Feeding Size for Age/Size estimate ?

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a Bulk buy on frozen rodents for a single Ball Python. We have not purchased the snake yet and are just Assuming it will eat the pre-killed frozen treats.. So if it doesn't, well we'll have a deal for some local hobbyist I guess !

What I'm looking for is an estimated # of weeks a baby BP will eat Fuzzy mice before it will move up the Size Chart of the available size rodents?
e.g.
1 fuzzy a week for 12 weeks
1 small mouse for 12 weeks
1 medium mouse for 12 weeks
Etc
Etc,

Hopefully one of you have a idea of what I mean and have a few minutes to type it out for me..:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BillinIndiana

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a Bulk buy on frozen rodents for a single Ball Python. We have not purchased the snake yet and are just Assuming it will eat the pre-killed frozen treats.. So if it doesn't, well we'll have a deal for some local hobbyist I guess !

What I'm looking for is an estimated # of weeks a baby BP will eat Fuzzy mice before it will move up the Size Chart of the available size rodents?
e.g.
1 fuzzy a week for 12 weeks
1 small mouse for 12 weeks
1 medium mouse for 12 weeks
Etc
Etc,

Hopefully one of you have a idea of what I mean and have a few minutes to type it out for me..:D

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Here is a general idea - not set in stone at all!!!!


first feeding - 2 months: 15g fuzzy rats
2 months - 4 months: 30g pups
4 months - 8 months: 50g weanlings
8+ months: 80g smalls

I'm with Ricky on this one. Ditch the mice, and follow his advice. (and it rhymed )

is it wrong that I use mice as "filler food" while I wait for my rats to breed?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BillinIndiana

Hi, I'm looking to purchase a Bulk buy on frozen rodents for a single Ball Python. We have not purchased the snake yet and are just Assuming it will eat the pre-killed frozen treats.. So if it doesn't, well we'll have a deal for some local hobbyist I guess !

What I'm looking for is an estimated # of weeks a baby BP will eat Fuzzy mice before it will move up the Size Chart of the available size rodents?
e.g.
1 fuzzy a week for 12 weeks
1 small mouse for 12 weeks
1 medium mouse for 12 weeks
Etc
Etc,

Hopefully one of you have a idea of what I mean and have a few minutes to type it out for me..:D

---

This would be considered underfeeding in most cases.

I have only seen one hatchling that was small enough that it required a mouse fuzzy as its first meal. Mouse fuzzies are far too small for 99% of hatchlings. Most normal hatchlings are either started on mouse hoppers or rat fuzzies and they move up in prey size VERY quickly. The generally accepted method of feeding is 10-15% of your snake's body weight. Most breeders feed their hatchling and younger balls on a 5 day schedule and adults on a 7 day schedule. With proper feeding your snake can easily double its weight in the first month or so and it isn't uncommon for them to reach 1,000+ grams by their first birthdays with proper feeding.

My advice is get yourself a digital scale and feed accordingly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AK907

This would be considered underfeeding in most cases.

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Yea, I'm just researching all this so My "e.g" was just an example.. When the Care Sheet said that a BP could thrive on just a Small Rat a week I just guessed that it was eating smaller stuff when it was younger for the sake of the post. I haven't gotten that far into the whole husbandry thing yet, but I'm getting there.

Quote:

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My advice is get yourself a digital scale and feed accordingly.

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Have one coming some time.. Funny something 10 hrs away has taken over a week to get here.. haha . The one I have coming goes up to 11lbs or 5 Kilograms.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rickys_Reptiles

Here is a general idea - not set in stone at all!!!!


first feeding - 2 months: 15g fuzzy rats
2 months - 4 months: 30g pups
4 months - 8 months: 50g weanlings
8+ months: 80g smalls

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Thanks Ricky... That's a better idea than what I started with !

Ever had a BP eat anything larger than a small rat? I'm guessing if you go by the 15% formula you have..

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Originally Posted by BillinIndiana

Thanks Ricky... That's a better idea than what I started with !

Ever had a BP eat anything larger than a small rat? I'm guessing if you go by the 15% formula you have..

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I am new to this myself, but my couple of months of lurking since I got my BP at the beginning of June has turned up that everyone is a little different with their adult BPs. Many that I have seen seem to stop at medium rats.

I'm a fan of the "by-weight" estimations.

I like to feed so that I can see a slight bulge an hour after feeding, after the feeder has been definitively swallowed deeply.

My adult girls get medium rats.

My adult males get small rats.

Everything up until then is estimation and guesswork.

Reason I'm asking is I found a place that does Free Shipping(in a certain range) if you spend $100 or more.. Sounded like a decent deal compared to another one that wanted $40 S/H on a $40 order..
It's American Rodent Supply http://americanrodent.com/

Are there any better deals out there? Like my name says I'm in Indiana

I have heard that you should not keep f/t in a home freezer for more than 3-6 months. I am new though, and so I am unsure as to the validity of that statement.

That crossed my mind also, so I Googled "How long can Food stay in Freezer". It showed human food can stay in there for quite a long time. Here's a list http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets...g/index.asp#19

I would think Rats would fall under the " Wild Game " category which is a year ! Ha

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BillinIndiana

That crossed my mind also, so I Googled "How long can Food stay in Freezer". It showed human food can stay in there for quite a long time. Here's a list http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets...g/index.asp#19

I would think Rats would fall under the " Wild Game " category which is a year ! Ha

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Since they will be uncleaned and have all the internal organs I'd put them somewhere between poultry (whole) and poultry (giblets).

But a lot depends on the rating of your home freezer too.


dr del

For what its worth I would start with a bag of 20 frozen appropriate sized rats for feeding. After it has consumed 10 rats weigh it and adjust accordingly for your next order. If you are feeding pups 10-15% of the weight of the snake on a 5 day basis it will definitely be ready for the next size up when the time comes for placing another order. At this rate you would go through 6 pups in a 30 day period so it would take about 3 months to feed off the bag of 20 pups. As I am not a fan of waste I would feed the entire bag even if the snake has outgrown the meal. It wont hurt it to be fed a pup every 5 days for a few more weeks until a larger meal is offered. In which case it may go threw a nice growth spurt when you do feed it a bigger prey item! :gj:

I know small orders are ideal, I was just trying to save a bunch on S/H

from 80-300 grams I weaned rats
300 and up smalls pre killed the biggest female I have is about 1100 grams so any larger IDK yet..

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When I dont have weaned rats I use 1 or 2 mice I dont see an issue unless you get a snake that doesnt want to go back to rats.. All mine dont seem to care much LOL

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Originally Posted by glk832

from 80-300 grams I weaned rats
300 and up smalls pre killed the biggest female I have is about 1100 grams so any larger IDK yet..

- - - Updated - - -

When I dont have weaned rats I use 1 or 2 mice I dont see an issue unless you get a snake that doesnt want to go back to rats.. All mine dont seem to care much LOL

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So if you do the 15% formula with a 1100g snake that would be 165g.. Is this what Smalls weigh? Or do you have to be that exact?

Justin Kobylka has a great video on his youtube account discussing feeding and ball python sizes. I would definitely check it out.

http://youtu.be/gFB3Pa1SDhs

Thanks for the video link. Although, it led me into an hour long chain of videos...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BillinIndiana

Reason I'm asking is I found a place that does Free Shipping(in a certain range) if you spend $100 or more.. Sounded like a decent deal compared to another one that wanted $40 S/H on a $40 order..
It's American Rodent Supply http://americanrodent.com/

Are there any better deals out there? Like my name says I'm in Indiana

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If you are close enough you can go the the Midwest Reptile Show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on August 26, 2012, 10am to 4 pm. American Rodent Supply will be there and you can look at the rats before you buy to try to determine the size you want.

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Originally Posted by BillinIndiana

So if you do the 15% formula with a 1100g snake that would be 165g.. Is this what Smalls weigh? Or do you have to be that exact?

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165g rat is eitherr a very large medium rat or a large rat but once most bps hit the 1000 gram mark most owners juat feed medium rats on a 5-7 day feeding schedule.
my boy is 970g and eats about 115g medium rat every 7 days

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Originally Posted by PorcelainxDoll

165g rat is eitherr a very large medium rat or a large rat but once most bps hit the 1000 gram mark most owners juat feed medium rats on a 5-7 day feeding schedule.
my boy is 970g and eats about 115g medium rat every 7 days

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x2 even my 1600gram girl gets 125gram rats. 125 is usually the size most people stop at i believe, even if they could take bigger ones.

As much as it sucks, I think you'll have to write off the money saving efforts while your snake is tiny. There is just no way you're going to be able to predict weight gain accurately enough to order in huge bulk. Experienced breeders with multiple snakes probably could, but as a beginner I would really struggle. With our first order we ordered 1 bg of rat pups (15 x 15-25g) and a bag of the next size up (15 x 30-40g), knowing fully well we might have to order another bag of the smaller size in the interim. Luckily, our snake is a fatty and that probably won't be necessary, but if for any reason she hadn't started to grow at a solid rate or had routinely refused the rats once defrosted (I won't re-freeze), we definitely would have needed more. But, I figured that some time in the next 3-4 months, we would probably reach the upper size, so it wouldn't be a waste to buy them with the first shipment.

Imo, you'll waste more money trying to guess ahead in increments of 12 weeks. Twelve weeks, at least I am finding with ours, is a very long time in baby ball python growth time. Ours has already gained 70g in 4 weeks. I would not have predicted that and if I had tried to guess what she'd need in 12 weeks time at week 1, I would have ordered way too many tiny prey items. Once you've had her for a few months, you'll probably know your own snake well enough to make an educated guess. I would track her weight using excel, and get an average per week weight gain.

EDIT: We feed her every 5 days.