am I starving my snake?

I was looking at some videos and photos of ball pythons and it seems like everyone's baby is fat and short yet mine is really long and not fat at all. This is my first snake so is it possible I'm not feeding him enough or big enough prey?


Here's some pics. He hatched on Oct. 8th and these pics are from last Wednesday. He weighs 164 grams and his last meal was on Saturday which was a rat fuzzy at 20 grams



http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97...ps699c9686.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y97...ps0bacc235.jpg

How often do you feed?

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164g snake x 0.1 = 16.4 gram prey to 164g snake x 0.15 = 24.6 gram prey.

So, you are feeding right in the middle of suggested prey weights as near as I can tell.
Personally, I think juveniles tend to lack the over-stuffed sausage look that you see.
Since juvies are growing so quickly I lean to the 5-7 day schedule rather than the 7-10 for adults.

Yeah, I was concerned about this too. I just think juveniles haven't built up that extra fat and muscle yet. He looks pretty healthy to me.

I feed him every Saturday, so 7 days.

I'm starting to feed my girls on a 3-4 day schedule, their 20g bigger than yours. I feed them with my adults, then three days later they get a second meal. Four days after that they're eating with the adults again. Then there days later they eat again. So, they're getting two meals a week now.

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I thought feeding 1 good sized meal a week was good enough to get them growing like a weed.

Many people feed the young ones every 5 days until around 500g; then switch to every 7 days.
In each case, meals should be 10-15% the snakes body weight.

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Originally Posted by Kodieh

I'm starting to feed my girls on a 3-4 day schedule, their 20g bigger than yours. I feed them with my adults, then three days later they get a second meal. Four days after that they're eating with the adults again. Then there days later they eat again. So, they're getting two meals a week now.

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You could offer to the adults every 4 days too. Im sure some would take it. ;)

I feed youngsters every 5 days. And let me tell you, my enchi would think he was going to die of starvation if I didn't give his little piggy face a rat on day 5.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

I feed youngsters every 5 days. And let me tell you, my enchi would think he was going to die of starvation if I didn't give his little piggy face a rat on day 5.

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All my little ones are the same way. They are out searching my day 4. Sometimes day 3. Crazy how they can get so hungry


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I'm feeding mine every 5 days. Seems to do well. And like stated above when they get over 500g go to every 7-10 days. Mine is a month older than yours and is about 400g.

Christian

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Originally Posted by Solarsoldier001

All my little ones are the same way. They are out searching my day 4. Sometimes day 3. Crazy how they can get so hungry


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Ugh don't get me started. With the way she eats, other people would think I'm starving the poor thing.

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Originally Posted by anwhit

Ugh don't get me started. With the way she eats, other people would think I'm starving the poor thing.

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Lol. Yea I know. My little calico is slim and long the the OP. I feed her every five days. And she just doesn't get chunky enough. I hope she gets some meat on her soon.


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Op, also remember they all grow at different rates. This little sausage eats every 5 days too, and she is growing around faster than length.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/19/u3ugysup.jpg

Where as this little piggy is getting round, and long.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/19/u9a3aruz.jpg


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Originally Posted by Mike41793

You could offer to the adults every 4 days too. Im sure some would take it. ;)

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Probably, but they're all males in the 1000 gram range which makes me just keep them at 7.

I was on a 5 day, but my lesser was in hunt mode three days after feeding so I offered and she went. So I tried my pastel too, she went on it in blue so I'm keeping that this pace until they hit like 500 or so, then I will be reevaluating.

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