Daily feeding

My Ball python is about 3 months old and just hit 100 grams. I do feed him using the 10%-15% rule every 5 days. Based on his nightly behavior, I bet you he would eat every night. He's always in the striking position with his head outside his hide. Is this a riduculous statement? I'm not going to feed him daily, I'll continue every 5 days, but does anyone acutally do it?

Yes, some will eat daily, but will stop when full(usually).

I have a couple that are on a 3 day schedule.
My 5 month old lesser is 500 grams(stuffed with 2 large weanlings).
She might eat every day, lol, but I have her eating at her rate and she just plugs along.
Her sibling sister is 300 grams and doing awesome, but doesn't quite have the same aggressive feeding response.

Your 5 day feeding schedule is very good, I'd stick with it if it's working well for him.

From what I understand, their metabolism isn't even set up to process food that often.

If he just hit 100g, he sounds very young. Perhaps it's nothing more than the nervousness of baby BPs, before they grow up and calm down. :)

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Originally Posted by Horde

My Ball python is about 3 months old and just hit 100 grams. I do feed him using the 10%-15% rule every 5 days. Based on his nightly behavior, I bet you he would eat every night. He's always in the striking position with his head outside his hide. Is this a riduculous statement? I'm not going to feed him daily, I'll continue every 5 days, but does anyone acutally do it?

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I don't think he'd eat every night. and I don't think its a good idea to feed him too much to try to accelerate his growth. I've read about guys powerfeeding their snakes and they say that it shortens their lifespan(drastically).

3 m0nths old 100g thats way to small feed him every 2 to 3 days.

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Originally Posted by greghall

3 m0nths old 100g thats way to small feed him every 2 to 3 days.

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yes thats very very tiny for a 3 month old. im guessing he got hopper mice for way too long. 10-15% doesnt really work out from what i have seen. i feed something around the same size as the snakes diameter.
oh yes and i would surely feed every 4 days without a doubt.

power feeding is when you shove another rodent in the snakes mouth as it is finishing the first one, correct?

So, offering food everyday =/= power feeding. Chances are the snake would only eat every 3-5 days.

just for reference i have more than a few hatchlings that are 4-5 meals that are over 100 grams

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Originally Posted by pliskin

I don't think he'd eat every night. and I don't think its a good idea to feed him too much to try to accelerate his growth. I've read about guys power feeding their snakes and they say that it shortens their lifespan(drastically).

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They will eat till they stop.
The trick is to learn each snakes desire to eat, some will only eat once a week or less, some will eat and eat and ....
Power feeding is not the same as offering everyday.

100 grams is tiny for 3 months :O
I'd be offering that snake live hopper mice twice a week for sure.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

100 grams is tiny for 3 months :O

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Oh dear! We got ours at about 5-6 months old and it was only around 110g. The prior owner had been feeding it hoppers. He's nicely filled out now, though. :)

I don't know exactly how old my bp is, im guessing round 2months or so (she could be younger but i don't know, got her from and exotic pet store and they weren't sure of age... ), but she is 110g and 18in and she is eating 1 juvi mouse every 5-7days and seems to be happy with that.

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Originally Posted by ElwoodG

I don't know exactly how old my bp is, im guessing round 2months or so (she could be younger but i don't know, got her from and exotic pet store and they weren't sure of age... ), but she is 110g and 18in and she is eating 1 juvi mouse every 5-7days and seems to be happy with that.

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Start feeding her an adult mouse. She can handle it.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Start feeding her an adult mouse. She can handle it.

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Not doubting you, as im sure you know way more about bps than i do. but im curious because i hear a lot of people say feed something that is as wide as the bps girth, which the juvi mice are. the adults are a bit wider, now at the same time im sure she could eat one, but i've heard people say too that if you feed too big you can have regurgitation issues? is this true or am i still fine to up it to an adult mouse?

Adult mice are around ~15g
10-15% of the snakes body weight is 11g-16.5g
Good to go.

If you tried feeding her a jumbo mouse or a huge rat you might have problems :giggle:.

i just weighed and measured one of my hatchlings that has 4 meals in her(3 hoppers and one small mouse) shes 14" long and 100 grams. every 4 days shes eating small mice just gave her another today... i might bump her up to adult mice here real shortly like in the next 2 feedings

you have to figure when to bump prey size up if you dont they will stay very very small like that.

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Originally Posted by pliskin

I don't think he'd eat every night. and I don't think its a good idea to feed him too much to try to accelerate his growth. I've read about guys powerfeeding their snakes and they say that it shortens their lifespan(drastically).

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Is there any proof that it would shorten there life span ? Has anybody really researched if over feeding really does any harm to them ? I would think if they eat every 3 to 5 days it would not hurt them. I would think if they where not hungry they would not eat.

Ok well it looks like ill be upgrading to adults lol. few questions bout feeding while everyone is on the topic. does it matter whether you feed in the enclosure or outside of it? i've been feeding mine out of the enclosure, i set her on the floor and dangle a mouse in front of her by its tail and shes been biting and constricting, then eating it no problem. then i pick her up, and shes nice and calm and i put her back and she goes off and finds a nice place to curl up and digest. she seems to be doing alright by this method but i've heard some people say you shouldn't. so i don't know if i should stop or keep doing it.

switch to appropriate sized rats(more protein). feed her up every 4-5 days then as a sub adult once a week. My guys grow like weeds on this formula.
And yes feed in the enclosure and prescent prior to feeding.

Mine is also 3 months old and weighs 157 grams empty! I feed him pup rats every 5 days!

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Originally Posted by ElwoodG

Ok well it looks like ill be upgrading to adults lol. few questions bout feeding while everyone is on the topic. does it matter whether you feed in the enclosure or outside of it? i've been feeding mine out of the enclosure, i set her on the floor and dangle a mouse in front of her by its tail and shes been biting and constricting, then eating it no problem. then i pick her up, and shes nice and calm and i put her back and she goes off and finds a nice place to curl up and digest. she seems to be doing alright by this method but i've heard some people say you shouldn't. so i don't know if i should stop or keep doing it.

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typically it doesnt matter, but some problem eaters will not eat if you moved them to another enclosure just to eat. i just feed mine is their own enclosures

now with bps under 500g, what is better to feed them... live, prekilled, or f/t? or does it matter?

There isnt a set weight that a royal has to be at any stage. Now people who read this are going to think theirs in underweight and start overfeeding. They have different growth rates. I have a male who was 2 and 34ish" long and around 7-800g, but was in perfect heath, that was just hes size. Overfeeding will lead to excesive fat deposits all over the snake (you see it alot with corns) and will shorten its life span to just a few years.

Also when it comes to the Live/prekilled/F/T, I have always used frozen as I couldnt take the risk of the mouse/rat biting back, I have seen some horrific pics that put me off, although I didnt live feed in the first place. I don't think it matters what

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Originally Posted by ElwoodG

now with bps under 500g, what is better to feed them... live, prekilled, or f/t? or does it matter?

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what ever works for you and the snake will eat. with live there is a risk it could bite the snake and never just leave a live rodent in an enclosure with a snake unattended

i bought baby bp early jun'09 weight 96 gr, after 4 months she become 490 gr
first eat small mice for three time, after that always eat rat baby until now
i give her live rodent, she kill it her self, that what i like from her
she is very smartly when striking the rodent, always strike mouth of the rodent :banana::banana:

If you are worried about getting bit, feed in the enclosure. If you don't really care and the snake will eat either way then feed outside the enclosure. You are more likely to get bit when feeding outside the enclosure.

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Originally Posted by Haydenphoto

Is there any proof that it would shorten there life span ? Has anybody really researched if over feeding really does any harm to them ? I would think if they eat every 3 to 5 days it would not hurt them. I would think if they where not hungry they would not eat.

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check out this poll, http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...=power+feeding

majority of the people said its not a good idea. I think I shouldn't have used the term powerfeeding to describe what the original poster asked. its different than just putting a prey item in and seeing if the snake will eat it. My mistake.

post # 8 in the thread


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Originally Posted by Wh00h0069 View Post
I agree with Mark Bailey on this topic. I have "power-feed" important males. By that, I mean fed every three days as opposed to five days for hatchling. I did this to get them up to breeding size at 5 or 6 months old. If I thought that it would hurt them then I would not have done so. I have also offered a second meal to females that I am trying to gain some weight before breeding season. I also do not feel that this hurts them in any way. In my opinion, if they do not want to eat then they won't.

I do not understand where people get the idea that power-feeding will shorten their life span. Does anyone know of any accounts of ball pythons that have died due to power-feeding? I don't.

I understand how people that think that power-feeding is detrimental to ball python's health would think that someone that power feeds is just in it for the money, but I disagree. I do not think that power-feeding hurts the snakes. If a ball python does not want to eat, then it will not. If it does, then it will. If someone wants a female to gain a few hundred grams by breeding season by feeding her every five days, then I do not see the problem.
You have the wrong idea of what power feeding is, feeding a ball once every three days until it is breeding size can be unhealthy according to how you do it. If the snake becomes 100% fat with no muscle then yes, that would be extream power feeding. But if it keeps a steady weight because it can handle/ gains from it then no it is not what I would can power feeding. Power feeding isnt only feeding alot, people watch the snake eat and then once they start to get to the end they start to shove p/k or f/t in its mouth so it will eat that one as well, and sometimes they do it again after that! Its not about how much the ball will eat, its how many rats they can shove down it befor it pukes it up.

I do not think that any of us has been in this hobby long enough to come to that conclusion. Ball pythons can live to be 50+ years old.

well... We know because the snake that just died at the age of 5 that should be reaching 50. When you cut it open( Have you ever seen the inside of an powerfed snake? Its not pretty... The fat puts alot of stress on its organs) there are just layers of pure fat.