switching from one week to two weeks?

I have been feeding my girl every week live and they have been pretty big meals. I noticed last time I held her she looked a little chunky, and it would be easier for me if I could feed her once every two weeks instead of every week.
have any of you ever made this change before?
she's about 3 months old so is she old enough to slow her feeding schedule?
any known complications I might be dealing with?
thanks!

I'm no expert by any means, but 3 months isn't that old and he/she is still in a growing phase of life. Once a week is not too frequent if you stick to appropriate sized prey.

As a general rule for BP's feed 10-15% body weight prey items and it should leave a noticeable lump in her body without stretching her scales.

For a 3 month old snake every 2 weeks is too far apart. Stick to once a week.


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is chunky even a thing for snakes? I mean, how do you really define that? I'm just not sure whether or not it's that easy for snakes to become literally "overweight/obese." I'm a newb, so if anyone has any thoughts on this I'd be interested.

At that age your snake should be eating every week, but properly sized rodents. 10-15 percent of snakes body weight. Anything bigger is too big, even if they can digest it, it isn't healthy and it causes their young still developing bodies to work harder than it should to digest.

At 3 months old, all of my girls were still eating every 4 days. My oldest (not my biggest), at 8 months, is the first to start slowing down and I'm starting to think just now about moving to weekly feedings. My others, between 4 and 7 months, are showing zero signs of slowing down and I will continue feeding them every 4 days until they tell me otherwise.

Like Expensive hobby said, appropriately sized meals are the key. There aren't many good reasons, especially while they should be growing like weeds, to keep their bellies overly full or overly empty. Frequent smaller meals are more beneficial than infrequent larger meals.

The only reasons I can think of to back down to biweekly meals right now would be ones that are more beneficial to you than to them, IMO.

It's too early. Adults can do ok on every other week, but babies do best on more frequent meals.

I was wondering this same question, but my snake is 2 years old...is it considered an adult yet, or would it still need weekly feeding??

I just need to ask... why is it so difficult to feed an animal once a week?
I feed my dog everyday, ferrets everyday, rabbit 15 times a day lol.
Seriously feeding an animal that young every two weeks??
I feed Lex every 5 days she's about 4 months old.... I have no intention of switching her for another month or so to every 7 days.
Please think of your animal before yourself.

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You can do it just fine, just make sure the meals every 2 weeks are big enough to leave a bulge in her tummy. Feeding schedules are for the keepers, not the snakes.

I feed mine weekly or every 5 days at that age, but they don't necessarily need that much food that often.

EDIT: you kinda have to know your snake(s). General blanket statements don't apply to all bps.

I think that's why the question was asked.

Unlike most of your other animals, it can be more challenging (at least in my limited experience) to gauge the "fatness" of a snake as opposed to a rabbit, ferret, or dog. Snakes look like sausages already, so it's hard to know when they exceed the limits of normal "sausage-ness"

I know that but what I'm saying is how inconvenient is it to feed an animal once per week. I would downsize the prey size a little and still feed every week.

I didn't mean to come off as rude if I did I'm sorry

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And I'm referring to the op's baby not your 2 year old


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No worries :gj:

Mike does have a point; these snakes are getting life so much easier than their wild cousins...even a younger snake COULD probably deal with a 2 week wait.

Since these aren't wild animals though, we usually spoil them some :p

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

I know that but what I'm saying is how inconvenient is it to feed an animal once per week.
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If you're having to drive any significant distance to a pet store then it could be inconvenient.

I have a 2 year old female bp, and feed her every 2 weeks. She seems to be doing great and is eating medium rats. I agree that babies up to a year should be fed once every 5 to 7 days. But to eaches own :).

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

If you're having to drive any significant distance to a pet store then it could be inconvenient.

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I hear ya... but that's why I get at least 2 and keep them in a critter keeper... it's not that difficult.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

I just need to ask... why is it so difficult to feed an animal once a week?
I feed my dog everyday, ferrets everyday, rabbit 15 times a day lol.
Seriously feeding an animal that young every two weeks??
I feed Lex every 5 days she's about 4 months old.... I have no intention of switching her for another month or so to every 7 days.
Please think of your animal before yourself.

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Well said.

It can be done, but I couldn't tell you any breeders off hand that would because quicker they get to size the quicker they can try to breed. If I wasn't breeding, I'd say honestly switch to a 10 day feeding schedule with appropriately sized prey.

Don't pay any attention to the 10-15% of the body weight rule. That's something that should honestly stop getting posted. I mean realistically how many keepers that are only keeping a few snakes actually have a scale. Then of those keepers 99% of them probably don't breed their own rodents, so it's not like somebody is really going to take a scale to a pet store and start weighing rats/mice. This is why the 10-15% thing should stop being posted altogether.

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Originally Posted by Neal

It can be done, but I couldn't tell you any breeders off hand that would because quicker they get to size the quicker they can try to breed. If I wasn't breeding, I'd say honestly switch to a 10 day feeding schedule with appropriately sized prey.

Don't pay any attention to the 10-15% of the body weight rule. That's something that should honestly stop getting posted. I mean realistically how many keepers that are only keeping a few snakes actually have a scale. Then of those keepers 99% of them probably don't breed their own rodents, so it's not like somebody is really going to take a scale to a pet store and start weighing rats/mice. This is why the 10-15% thing should stop being posted altogether.

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I think the 10 - 15 percent rule still serves a good purpose, especially for new Ball Python owners. For someone new to reptiles and even rats for this matter, this rule is a nice baseline to go by. For me, being a new owner when I picked up my normal python, I didn't want to "eyeball" the rat or guess if it was the right size, I wanted to make sure I gave it exactly the size he needed. (just me being ocd) I didn't take my scale to my local pet store, but I use to ask them to weigh them before I bought the rat to make sure they were the right size.

Having two Ball Pythons, for a little over a year now, I'm much more comfortable visually picking out the appropriate size food for my guys. Only reason I even weigh the rats now is just for my feeding records. I think if the 10 - 15 rule didn't exist, we would see a lot more threads asking, "is this rat ok for my snake".

The 10-15 general rule of thumb, for me, was really helpful when I first entered this hobby.


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Originally Posted by martin82531

I think the 10 - 15 percent rule still serves a good purpose, especially for new Ball Python owners. For someone new to reptiles and even rats for this matter, this rule is a nice baseline to go by. For me, being a new owner when I picked up my normal python, I didn't want to "eyeball" the rat or guess if it was the right size, I wanted to make sure I gave it exactly the size he needed. (just me being ocd) I didn't take my scale to my local pet store, but I use to ask them to weigh them before I bought the rat to make sure they were the right size.

Having two Ball Pythons, for a little over a year now, I'm much more comfortable visually picking out the appropriate size food for my guys. Only reason I even weigh the rats now is just for my feeding records. I think if the 10 - 15 rule didn't exist, we would see a lot more threads asking, "is this rat ok for my snake".

The 10-15 general rule of thumb, for me, was really helpful when I first entered this hobby.


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99% of new snake owners don't have a scale, and you're lucky your pet store had a scale. Most don't. What's so hard about visually picking out a good size item? It's an old rule of thumb that hardly applies anymore, especially if the snake is underfed.

okay. I meant chunky not like obese but like still full haha but she had two big poops for me so she should be good. I have been giving her meals that give her a bit of a lump, sometimes two small mice, so I didn't mean she's "fat" I just meant she looked really full and maybe not ready for another meal yet? I will stick to feeding her once a week tho, thanks for the input.

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

I just need to ask... why is it so difficult to feed an animal once a week?
I feed my dog everyday, ferrets everyday, rabbit 15 times a day lol.
Seriously feeding an animal that young every two weeks??
I feed Lex every 5 days she's about 4 months old.... I have no intention of switching her for another month or so to every 7 days.
Please think of your animal before yourself.

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it's not. don't act like you're Jesus cuz you feed your dog every day. I do that too. it was a question, in a snake forum. please think before you speak.

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Originally Posted by Crazymonkee

I know that but what I'm saying is how inconvenient is it to feed an animal once per week. I would downsize the prey size a little and still feed every week.

I didn't mean to come off as rude if I did I'm sorry

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sorry but it did come off rude. I know how to feed animals. I obviously have been doing it every week, hence the question. it's just, people come here to this forum seeking help and it kinda angers me when there is people like you immediately shutting them down like you are so much better and are all knowing.

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Originally Posted by Neal

It can be done, but I couldn't tell you any breeders off hand that would because quicker they get to size the quicker they can try to breed. If I wasn't breeding, I'd say honestly switch to a 10 day feeding schedule with appropriately sized prey.

Don't pay any attention to the 10-15% of the body weight rule. That's something that should honestly stop getting posted. I mean realistically how many keepers that are only keeping a few snakes actually have a scale. Then of those keepers 99% of them probably don't breed their own rodents, so it's not like somebody is really going to take a scale to a pet store and start weighing rats/mice. This is why the 10-15% thing should stop being posted altogether.

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Thank you Neal. I don't have any immediate plans to breed her in the future but I do want her to be happily well fed. I said she was "chubby" because you could just tell. her tail was small and then when you get past her booty, it was like a lump. so you could just tell she was still full but she should be good now since she pooped and everything. the reason I posted this was to get people's opinions and not get ridiculed lol. a 10 day schedule sounds like it might work for her. it makes sense to just wait an extra couple of days so that she has more time to digest her previous meal. Yeah I usually go with eye balling the size, and she has a slight lump each time but nothing protrusive. Thanks for the advise :)

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Originally Posted by alykoz

Thank you Neal. I don't have any immediate plans to breed her in the future but I do want her to be happily well fed. I said she was "chubby" because you could just tell. her tail was small and then when you get past her booty, it was like a lump. so you could just tell she was still full but she should be good now since she pooped and everything. the reason I posted this was to get people's opinions and not get ridiculed lol. a 10 day schedule sounds like it might work for her. it makes sense to just wait an extra couple of days so that she has more time to digest her previous meal. Yeah I usually go with eye balling the size, and she has a slight lump each time but nothing protrusive. Thanks for the advise :)

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Yea, well I keep my adult males bi-weekly but if I ever notice they start to get hungry or nip at me I'd switch to 10 days. That is a good schedule and should work out well for your female, especially since you're not going to breed her. So if you notice any feeding response or anything of that nature you may want to lower it down from 10 days but I honestly don't see it being any kind of an issue.

It's doable as long as you are still feeding her enough. I have had a couple that would only eat mice and I typically fed them a lot of mice every two weeks. I live 20 miles from a pet store and don't want mice in my house. They did just fine being fed every other week, but I really made sure to fill them up!

There have also been times that I was feeding my adult females every two weeks because I ordered rats that were a bit too large for them.

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Originally Posted by Neal

It can be done, but I couldn't tell you any breeders off hand that would because quicker they get to size the quicker they can try to breed. If I wasn't breeding, I'd say honestly switch to a 10 day feeding schedule with appropriately sized prey.

Don't pay any attention to the 10-15% of the body weight rule. That's something that should honestly stop getting posted. I mean realistically how many keepers that are only keeping a few snakes actually have a scale. Then of those keepers 99% of them probably don't breed their own rodents, so it's not like somebody is really going to take a scale to a pet store and start weighing rats/mice. This is why the 10-15% thing should stop being posted altogether.

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I think even with one or two snakes, a scale is a pretty important thing to own. My scale was one of the first things I got after I got Tali and it was a cheapo 15 dollar one- if she decided to go on a food strike and not eat, I didn't want to have to rely on eyeballing how much weight she lost. And I think for me taking care of her, it's a good thing to know- she's about 200grams so her prey should be about 20-30grams. It's easier for me to explain to my pet shop 'I have a 200gram bp, and her meal needs to about 20-30grams' then 'I have a BP whose about :makes gesture: this fat.' Plus, when/if I start ordering feeders online, all it lists is grams, not size. If I have an idea of how much she weighs, I can figure out what prey she needs better then just guessing because I AM a newbie and I don't breed. I don't know the average sizes and how they relate to each other, so for me personally as a newbie, it made a lot of sense to get a scale.

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Originally Posted by sunshinenorcas

I think even with one or two snakes, a scale is a pretty important thing to own. My scale was one of the first things I got after I got Tali and it was a cheapo 15 dollar one- if she decided to go on a food strike and not eat, I didn't want to have to rely on eyeballing how much weight she lost. And I think for me taking care of her, it's a good thing to know- she's about 200grams so her prey should be about 20-30grams. It's easier for me to explain to my pet shop 'I have a 200gram bp, and her meal needs to about 20-30grams' then 'I have a BP whose about :makes gesture: this fat.' Plus, when/if I start ordering feeders online, all it lists is grams, not size. If I have an idea of how much she weighs, I can figure out what prey she needs better then just guessing because I AM a newbie and I don't breed. I don't know the average sizes and how they relate to each other, so for me personally as a newbie, it made a lot of sense to get a scale.

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Right I never said it wasn't something needed, I said look at how many people that only keep a snake or two that actually have one and that answer was not many. I know what you're saying but you're not listening to what I'm saying. A pet shop, like 90%+ will not have a scale and they don't even know the weight of their BP's much less know how to judge weight. Then to top it off they're not going to weigh their food, if you have a pet shop close to you that does that then you're one of the very very very very very few, less than 10% lucky ones. What all of you that recommend the 10-15% weight thing fail to realize is that was for a hatchling BP. Once you start getting them older, a year old bp that's underfed could weigh 400 grams that is only because it's long and not because it's thick, so that 10-15% weight thing completely goes out of the window. If people are going to recommend it then they need to state all the facts. The best rule of thumb is to stick by the thickest part of the snake and in all honesty my 8 year old nephew picked up the right food for a BP since I've been explaining BP care to him. Also ordering frozen it list a wide range of grams, and a person who has one snake isn't going to order frozen feeders, yes while you may do it and it works for you, for the newbies it needs to stop being told to unless like I said the person saying it explains that it's a guideline for hatchlings. Also just because you have a scale doesn't mean it's accurate.

For instance, I have a scale and I never use it. If I want to get a weight to see how much a snake has grown then I use it but for the most part it sits there.

As I said... I apologize if it came off as rude. And I'm definitely not holier than tho. I was stating that a bp is actually easier to take care of.

Op... also the way you stated yours was more like a convenience thing.

I get aggravated because of all the animals I've rescued thru the years because people have "no time" or "inconvenience" or the animals are underfed because of such non sense.

So again I do apologize

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Originally Posted by Neal

Right I never said it wasn't something needed, I said look at how many people that only keep a snake or two that actually have one and that answer was not many. I know what you're saying but you're not listening to what I'm saying. A pet shop, like 90%+ will not have a scale and they don't even know the weight of their BP's much less know how to judge weight. Then to top it off they're not going to weigh their food, if you have a pet shop close to you that does that then you're one of the very very very very very few, less than 10% lucky ones. What all of you that recommend the 10-15% weight thing fail to realize is that was for a hatchling BP. Once you start getting them older, a year old bp that's underfed could weigh 400 grams that is only because it's long and not because it's thick, so that 10-15% weight thing completely goes out of the window. If people are going to recommend it then they need to state all the facts. The best rule of thumb is to stick by the thickest part of the snake and in all honesty my 8 year old nephew picked up the right food for a BP since I've been explaining BP care to him. Also ordering frozen it list a wide range of grams, and a person who has one snake isn't going to order frozen feeders, yes while you may do it and it works for you, for the newbies it needs to stop being told to unless like I said the person saying it explains that it's a guideline for hatchlings. Also just because you have a scale doesn't mean it's accurate.

For instance, I have a scale and I never use it. If I want to get a weight to see how much a snake has grown then I use it but for the most part it sits there.

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You are correct, the 10-15 percent rule should be used for younger snakes, once they get older this may not be the case. Both of my balls are just around 1000 grams, they get anything from 60-90 grams every ten days. I'm not sure your point is by stating your 8 year old nephew can pick up the proper feeder. I'm sure we all can, but if their is a more efficient way of doing it (i.e. getting the exact weight of the feeder), what is wrong with that?

For your statement, "and a person who has one snake isn't going to order frozen feeders", I ordered my batch of frozen feeders when I had two ball pythons, did I have one snake at the time, no, but not a far stretch. Again I do agree with you, that the 10-15 percent rule should be explained that is more for hatchlings or younger snakes. My normal, who I just weighed today, came in at 1027 grams, 10% would equal 100 grams, something that would be too big to feed my python on its current feeding schedule.

When you say just "just because you have a scale doesn't mean it's accurate". Well of course, this statement can be applied to anything. Just because you have a thermometer, doesn't mean it's accurate. I think the thing is, we suggest the proper tools and resources for new comers to take proper care of thier new addition, this gets them one step closer to providing proper husbandry care.

Lastly: Neal please don't take anything I'm saying as being rude or trying to argue persay :) I'm simply just giving my perspective on the subject that is being mentioned.

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Originally Posted by martin82531

You are correct, the 10-15 percent rule should be used for younger snakes, once they get older this may not be the case. Both of my balls are just around 1000 grams, they get anything from 60-90 grams every ten days. I'm not sure your point is by stating your 8 year old nephew can pick up the proper feeder. I'm sure we all can, but if their is a more efficient way of doing it (i.e. getting the exact weight of the feeder), what is wrong with that?

For your statement, "and a person who has one snake isn't going to order frozen feeders", I ordered my batch of frozen feeders when I had two ball pythons, did I have one snake at the time, no, but not a far stretch. Again I do agree with you, that the 10-15 percent rule should be explained that is more for hatchlings or younger snakes. My normal, who I just weighed today, came in at 1027 grams, 10% would equal 100 grams, something that would be too big to feed my python on its current feeding schedule.

When you say just "just because you have a scale doesn't mean it's accurate". Well of course, this statement can be applied to anything. Just because you have a thermometer, doesn't mean it's accurate. I think the thing is, we suggest the proper tools and resources for new comers to take proper care of thier new addition, this gets them one step closer to providing proper husbandry care.

Lastly: Neal please don't take anything I'm saying as being rude or trying to argue persay :) I'm simply just giving my perspective on the subject that is being mentioned.

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Oh no doubt my brother, I know this. All I'm trying to basically say is for majority of keepers with one-two snakes they aren't going to order frozen feeders because shipping is so much and it's just not nearly as cost effective as ordering a bulk order. Most pet stores won't have a scale and most keepers that don't breed or keep more than a couple snakes will either because it's just not that high on their priority list. It's not nearly as important as a thermostat or heating or any of that so they look at the point of why waste the money, I was that keeper years ago. I had no need to weigh my snake because what was the big deal about weighing, especially since I picked out the food for them.

I got a scale before I got my first snake, lol. I'm that 1% Neal talks about :pinkele:

Heh... guess I'm in the 1% too... Given, I did get the scale for my geckos first, it's just doing double duty with the snakes (I have 2). I also use frozen feeders, although I purchased mine at a show so haven't had to pay shipping yet.

This thread has been really useful for me though, I may be getting a BP next year or so and it's interesting to see the different feeding schedules people keep them on.

To the OP: Good luck at finding the right feeding routine for your snake.

Do what works for *you* and *your* animals.

A 3 month old in good body condition can go 2 weeks between feedings. Especially with an appropriate size prey.

That's more than what most non herp people who absorb big box store advice feed their snakes. (Aka those who feed once a month and their snakes are still growing)

People who feed their snakes once a week or more on this forum are mostly breeders or aspiring breeders. They are trying to get their animal up to size quickly. Pets can be fed every 10-14 days imo.

Personally, I feed any snake under 500g every 4-7 days. Then they get bumped up to a 7-14 day schedule at 500g+ depending on the animal.


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