Is there such thing as overfeeding your ball pythons?

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Well i would, but i don't think it'd be fair to start with snakes that aren't babies. If you think it would work still, let me know though. I'm willing to try it for awhile. Should i try it with my most aggressive eater or my least aggressive eater? My cinny female hasn't eaten since March 25th, when do you think she'll starve to death?

I think our definitions of "too much" just differ lol. I'm not saying offer your snake food everyday. I'm saying if you feed once a week, or every 5 days, then offering as many rats as the ball will take in that feeding won't hurt it. I'm more than willing to try this if you can think of a way for it to be done.

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I'm not. Its not worth any animals health to try this. That is probably the reason we don't have any examples. People seem to frown on animal testing now days.

It is because the snake owners are responsible their collections are fed properly. I'm not saying it would be something that would happen fast or that it would be easy with a stubborn eater. But given the right aggressive eater, enough time, and enough food I still believe you could make a ball python a unhealthy weight.

My hypo gal, previously mentioned, is my best eater. Even she refuses a second rat sometimes. And i don't feed twice a week. I usually only average 3-5 meals a month for all my snakes, i don't treat babies any differently. I bet i couldn't even convince my hypo to eat a 3rd rat. I've only ever offered 2 at one feeding, just because thats all i had thawed out. Next feeding, i'm going to offer as many as she'll take and see when she stops. I'd be surprised if she took 3. Shes almost 900g but i don't feed her 100g rats lol. They're like half that size. I'll be sure to record notes on it.

EDIT: actually, i think thats unfair to do it with just one snake. I'm going to wait 7 days from my last feeding, in which all 6 took one rat, and then offer them all as many as they'll eat at the next one. I doubt any of them will take more than 2. Except for my fire male, he may take more because he's been a spotty eater while breeding over the past few months.

I can contribute a bit. I personally usually feed if they'll eat as long as I have enough rats. Most of my snakes won't take more than one, maybe two at a time, most of the time. But if they still act hungry after the first or second or occasionally even third rat, I'll give them another. I'm not trying to grow them fast to breed sooner, I just figure they know if they're hungry.
I know I've read before that overweight females will lay slugs or small clutches. I got a female on breeding loan, had her for close to a year, finally bred her, and up until ovy she would eat 2 or 3 medium to large (prekilled if larger than a small medium) rats a week. She just wouldn't stop roaming around acting hungry until I'd give her another rat or two. I used her as the snake to give any rats the others found too big or just didn't want to. She never looked overweight from what I could tell and she laid 8 healthy eggs with no slugs last month, her first clutch. I personally will continue to feed if they seem hungry unless or until I see a negative effect from it.

I also think the rodents diet may come into play here too, the ppl who feed say dog food or really cheap rodent food, especially with higher fat content. I feel like that may eventually led to problems down the road for the snake. I feed Mazuri, as far as I'm aware it's the healthiest readily available.

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thank you everybody for your inputs. I will carely monitor my girl and downsize my rats a little so if she does take a second one its not so big.

Sad thing is, it always depends on the animal. Some dogs eat until they explode, because maybe tomorrow there will be no food. Some just eat when they are hungry. Snakes are the same in this, according to my experiences. Some of them are bulldozers, some of them are princesses. Until she is healthy, and you are not causing problems (liver, etc), then she is fine.

I feed my hatchling every 3 days. When I feed my rats is when I like to offer food to my snakes. The babies to 1 year olds seem to eat every 3 days. My older snake eat about every 6-9 days. Sometimes longer.

I feed on a 3 day schedule, but I offer smaller size rats.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

When in 2012 was she born?
My hypo is just about 1 year old and approaching 900g. My lesser that i got at the exact same time is 500ish grams. My hypo just eats more.

Imo, you're not over feeding. Im sure some will disagree though. My opinion is: if they're hungry they'll eat, and if they aren't hungry, we all know darn well they won't eat lol.

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x2

It's very difficult to over feed a ball python, most will just stop eating and make you slow down.
There is a few that you can over feed and they'll take everything you throw at them, but that is the rare ball python.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Any examples of a ball regurging because of overfeeding?

You keep saying "snake". I agree, you can over feed snakes. I do not believe its possible (in 99% of cases) to over feed a ball python.

Do you have any examples of breeding size ball pythons starving themselves to death? Or any examples of a snake eating itself to death?

You give an example of feeding only once a week as an appropriate schedule. When it comes to balls, schedules are only for the keepers, imo.

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:clap: bravo my friend..bravo :D

sent from my incubator

Hypo girl took two rats last nite, its only been 4 days since she took 1 rat though. I left a 3rd in there ovenite and she didn't take it. I'm guessing she wasn't hungry anymore so she didn't take a 3rd but it could be because shes in shed. 3 small rats in one week and shes in shed is very good imo. On the opposite end, I'm happy with my lesser when she eats once a week lol. I didn't have time to thaw out that many rats so i couldn't try anything with anyone else. I'll probably offer again on monday nite.

Another point i'd like to make is that you have to know your snakes. Sometimes when i get a chance to feed two times in one week, i will never offer it to my lesser. She'll act like shes hungry and i end up leaving it in her tub and wasting a rat. No matter how much she begs, she only gets a rat once a week or its a waste.