Tips for growing ball pythons faster.

Is there any different feeding tips or tricks to get ball pythons to grow and get heavier quicker? Appreciate the help!

None that are safe for the health of your BP. Feed your snake proper sized meals 5-7 days apart. The more consistent the better. Trying to bulk up a BP is just going to cause health issues down the road.

Let them grow at their own rate...patience is a requirement in this hobby.

If you power feed you are asking for a host of problems. Don't do it. Patience.

I feed once a week, regardless of age, so I can't compare 4-5 day feeding schedules to a slightly larger meal every 7 days....but, just by going on what I've observed in my own collection it seems that as they get bigger, the ones who feed on multiple small prey items per feeding put on weight slightly faster than those who feed on a single, larger item.

Feed rats instead of mice

Just backing up everyone else here. Take your time growing snakes. Ball pythons especially require patience.

Consistent feeding schedule every week. I feed babys and yearlings every 3-5 days. If they dont want it, they usually will not take it

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Originally Posted by luvmyballs

If you power feed you are asking for a host of problems. Don't do it. Patience.

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just out of curiosity, what are the "host of problems"? I persionaly don't powerfeed, but I keep hearing of all of the problems. Is there any real evidence of these "problems"?
thanks
Spooky

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Originally Posted by mr.spooky

just out of curiosity, what are the "host of problems"? I persionaly don't powerfeed, but I keep hearing of all of the problems. Is there any real evidence of these "problems"?
thanks
Spooky

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I am not sure if power feeding is being used correctly here. A power feed is a type of force feeding. As the snake is finishing a meal, you still the head of another it it's mouth and it has no choice but to start swallowing. This is highly frowned upon.

As far as I have seen, for babies and juvies, 3/4 days feeding schedule is fine until adulthood and then a standard of 7 days for healthy sized adults.

If you are dealing with an undersized adult, the 3/4 days will work also to get them back to a health weight before going to the 7 day.

I've said this in another thread recently. Personally, I have never seen an overweight BP. I see penty of underweight ones. BP's are not garbage disposals. They are not boas. They will only eat if they need to.

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

I am not sure if power feeding is being used correctly here. A power feed is a type of force feeding. As the snake is finishing a meal, you still the head of another it it's mouth and it has no choice but to start swallowing. This is highly frowned upon.

As far as I have seen, for babies and juvies, 3/4 days feeding schedule is fine until adulthood and then a standard of 7 days for healthy sized adults.

If you are dealing with an undersized adult, the 3/4 days will work also to get them back to a health weight before going to the 7 day.

I've said this in another thread recently. Personally, I have never seen an overweight BP. I see penty of underweight ones. BP's are not garbage disposals. They are not boas. They will only eat if they need to.

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+2! :gj:

here's a snakebytes episode that discusses this issue and experiments on it:


http://snakebytes.tv/index.php?optio...=251&Itemid=14

and their results

(go to about 2 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyXZN25XOZo

Can you who say power feeding is bad explain why bush babies are bigger than our first year hatchlings? This debate has been had before and the consensus was that we cannot feed too much. If the animal takes a meal, give it to him. I maintenance feed one rat of appropriate size every 5-7 days. If you feed small meals very 5 days you will find that your animal will grow at an acceptable rate.

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Originally Posted by Jcash34

Is there any different feeding tips or tricks to get ball pythons to grow and get heavier quicker?

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For what purpose do you want your BP to grow quicker?

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

I feed once a week, regardless of age, so I can't compare 4-5 day feeding schedules to a slightly larger meal every 7 days....but, just by going on what I've observed in my own collection it seems that as they get bigger, the ones who feed on multiple small prey items per feeding put on weight slightly faster than those who feed on a single, larger item.

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I do the same thing, i agree with what you said^

I feed every 3 - 5 days with no issues (other than the occasional refusal). Once they reach adult size it will go to every 7. Everyone is growing at a nice rate.