A Simple Feeding Question. Advice is needed.

Hello, a couple weeks ago I thought my 6 month old ball python "Donut" was ready for bigger meals. She was a live feeder till she was sold to me on October 16th when I then started feeding her on Frozen/Thawed. Since then she's been on Hopper mice. She has only missed two meals since I've had her.

Today I fed her two hopper mice. She ate both happily and quickly and their was a nice little lump in her belly. Is this a sign I should move up to Weanlings or even adult mice? If I do then what should I do with the other 38 hopper mice in my freezer? Please help. Thank you in advance.

You can feed multiples until they are gone then up the size if you'd like :)

At that age I think she should at least be eating good size rat pups or weaners. I would thaw out 4-6 of those hoppers at a time and offer them to her until she doesn't take anymore.

Don't waste those hoppers! My snakes sometimes get ridiculously undersized prey animals depending on what I have on hand. They might get a perfectly sized rat one week, then get 3-5 mice the next week. In general I keep it pretty consistent with feeding rats, but every once in a while I'll run low on rats, and I have a guy that gives me free mice when he is overstocked.

Sorry for the rambling! It's fine to feed the hoppers until they are gone, then move up a prey size. :)

Alright, I'll continue feeding the hoppers till they're gone. How many a week do you think I should feed? I feed every Wednesday and today was the first time I fed two during one feeding. Should I keep feeding two a week or do like choreboy said

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Originally Posted by Choreboy

thaw out 4-6 of those hoppers at a time and offer them to her until she doesn't take anymore.

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Originally Posted by HeadSetJones

Alright, I'll continue feeding the hoppers till they're gone. How many a week do you think I should feed? I feed every Wednesday and today was the first time I fed two during one feeding. Should I keep feeding two a week or do like choreboy said

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I would just wait till you run out of what you have now. As, far as feeding 4-6 at a time? I wouldn't. You don't want a fat bp and besides there maybe a higher chance or regurgitation.

Yes, keep feeding hoppers until gone. I would not do 4-6 at a time though. If she appears hungry with only 2, you could feed every 5 days or so instead too. Too much at once could lead to regurgitation.

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

Yes, keep feeding hoppers until gone. I would not do 4-6 at a time though. If she appears hungry with only 2, you could feed every 5 days or so instead too. Too much at once could lead to regurgitation.

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So two hoppers every 5 days or 1 hopper every five days. She ate both pretty fast.

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Originally Posted by HeadSetJones

So two hoppers every 5 days or 1 hopper every five days. She ate both pretty fast.

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Sorry if I'm rambling here. Just trying to keep my snake healthy and happy.

How much does your ball python weigh? That's the key question. Well, actually, the key question is: how much will it eat at one time?

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Originally Posted by LGray23

You can feed multiples until they are gone then up the size if you'd like :)

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I 2nd that!!!

1) get a scale

2) weigh snake

3) weigh prey

4) feed 10-15% of her body weight every 5-7 days

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Originally Posted by HeadSetJones

Sorry if I'm rambling here. Just trying to keep my snake healthy and happy.

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IMO if it's eating on a regular basis and you see poop then I don't see any reason to change your feeding schedule for now. I would recommend feeding every 5-7 days for a juvenile and 2 should be fine. If you start seeing a bulge continue to be there after a few weeks then you could feed 1 hopper one week and the next week feed 2. The snake will know if it wants to and can eat more food.

One less facetious suggestion:

At some point you'll probably want to switch your snake over to rats. It's just less expensive (and easier) to feed one large food item than a bunch of smaller ones. Since most ball pythons in captivity more readily eat mice than rats, you might want to save one or two of your mice in the freezer. If your snake proves difficult to switch over initially, you could use the mice to scent the rats.

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Originally Posted by jfmoore

One less facetious suggestion:

At some point you'll probably want to switch your snake over to rats. It's just less expensive (and easier) to feed one large food item than a bunch of smaller ones. Since most ball pythons in captivity more readily eat mice than rats, you might want to save one or two of your mice in the freezer. If your snake proves difficult to switch over initially, you could use the mice to scent the rats.

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Joan makes a very good point. I do recommend you save a few... don't own any balls and would've never crossed my mind.

I got a scale and I weighed her. She's 192g so I fed her a 19g mouse today.

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Originally Posted by HeadSetJones

I got a scale and I weighed her. She's 192g so I fed her a 19g mouse today.

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Great! She's on her way, then. Bear in mind that most newly hatched ball pythons could handle a meal that size, so you might want to offer two of that size next time if you have more. Or step it up to a larger size. But, whatever, you're doing fine. For comparison, I have a 70 gram ball python that just ate a 20 gram mouse.

Yeah, I only fed her 10% of her weight. I would have fed two if I could find a combo of mice that came close to 28g's (15% of weight) but couldn't. :P Gonna step up a size after this bag of hoppers runs out.