New to ball pythons

Hello, I've recently adopted a 4 1/2 foot python named Joey, I weighed him and he is at 1080g, which from my research I know is under weight, I know from his previous owner that he won't take rats, but loves mice, I tried a rat anywas and ya, he wouldn't take it, snatches up the mice tho. So I've been feeding him 4 adult mice every week, should I move him up to 5 or more, and sense he won't eat rats, is it ok for him to just eat mice? Thanks for any help!

I'm new to bp's too and transitioned from mice to rats seamlessly (he's a pig), but I've seen threads where people have taken rats and scented them by keeping them next to mice and gotten them to eat rats that way.

How long are you waiting between feeds? If there are no options you can feed mice, but it's going to be a pain for you.
I'm sure others with more experience will chime in & offer tips, but hopefully you can move to rats and feed just one appropriately sized rat per feeding.

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Originally Posted by Greekinese

How long are you waiting between feeds? If there are no options you can feed mice, but it's going to be a pain for you

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I feed every Saturday, and he eats all the mice in one sitting, I pre kill so it does take a little bit of time, but I enjoy the extra time watching my snake

You should try sneaking in a rat pup in with the mice and and gradually give him less mice and feed him less rodents but bigger in size until he is eating 1 appropiately sized rat per meal.

You could try to locate someone in your area that breeds African Soft Fur rats. That is a ball python's natural prey, and I've heard they go nuts for them. There are a few other methods to transition to rats. I would honestly wait a whole 2 weeks and offer a small rat. Maybe the hunger will help.

Why do you think he is underweight? Do you have a picture of him?

My males stay much slimmer than my females and it isn't because they don't eat. In fact, most of my males are right around 1000g and 3-4 feet in length.

ASFs wouldn't be a bad idea.

I also agree you should wait a couple weeks before feeding agin. And you can also try live rat. Sometimes the movement of a live animal will do the trick.

Unless he becomes addicted to ASF's instead and won't take anything else lol

More $$

Feeding mice is not a problem, you can feed a snake 1-2-3-10
mice you can feed them as many as the snake will take just don't over feed him. If he is at the 1080 gram mark you can feed him 5-6 adult mice. Feed about 10-15% of his body weight.

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Originally Posted by Skilla6000

Feeding mice is not a problem, you can feed a snake 1-2-3-10
mice you can feed them as many as the snake will take just don't over feed him. If he is at the 1080 gram mark you can feed him 5-6 adult mice. Feed about 10-15% of his body weight.

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You don't need to feed an adult BP 10-15% of its body weight. I surely don't. A 75g rat is the biggest any of my adults will ever get on a weekly basis.

You can feed multiple mice and be perfectly fine. Feeding 1 rat just seems easier and faster

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Originally Posted by Gerardo

You can feed multiple mice and be perfectly fine. Feeding 1 rat just seems easier and faster

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Thanks for all the replies!

More reading hehe...the debate whether rats are more nutritious than mice:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...n-Rats-vs-Mice

Cool thread, thanks for the link!!

ive recently seen this AWESOME linked table here and just feel compelled to re-post it:

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/07/ene2uba3.jpg


Now let that sink in. Sure mice are like candy for snakes, but the difference between mice and rats is larger than people would typically expect. large rat = baby rabbit = 10 large mice. And about the numbers.... 10-15% per week is for breeding or to get sick/malnourished pythons over the hill, and for babies and subadults supposed to grow fast. Some breeders go even higher temporarily to counteract breeders going off feed when reproducing or to squeeze it in 1 season earlier. But for an adult non-breeding pet 10-15% per week is on the very high end. Still, when people substitute 2-4 mice for a rat the difference in weight gets underestimated.

I would say try to somehow get it on rats, maybe using very small rats, maybe using ASFs. If you get him to take an ASF, he wont get hooked on it, but now at least took something different than mice. Making him more likely to accept a rat. Or try rat pinkies or fuzzies. Try to first divert him out of the usual, and then when his food gets diverse sneakily slip in a small rat. See it as a habit problem, he COULD take down and swallow a large rat, but since he never did it it would be a bit hard on the lower jaw and the stomach, but still, he is a BP and not some diva. He needs to swallow bigger prey items, both sides would benefit from that.

The 10-15% rule only applies to babies and juvies. That's way too much for an adult.

I feed my adult males a small rat every 7-14 days. Females get smalls or mediums every 7 days.

And rats and mice of equivalent size have the same nutritional value. Rats just have a few percentages more of fat. But that's all.

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