and a little hunger won't hurt. And remember that in the wild, their food is NOT all the same size, nor at the same frequency.
ok its just that her advice confused me she said dont feed 10 percent feed less then she said 50 for his size of 500. So I’m just like ok... So 50 is 10 percent of 500 it so I felt dissonance when I processed the information. I wonder if she meant 50 for mine bc he is 567? Then therefore under 10 percent if thats what she means then I finally get it! Hahaha
I couldn’t tell what she meant.
And cool I’ll feed him one 33 grams rat tomorrow.
Thanks again everyone!
Re: Is it safe to feed a ball python 2 rats?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Zuri Indigo
ok its just that her advice confused me she said dont feed 10 percent feed less then she said 50 for his size of 500. So I’m just like ok... So 50 is 10 percent of 500 it so I felt dissonance when I processed the information. I wonder if she meant 50 for mine bc he is 567? Then therefore under 10 percent if thats what she means then I finally get it! Hahaha
I couldn’t tell what she meant.
And cool I’ll feed him one 33 grams rat tomorrow.
Thanks again everyone!
The way I understand it, the 10% rule is for hatchlings and growing snakes. When they're young they need more food to grow, but once they get close to their adult size they don't need as much, so you want to slow down on increasing the size of their prey. Your snake isn't at adult size yet, but he's getting there. A 50 gram small rat is all an adult male ball python will ever need, no matter how big he gets. So while 50 grams is an ok size for your snake, you don't want to go above that. He's getting to the point where 10% is too much.
It sounds like you have weaned rats, which are just a size under small. So just feed him the rest and get small rats next time. While I don't think it would hurt him to feed him two rats at once, it might cause him to stop eating for awhile. Ball pythons are notorious for skipping meals for a lot of reasons, including being overfed. Smaller meals now will make him less likely to refuse food in the future.
Re: Is it safe to feed a ball python 2 rats?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
the_rotten1
The way I understand it, the 10% rule is for hatchlings and growing snakes. When they're young they need more food to grow, but once they get close to their adult size they don't need as much, so you want to slow down on increasing the size of their prey. Your snake isn't at adult size yet, but he's getting there. A 50 gram small rat is all an adult male ball python will ever need, no matter how big he gets. So while 50 grams is an ok size for your snake, you don't want to go above that. He's getting to the point where 10% is too much.
It sounds like you have weaned rats, which are just a size under small. So just feed him the rest and get small rats next time. While I don't think it would hurt him to feed him two rats at once, it might cause him to stop eating for awhile. Ball pythons are notorious for skipping meals for a lot of reasons, including being overfed. Smaller meals now will make him less likely to refuse food in the future.
Thanks for explaining this in a simple logical way. This really really helped me understand the most! :gj::)
