is it okay to feed every 3 days?

i mean, i know i should feed my snake every 5 days.. but one of my normals is really really always hungry.. im already feeding it adult mouse and its like a bit wider than the largest part of his body but every 3 days he gets hungry again. goes out of the hide and greets me with his tongue flipping out telling "hey got food bro?" haha. i think he is really on a feeding mood or should i feed him every 5 days still?

WHOA :O
I would highly suggest you switch to every 5 days. Feeding too often isn't healthy for the bp because they metabolize at a much slower rate than us so they don't need to eat often.
How are you determining whether it is hungry? Just by flicking its tounge? Im sure the bp is just stretching and exploring and smelling its surrounding areas. It is most likly not hungry at all.
:]

We're talking a baby/hatchling, right? I have read of others doing a 3-5 day feeding schedule with their babies so it shouldn't be an issue.

I have a 2010 hatchling that I feed every five days. When he was on mouse hoppers and that was all could find around my area I fed him every three days.

Theres a difference between having an alert hatchling where they recognize that your there vs. it being hungry. Hatchlings by nature can be very snappy and very defensive. Their natural reaction is to eat; especially right off the bat. I have two hatchlings that are very alert and "defensive," this does not mean they are hungry. There is a reason why feeding once every 5 days is important digestive wise; feeding more frequently runs a rotting corpse in your snake bc it doesn't have time to fully digest its prey. :colbert:

Feed once a week and by 6 months the behavior your addressing should be gone. Its because its a baby. Also, most of my snakes are alert, doesn't mean they are hungry. I feed once a week and everyone is happy on my end.

I would feed every 5 days! Their body needs a break and it takes up to 48 hours for them to digest so you are only giving it a 1 day break. If you think its hungry then get a larger prey item or two smaller prey items for one feeding!

I feed hatchlings every 3-4 days till they hit 300 grams or so then back them off to every 5 to 7 days.

as babys I say 3 days is fine. I got a big girl I feed every three days but I do give her a week break but she's a beast man. Just keep an eye out. Good to hear that you have a baby with a massive appetite.

feed them! because they will go off feed & then why wont they eat :D,feed them if they eat 3 to 5 days.

I feed every 5 to my babies but if it's a small meal then every 3 works too.

If you continue to feed every three days (which is too much IMO) that ball python will eventually tell itself (because you're clearly not) that it's eating too much, shortening it's life and getting fat. At which point, I GUARANTEE you he will stop eating for a LONG time (usually at around 9-10 months of age).
Sometimes, the ball python is smarter than the owner.
That's sad.

I'm a 3&6 man, just makes sense to me. I have hatchlings up and hatchings if they want it every 3 adults who want it every 6 then it stays in rotation ;) and if they refuse dont fret write it down and and try again next rotation.

A simple no I wouldn't feed every 3 days would suffice instead of insulting people in your answer.

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Originally Posted by mykee

Sometimes, the ball python is smarter than the owner.
That's sad.

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Nice dig.

It's sad when people spread rumors like:
I GUARANTEE you he will stop eating for a LONG time (usually at around 9-10 months of age).
Really?
I guess my snakes missed that memo :confused:

I have found there are very few absolutes in this hobby and almost NO guarantees.

thanks so much everyone for the responses and I find snakesrkewl answer best fits me.. yeah my bp is still a baby though it is growing way faster than my other 2 bps.. maybe got something to do being really a good eater and metabolizes food pretty well compared to the other snakes. Like what i said, i would know if they are hungry coz they come out of the hide and start wondering around when they are hungry and just stays in the hide when they are digesting.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

Nice dig.

It's sad when people spread rumors like:
I GUARANTEE you he will stop eating for a LONG time (usually at around 9-10 months of age).
Really?
I guess my snakes missed that memo :confused:

I have found there are very few absolutes in this hobby and almost NO guarantees.

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Agreed, don't be upset...my snakes also missed that memo. ;)

I'd also like to see the research/documentation regarding shortened life spans/rotting corpses/breaking ribs etc. I absolutely adore this website, but am saddened by the opinions that are stated as absolute fact.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoBoilers

Agreed, don't be upset...my snakes also missed that memo. ;)

I'd also like to see the research/documentation regarding shortened life spans/rotting corpses/breaking ribs etc. I absolutely adore this website, but am saddened by the opinions that are stated as absolute fact.

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It's all good, I wasn't upset at all :D

I don't think there have been any controlled long-term studies done on whether this would be detrimental to a snake, or not.

Ball Pythons can live up to 40 / 50 years from what I've learned. Who's to say what we do in captivity will make them live longer , or shorter ? Normally I would say, we prolong life, IF we keep them responsibly.

I believe it has been established that a snakes system goes into "over drive" during digestion. The organs work much harder.
Personally, I wouldn't want to put that kind of strain on organs non-stop. I'm sure in nature they eat whenever they find something. Sometimes that could be every day, sometimes once the month. But..I don't think they digest nonstop for months at a time.

That said, everyone has to do what makes sense to them, and what they are comfortable with. I prefer to feed once the week, adults even less. Back when I had many Ball Pythons , they ALL grew pretty quickly, but they never had that "fat" stuffed sausage look to them either. They ate regularly, sometimes taking a week or 2 off, that was it.

But thats what worked for me, and I don't criticize others. There just isn't any hard proof either way. Follow your gut.

Even though I buy some morphs this time around, I only buy them for their beauty and because I enjoy them. They are not investment snakes, I don't plan on breeding (though I might). I don't worry about what kind of money I will get before the morphs prices fall into the basement.

Breeders have good reason to grow/breed snakes as fast as they can, or they could possibly loose money on them. They also don't want to harm the snakes, of course.

Again, do your research, come to your own conclusions, and do what you feel comfortable with :) In this hobby there isn't just black and white, lots of gray ;)

No offense to anyone !!!

stick to 3 days if its a hatchling till it hits 2-300 grms. after that 7 days is best for growth, digestive, and reutine.

you'll notice she's hungrier on feeding day and less likley to refuse a meal later in life as long as reutine is developed.

My bad, I can't say that overfed babies WILL go off feed.
I do apologize for that.
You'll have to forgive me as I often forget when I post a lot of the time here that wholly 90% of the posters here (even the ones with thousands of posts) only have a few ball pythons and/or have only been a part of this hobby/business for a relatively short period of time, which equates to rather limited real-life experiences.
That said, I can tell you from my experiences of almost a decade of breeding, during which time, I have admittedly tried it all. In that time, I've collected some valuable information with my rather informal studies, (sorry, none of it has been published) that if you overfeed a baby early on (whether they 'want' to overeat or not, or whether or not you 'think' they have a 'faster metabolism' than 'normal babies') 95% of the time, that hatchling will hit a brick wall around a year and either stop eating altogether, or greatly reduce the amount of meals he will accept.
Another thing that I have learned over the years is that when a hobbyist comes to a forum 'looking for advice', he's not really looking advice, but rather someone to agree with his already made up mind.
Feed away, and good luck.

Remember that its in the animals interest to grow quickly when its a hatchling, this in turn multiplys its chances of survival in the wild. This is why hatchlings are in most cases great eaters to start off, its instinct, in this both males and females are the same.

Now from what I've seen males really start to slowdown on food intake as females do not, the reason for this is simple the females instinct is to get to a good size so she can produce eggs and reproduce.

Now you might be asking what does this have to do with the OP"s question. I feed my hatchlings every three days til they slow it down. I let them decide when they wanna take a break I don't see anything wrong with that.

I let them decide plain and simple.

What age does a snake become a juvenile? As in, when does it stop being a hatchling?

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

What age does a snake become a juvenile? As in, when does it stop being a hatchling?

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I'd say 300 to 350 grams it depends how you wanna look at it. After three months I'd call it a juvenile.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoBoilers

Agreed, don't be upset...my snakes also missed that memo. ;)

I'd also like to see the research/documentation regarding shortened life spans/rotting corpses/breaking ribs etc. I absolutely adore this website, but am saddened by the opinions that are stated as absolute fact.

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Would also like to see straight facts and research done on feeding ASF, gerbils, rats, and mice to ball pythons. Like do balls eating gerbils get fatter (still healthy) then rat eaters ect.

I don't have written down facts but I have fed and do feed both asf's and rats.
Most of my asf eaters are picky eaters and so don't grow as fast as my rat eaters.
I don't know if there is any nutritional difference but the rat eaters do tend to grow much faster but that would be because most of my rat eaters will eat larger prey items than my asf eaters.

i think i read somewhere that rats got relatively higher protein content compared to other rodents

I would stick to every 5, but if you want him to gain weight fast just give him 2 young adults or hoppers rather than 1 adult