Feed BP until she stops eating?

Hello,

The pet store clerks said try to feed her 1x per week.

However she's exhibiting signs of hunger after eating her first live prey.

At this point do I continue feeding her mice?

Best,

Pyth

Snakes will still just 'check around' after a meal, even if they are hungry or not. Make sure your prey size is adequate---The mouse or rat must be as wide as the widest point on the snake. If not, your snake is probably still hungry.

How big is she? Young ones are almost always hungry. If she's under 500 g's I would feed her every 5 days a prey item that is about 10% of her body weight. She would probably take more though if you offered.

If she doesn't go into her hide and sleep, go ahead and feed her another mouse. Or, you might want to try bumping her to rats. I have an adult male who is a mouse eater, and my young spider gets his leftovers. You don't want to over do it, but there is nothing wrong with a little extra.

Thanks for your rule of thumb purplemuffin. The prey I fed her was much smaller than her greatest width. I'll get a bigger mouse today.

Stratus, I've had a Ball Python for 2 months. She's about a year old. 29". Female. Unsure of her weight.

She has been noticeably active during the night hours, a lot more exploring, trying to get out of the terrarium, tunneling, swimming, etc. Observing her new behavior I put two more hides in her cage to characterize the enclosure a bit more.

Today she seems to be back to her normal hiding. I'll have to see how she reacts tonight.

My youngster weighs 344 grams and I'm feeding a small rat a week to him.

Thanks Stratus.

I just gave her another, more sizable mouse, about 5 times the size of the one I gave her yesterday, which equals the width of her body by a rough estimate, and she ate it right up.

Pyth

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pyth

Thanks Stratus.

I just gave her another, more sizable mouse, about 5 times the size of the one I gave her yesterday, which equals the width of her body by a rough estimate, and she ate it right up.

Pyth

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It's hard to tell without looking at the snake, but at about a year old she should be able to handle a weanling rat no problem. Or, 2-3 big mice. My full grown male usually will put down two mice, becuase he's a dork and for some reason has decided mice smell much better than rats. But, he took a rat this weekend for the first time in a year!

Hopefully you can get her/him a full belly now. :) I'm sure she'll be just fine.

Hello,

Update

She's eaten an infant rodent, a full weanling rat, and a smaller weanling.

Pyth :-)

Hey, I'm going to ask again (2nd time) : Should I keep feeding her as long as she appears to be hungry? I can bet she'll eat another one, because she looks hungry. When's the magic number? Is it possible to overfeed?

they will eventually stop(I think mine once ate 3 in one sitting when the mice were too small).

After a while though, they start going off feed and you begin to wish you could get back to this point. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Let it digest what you've fed it, some will eat till they look like a stuffed sausage, you don't want to feed it for another week now ;)

Yes, I'd wait at least 5 days between feedings if she's eating the right size of prey. A few of mine will "hunt" right after eating, but if offered more prey they never actually follow through with eating it.

You don't want to risk a regurge at this point, and the greedy little thing won't starve if she has to wait a few days.

Chances are once she has a few days to relax and digest her meal, she settle down.

I had a young female who acted that way. She was convinced she was starving to death on one adult mouse every 5 days. She snapped at everything, she'd even grab random mouthfuls of shavings after eating if it still smelled like mouse. Finally I broke down and offered her a big ol' weaned rat. About three times the size of the mice she'd been eating. It took her forever to get it down, and then she was still looking for more! :O However, by the next morning her gluttony had caught up to her and she acted like me after Thanksgiving dinner. Now she is much more reasonable about her food. One adult mouse is just fine for her now, thank you all the same. She just had a little appetite spike and didn't know what to do about it.

Gale

Hello dear
i have also some prey and snacks and they eat much as they like. It is good for animals health that they should be eat as they want.

I can guarantee you that a few of mine if "they eat much as they like" would end up round as a sausage until they split ....NVM :rolleye2:

Responsible feeding keeping close to 10 to 15 percent of the snakes body weight weekly will give you a healthy snake :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I can guarantee you that a few of mine if "they eat much as they like" would end up round as a sausage until they split ....NVM :rolleye2:

Responsible feeding keeping close to 10 to 15 percent of the snakes body weight weekly will give you a healthy snake :)

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Update:

Now, she is eating a 4th mouse, medium to large size.

Will try to feed her a 5th after her first feeding time is up.

Pyth

I know they will eat till they are looking like a sausage are you testing this theory :confused:

If you don't be careful, you'll have a regurge and then she'll have to wait 2 weeks until she can eat again. Slow down, it's not healthy to feed her like that. Once a week at a yr of age is appropriate, and one prey item of the correct size is all that's necessary. You overwork her digestive system, and she'll get sick.

Thanks for the advice, all! She is now eating healthily.