What size rat would you feed a 810 gram "empty" ball python?

My female weighs in at 810 grams. Whats size rat should i feed her? She loves mice but i want to switch over to rats. Is the switch hard? I tried a f/t small rat thawed it out put it in a box with mouse to get the mouse smell and offered it to snake, she smell it then went on her way. I put a mouse in feeding bin and she ate it with no problem . Do i start her out on stung rats then switch gradually to f/t? I forgot to mention she eats live mice and freshly killed mice.

Thanks alot!! :)

You can feed her small rats. I have two snakes that are currently on live mice. They both used to eat rats but some for reason they will only take mice for me now. You can try with the f/t rat again, you may just have to wait until she is hungry enough for her to accept it. You should only offer her food once every 5 to 7 days or you could stress her out and she may not want to eat for you. How many times have you tried to get her to take the f/t rat? You could try a freshly killed rat and see if she will take that for you and then transition her onto the f/t. My snakes are growing just fine with eating adult mice. I just have to feed multiple mice to satisfy them. I'm sure someone with more experience then myself will help answer your questions as well.

Justin Kobylka will have a video up on feeding size probably tonight or in a day or two and explains everything with visual examples. Just check his YouTube channel.

Take 810, and multiply that by .10 or .15

Thats how many grams the rat should weigh.

One small rat or 2 good sized adult mice.

You arnt soppose to feed your snake anything bigger than the girth of your snake.

Small Rat

I agree. Small adult rat.

I have to agree with Purple Python. A 810 snake should be fed a rat between 81-122 grams. That is around a medium rat and sometimes you can go bigger depending on how thick your snakes are. Mine are alittle thicker than their 10-15% rule so I go around 18%. Hell my 500 gram normal just put down a 90 gram rat today and it's his width.

I would go with as many rat pups as it eats mice. Rat pups are the size of an adult mouse so she may think its a mouse. Then go with small rats after it has switched! Also if it eats live than feed live rats!

TBH depending on the snake I might be feeding med rats by then. However most of my medium rats come on the smaller side of the size range.

800 grams is right on that border where I'm thinking of upsizing.

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Originally Posted by SERPENT_MASTERS

My female weighs in at 810 grams. Whats size rat should i feed her? She loves mice but i want to switch over to rats. Is the switch hard? I tried a f/t small rat thawed it out put it in a box with mouse to get the mouse smell and offered it to snake, she smell it then went on her way. I put a mouse in feeding bin and she ate it with no problem . Do i start her out on stung rats then switch gradually to f/t? I forgot to mention she eats live mice and freshly killed mice.

Thanks alot!! :)

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Hey there!
There are soooo many tricks for feeding f/t. Me personnaly I have some garbage cans that will knock back a room temp f/t but then I have some picky girls who need certain tricks.
Try this..
Next time you thaw out that delicious little morsel, pop it in a ziploc bag seal it and put it in some 112*F tap water (that's the temp of my hot water in my tap) leave the small f/t rat in there for about 15 min. Then when it's nice and warm do the "zombie dance".
Hold the rat by the scruff of the neck with your feeding tongs about 2-3" away from the snakes nose and do a little dance. Even my picky eaters can't resist this.
If this doesn't work maybe try feeding in the enclosure. If you have a hide just do the dance in front of the hide until your snake grabs it.
Good luck!!! Let us know now it goes :-)

Haha the "zombie dance"
But you can do that or heat it up with a hair dryer. (once thawed)
Also try prescenting with the scent of the meal your feeding them. I use the bedding from my rat colony to precent the cages and while doing it I put the rats in a 6 qt or zip lock with some more bedding to make them smell exactly like the prescenting so what the snakes smell to entice them they are also eating.
A good way to tell if prescenting worked is if your snakes head is out of the hide and his tongue is going like crazy or if they are halfway out the hide in the kill mode.
But I would also recommend feeding in the tub/tank

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Originally Posted by SERPENT_MASTERS

Do i start her out on stung rats then switch gradually to f/t? I forgot to mention she eats live mice and freshly killed mice.

Thanks alot!! :)

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I would probably not go with this method. Then you have to introduce wasps or bees, and you are just asking for trouble... Plus, I'm not sure what the benefit of this would be...

Start with something the same size as an adult mouse. The trick is to fool the snake into thinking it's eating a mouse.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Start with something the same size as an adult mouse. The trick is to fool the snake into thinking it's eating a mouse.

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A rat pup!

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Originally Posted by seeya205

A rat pup!

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Well whatever size rat is as big as an Adult Mouse.. I mean it's not any smaller than what it's been eating.

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Originally Posted by mitsumike

i have to agree with purple python. A 810 snake should be fed a rat between 81-122 grams. That is around a medium rat and sometimes you can go bigger depending on how thick your snakes are. Mine are alittle thicker than their 10-15% rule so i go around 18%. Hell my 500 gram normal just put down a 90 gram rat today and it's his width.

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your 500 gram normal gobble down a 90 gram rat? Wow! My pastel 810 gram look at a 67 gram frozen rat like " you must be joking, you know im strickly mice" lol!

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Originally Posted by seeya205

a rat pup!

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thanks for the advice! I will pick up some frozen rat pups at expo in two more days. Thanks alot buddy

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Originally Posted by jeremy78

hey there!
There are soooo many tricks for feeding f/t. Me personnaly i have some garbage cans that will knock back a room temp f/t but then i have some picky girls who need certain tricks.
Try this..
Next time you thaw out that delicious little morsel, pop it in a ziploc bag seal it and put it in some 112*f tap water (that's the temp of my hot water in my tap) leave the small f/t rat in there for about 15 min. Then when it's nice and warm do the "zombie dance".
Hold the rat by the scruff of the neck with your feeding tongs about 2-3" away from the snakes nose and do a little dance. Even my picky eaters can't resist this.
If this doesn't work maybe try feeding in the enclosure. If you have a hide just do the dance in front of the hide until your snake grabs it.
Good luck!!! Let us know now it goes :-)

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i like the " zombie dance" lol! I will try this and let you know what happen.

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Originally Posted by freakie_frog

well whatever size rat is as big as an adult mouse.. I mean it's not any smaller than what it's been eating.

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thats common sense. Thanks alot! On tip! Next time i will put on my thinking ball python cap lol!

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Originally Posted by mitsumike

haha the "zombie dance"
but you can do that or heat it up with a hair dryer. (once thawed)
also try prescenting with the scent of the meal your feeding them. I use the bedding from my rat colony to precent the cages and while doing it i put the rats in a 6 qt or zip lock with some more bedding to make them smell exactly like the prescenting so what the snakes smell to entice them they are also eating.
A good way to tell if prescenting worked is if your snakes head is out of the hide and his tongue is going like crazy or if they are halfway out the hide in the kill mode.
But i would also recommend feeding in the tub/tank

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thanks! I never fed any of my balls in the tub. I always took them out in fear of the old legend tale. If you feed in living quarters snake will snap and think you are food when you open up its bin.

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Originally Posted by python1024

you can feed her small rats. I have two snakes that are currently on live mice. They both used to eat rats but some for reason they will only take mice for me now. You can try with the f/t rat again, you may just have to wait until she is hungry enough for her to accept it. You should only offer her food once every 5 to 7 days or you could stress her out and she may not want to eat for you. How many times have you tried to get her to take the f/t rat? You could try a freshly killed rat and see if she will take that for you and then transition her onto the f/t. My snakes are growing just fine with eating adult mice. I just have to feed multiple mice to satisfy them. I'm sure someone with more experience then myself will help answer your questions as well.

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i tried f/t rat three times with 6 of them and they all turn it down :( the biggest f/t rat weight was 67 grams and they all look at me like "come on pal give it up and get back to the mice" lol! Do you think color matters? Since they are use to white mice all the f/t rats i attempted were black or mainly black with a little bit of white on them.

I would go with white LIVE rats since they are used to live and white! You can go to ft after you switch them! I would feed 3 to 4 times with live!

small rat or large mouse weighing as much as a small rat. if u cant get them over to rats

You're trying to switch two things at the same time - from mouse to rat and then from live to f/t.

Try with a live small rat - I know I used to be scared and think rats would cause more harm than a mouse, but really, mice are much fiercer (IMHO) than rats are.

Except for my albino and my colubrids, all of my crew feed on live rats - fed in their enclosures. I've never (knock on wood) been mistaken for food.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

You're trying to switch two things at the same time - from mouse to rat and then from live to f/t.

Try with a live small rat - I know I used to be scared and think rats would cause more harm than a mouse, but really, mice are much fiercer (IMHO) than rats are.

Except for my albino and my colubrids, all of my crew feed on live rats - fed in their enclosures. I've never (knock on wood) been mistaken for food.

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x2

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Originally Posted by purplepython

take 810, and multiply that by .10 or .15

thats how many grams the rat should weigh.

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never heard of this calculation. Where did you get this from?

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Originally Posted by SERPENT_MASTERS

never heard of this calculation. Where did you get this from?

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It's a general "rule" of how to pick out your feeders. Feed your snake prey that weighs 10%-15% of your snakes weight.

I've heard that people stop using that "rule" when snakes get up in the bigger numbers.