One and a half year old snake, 50 grams?

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Originally Posted by Pippers

Is there a rule of thumb for food size? Like just bigger than his body width or what? Also thank you so much for your help, pip is on his way to a full recovery :)

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Around the width of his body is fine. Don't look at the neck, go by the widest part of his body.

If you want to weigh, general rule of thumb for hatchlings is 10% to 15% of their body weight, but you can go higher than that when they are younger.

Widest part of the body is the best measurement for prey size. The neck is super stretchy and the jaws will open way further than you'd think.

I suspected since the vet wasn't concerned, it was just the spurs. Since some people think they're part of the sexual organs(because that's what they're used for apparently, to poke at the partner snake), the vet probably just used the wrong term. Even a experienced vet can have a "brain fart" and use the wrong term.

Ball pythons are super tough and can rebound from things easily. Once he is eating the right size prey on a regular schedule, he will probably grow very nicely.

Just as a caution though, sometimes animals that have not been fed properly will die later on, due to organ damage. There's not really anything to do to prevent that risk at this point and it's not really your fault since you had people telling you that all was well. Just don't try to push too much food to grow him fast to "make up for" the slow start. Let him grow slowly on a regular schedule.

Everyone was new once. Don't sweat it.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you. I got a beautiful yellowbelly male/female (not sure) from Petsmart before I knew any better. When I got her, she was tiny! I didn't know it at the time but they were really underfeeding her. I kept her on their same schedule and she wasn't growing. She was 130-140g (can't quite remember) when I got her. She didn't put on any weight after months even though she ate beautifully and didn't skip any meals. I had her in a tub setup and my temps were okay but still, she didn't grow! I was super worried but I got help from the awesome people here and switched her food. She was pounding rat pups so easily and was looking for more food right after she ate. She had her first weaned rat tonight and is almost 350g now. It's totally possible to get them back on the right track! Don't give up :)

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Widest part of the body is the best measurement for prey size. The neck is super stretchy and the jaws will open way further than you'd think.

I suspected since the vet wasn't concerned, it was just the spurs. Since some people think they're part of the sexual organs(because that's what they're used for apparently, to poke at the partner snake), the vet probably just used the wrong term. Even a experienced vet can have a "brain fart" and use the wrong term.

Ball pythons are super tough and can rebound from things easily. Once he is eating the right size prey on a regular schedule, he will probably grow very nicely.

Just as a caution though, sometimes animals that have not been fed properly will die later on, due to organ damage. There's not really anything to do to prevent that risk at this point and it's not really your fault since you had people telling you that all was well. Just don't try to push too much food to grow him fast to "make up for" the slow start. Let him grow slowly on a regular schedule.

Everyone was new once. Don't sweat it.

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Would you suggest finishing off the hoppers I bought him or just go and get some rat pups for the next time? I see there is some debate on whether or not rats or mice should be used here. I bought 3 bags of 3 count hoppers, it'd be fine with going out and getting rat fuzzies as well.

Go ahead and use the hoppers. His digestive system will do easier with the smaller meals for now and by the time you've used those up, he will readily take the larger ones.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Go ahead and use the hoppers. His digestive system will do easier with the smaller meals for now and by the time you've used those up, he will readily take the larger ones.

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Ok sounds good. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Pippers

Ok sounds good! Is the next size up rat fuzzies or the pups? Based on the chart my judgement would be rat fuzzies.

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generally there is some overlap between mice hopper/small adult and rat fuzzy. of course, it all depends on where you're buying. refer to PitOnTheProwl's response above with size chart. with the snake at 50 grams rat fuzzies may be a bit large. finish up the hoppers and by then the snake will likely have gained the weight to move to rat fuzzies or a larger mouse. rat pups definitely too large at his point.

I don't have a scale so I couldn't weigh my Pandora, but PetSmart was only feeding her one medium mouse per week, every week, for over a year. While she looked healthy and alert when I brought her home, she was definitely way too small for a BP that was over a year old. It took her awhile to acclimate. I'd feed her a mouse when she'd show interest, and a second one if I could get her to take it. Then when she got to eating regularly, the mice got bigger. Three weeks ago I got her to accept a small rat, and then again last week, and she finally blessed me with a turd that didn't look like it came out of a pigeon. She just ate her third small rat in as many weeks about half an hour ago, and I will try one more of that size next week before getting her up to medium rats.

I'm not really set up to measure length & weight on my snakes but I can see she's finally getting some girth to her. And tonight she gave me that "gimme another piece of food" behavior 15 minutes after swallowing the small rat (I won't give her multiple rats... I'll just start working her up to bigger rats).

I think these big box stores intentionally underfeed their pythons... just enough to keep them looking healthy, not enough to let them grow naturally or poop like they should.

What state do you live in?

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Originally Posted by Pandorica

I don't have a scale so I couldn't weigh my Pandora, but PetSmart was only feeding her one medium mouse per week, every week, for over a year. While she looked healthy and alert when I brought her home, she was definitely way too small for a BP that was over a year old. It took her awhile to acclimate. I'd feed her a mouse when she'd show interest, and a second one if I could get her to take it. Then when she got to eating regularly, the mice got bigger. Three weeks ago I got her to accept a small rat, and then again last week, and she finally blessed me with a turd that didn't look like it came out of a pigeon. She just ate her third small rat in as many weeks about half an hour ago, and I will try one more of that size next week before getting her up to medium rats.

I'm not really set up to measure length & weight on my snakes but I can see she's finally getting some girth to her. And tonight she gave me that "gimme another piece of food" behavior 15 minutes after swallowing the small rat (I won't give her multiple rats... I'll just start working her up to bigger rats).

I think these big box stores intentionally underfeed their pythons... just enough to keep them looking healthy, not enough to let them grow naturally or poop like they should.

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It's funny you say that, the first time Pip pooped something other than a white mess was about a week ago. It was actually a normal, brown poop. I'm sure we were equally happy with him lol.