BIG snake, small meal

Hey gang!

Currently have a 2010 baby BP, has been eating live hopper mice. I am breeding my own mice. Quick question for you gurus out there... In later years of this snakes life when it is much larger, if I decide or cannot breed rats or the snake will not prefer to eat rats I would consider staying with mice. However, the adult mice are a small prey item for a full grown adult BP. If I had to stick with breeding/feeding mice, would it be better to feed one every 3-5 days, or to feed 2 every 7-10 days?

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Originally Posted by Savage420Siege

Hey gang!

Currently have a 2010 baby BP, has been eating live hopper mice. I am breeding my own mice. Quick question for you gurus out there... In later years of this snakes life when it is much larger, if I decide or cannot breed rats or the snake will not prefer to eat rats I would consider staying with mice. However, the adult mice are a small prey item for a full grown adult BP. If I had to stick with breeding/feeding mice, would it be better to feed one every 3-5 days, or to feed 2 every 7-10 days?

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not sure my uncle has a full grown burm and feeds it chickens and rabbits that he gets from a farmer. i would say that it would not be enough and u would have to feed him alot.

Several people here have adult BP mice eaters. Most of them take 4-6 mice at a time once a week or so.

The key of course is not to overdo it. It will take quite some time before it gets that big, but be forewarned they can eat a LOT of mice as they get bigger.

Gale

Feeding often is not a problem (have several mouse colonies), my concern is: Feed 1 adult mouse twice as often, or feed 2 adult mice at a time. Or, will I have to go to rats no matter what?

You would have to feed multiples of mice to equal a medium rat which is a typical meal for an adult bp.

up to 6 mice a week!?

guess I better start more colonies while I have a chance! :O

you would be better off with rats just my opinion.

There is no reason to ever feed a BP a mouse if you have access to appropriately sized rats.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

There is no reason to ever feed a BP a mouse if you have access to appropriately sized rats.

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I got/acquired a mouser, trying to switch over to asf's without luck :(

I would suggest rats if possible also...

Any particular reason why you can breed mice but not rats?

your snake will probably be moving up to 2 mice a week pretty soon. That is a typical meal for a juvenile. An adult ball pythons will eat about 4-5 full grown mice once per week.

id also start to breed rats as i do because the rat gets to a good size quick for ball pythons from juvi to adult, youd end up wasteing alot of mice, IMO. for example i have a girl that is 2700g after dropping eggs and she is about 4500-5000g when shes ready to go again that would be 675g for 15% of her weight and a large adult mouse is about 45g....675g divided by 45g = 15 mice a week!!!!!!!:O

and on the light side for her at 2700g would be 15% at 405g which would be 9 45g mice a week...still alot

hope this helps

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Originally Posted by moravaguy

id also start to breed rats as i do because the rat gets to a good size quick for ball pythons from juvi to adult, youd end up wasteing alot of mice, IMO. for example i have a girl that is 2700g after dropping eggs and she is about 4500-5000g when shes ready to go again that would be 675g for 15% of her weight and a large adult mouse is about 45g....675g divided by 45g = 15 mice a week!!!!!!!:O

and on the light side for her at 2700g would be 15% at 405g which would be 9 45g mice a week...still alot

hope this helps

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What are you feeding her in rats? A "medium" rat, what many on here seem to recommend as largest a bp needs is 85-175 grams, are you giving her up to 6 medium rats because that's just as ridiculous. Or are you feeding her larger rats?

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

What are you feeding her in rats? A "medium" rat, what many on here seem to recommend as largest a bp needs is 85-175 grams, are you giving her up to 6 medium rats because that's just as ridiculous. Or are you feeding her larger rats?

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well right now im feeding her live small/medium every 7 days when she is of size i will feeder her large or xlarge it ends up being more like 10% of her weight. when i get that large i always do f/t about every 7 days also, rats

You can feed an adult ball python mice all their life. Yes, it will take more mice than rats. I have a female a little over 4000 grams thats a mouse feeder. I offer her food every 3 days, 2 to 3 mice if she takes them. sometimes not, and she puts her weight back on quickly after laying eggs. Get a scale and weigh her. This will be your best judge on how much to feed her. Also there are so many keepers out there that keep the hot side very hot. not that it's going to burn the snake, but the snake metabolizes it's food faster, and doesn't get as much out of the food item. I read keepers with temps at 92 to 94, Dr. Scott Stahl (not sure on the spelling) one of the top vets for ball pythons keeps his hot side at 85. I keep my around 88. Why? when all my snakes poop it is digested to the point it should be. Also there are many large breeders that drop the temps on males durning breeding season to around 86 on the hot side, the reason I was told, it's less of a chance for damaging the sperm with these temps, I read so many posts that saids that this is what you need to do, No, It should say, This is what you need to try.This is a hobby with still so much to learn, what works for one, doesn't always work for the other.

Someone might post something after this post and disagree with something in here. I'll read it, using common sense might try it, and could change my mind. nothing is written in stone, which is one of the reasons I enjoy this hobby.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

Any particular reason why you can breed mice but not rats?

your snake will probably be moving up to 2 mice a week pretty soon. That is a typical meal for a juvenile. An adult ball pythons will eat about 4-5 full grown mice once per week.

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First of all, where is the best place to get a scale to monitor the snakes weight, and what kind of scale should I buy (digital/other) ?

No reason at all, actually this is why I posted this thread. No matter what I do I will be keeping the mouse colonies as my 2 bearded dragons relish young mice. Is there a particular strain/species of rat that is best for BPs, or can I just breed fancy rats? Can someone who is currently breeding rats give me some pointers/info...like: What size of cage/tank to breed them in? Is two females and one male sufficient to keep a consistant supply for one snake? Anything you people can tell me will be great!

You can get a gram kitchen scale from walmart or target for about $20. Just make sure they can go up to like 5,000 grams or so.

If that is the reason why you want to keep the mice (small babys) then I would try and get a colony of African Soft Furred rats (ASFs) they are pretty small as babys and when they are full grown they make great meals for adult ball pythons.

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Originally Posted by Kaorte

You can get a gram kitchen scale from walmart or target for about $20. Just make sure they can go up to like 5,000 grams or so.

If that is the reason why you want to keep the mice (small babys) then I would try and get a colony of African Soft Furred rats (ASFs) they are pretty small as babys and when they are full grown they make great meals for adult ball pythons.

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Great, Thank you!

Just bought a 5000 gram scale on eBay. Now for the Rats, if I cannot get ASF locally will normal "Fancy Rats" be ok? This is assuming that I can get my snake to take them after eating live mice.

Yeah a normal rat will be fine. I was just trying to kill two birds with one stone for you. A prey item that will grow to the size of a small rat for the ball python, and a baby that will be small enough for your bearded dragons.

I have two stubborn boys right now that have refused rats.. (ima smack em if they dont get over that..) They are both right at 400g each (gaining weight fast as well) and they are currently at 3 large mice at each feeding. Still costs less than two rats.. but rather a pain in the butt.. Im going to try and get some ASF and see if they will switch over to those. Ive got like 15 babies and 4 preg female mice right now.. but good lord.. no way i can keep up with eating requirements as is.

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Originally Posted by ameh78

I have two stubborn boys right now that have refused rats.. (ima smack em if they dont get over that..) They are both right at 400g each (gaining weight fast as well) and they are currently at 3 large mice at each feeding. Still costs less than two rats.. but rather a pain in the butt.. Im going to try and get some ASF and see if they will switch over to those. Ive got like 15 babies and 4 preg female mice right now.. but good lord.. no way i can keep up with eating requirements as is.

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One bad thing about soft furs is if you feed them to your snake long enough, that might be the only rodent it will take. soft furs are sometimes hard to find. I breed both soft furs and mice. all my hatchlings that I'm going to sell I feed mice. alot of people won't but a soft fur feeding snake, being that that can be hard to find.