How often do you offer food?

Hello everyone.

I have read in a few breeders blogs and a few different posts on forums that most of the snakes that have the longest for them, are the ones that feed about once every 2-3 weeks. I was feeding my adult male once a week, and he was putting on weight very fast. I thought that if I kept that up the he would reach an unhealthy weight. Like all things, eating too much will lead to negative health effects. So, I was just wondering what the average ball python keeper does.

I was thinking of maybe offering food somewhere around the 2 week mark from now on. Opinions?

Depends on the snake, and the size of rodent you are feeding..My juvenile pastel gets a rat pup every seven days, while my adult male gets a medium rat every ten.

Good point, I should have mentioned I was talking about adults only, babies feed more regularly. Thanks :)

I feed my adults once a week as well. I think it all depends on the size of the prey you're feeding. Im sure you can feed them bi-weekly and thry won't even notice. Again, it all depends on the size of the rodent. I personally prefer feeding smaller meals every week.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

I feed my adults once a week as well. I think it all depends on the size of the prey you're feeding. Im sure you can feed them bi-weekly and thry won't even notice. Again, it all depends on the size of the rodent. I personally prefer feeding smaller meals every week.

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Fair point, I guess feeding a smaller prey item more often would fix the weight gain issue. I just like to think that the more natural their life in a vivarium can be the better. Having them go two weeks without food is probably more like what the wild is like for them. This is all conjecture though :)

Honestly I offer every five days, makes it easy to do all my feedings at once. Keep in mind I feed them slightly smaller prey to make up for my more frequent feeding.

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Originally Posted by KING JAMES

Honestly I offer every five days, makes it easy to do all my feedings at once. Keep in mind I feed them slightly smaller prey to make up for my more frequent feeding.

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Every 5 days! Interesting. What sort of prey size do you feed your adults if you feed them that frequently? I should have added a less than 7 days option, maybe a mod can edit it?

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Depends on the size of the snake and a few other factors. If the rats are a little larger or the snake does not seem immediately interested it gets skipped till the next go around. I feed live so thawing out more/ having extras thawed out is never an issue I go down to the basement and get enough rats for about 75% to eat and usually only run a few short or have one or two leftover. My breeder females get whatever they want if they want a medium every five days they will get it. If they are more tuned into a small every ten days that is fine too. Some people say I am feeding to much..I say my average clutch is 9+ eggs :P

I feed my snakes every 2 weeks

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Originally Posted by myztic24

I feed my snakes every 2 weeks

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Same as me, what is your reasoning for this?

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Every paycheck easy to remember because we have 8 snakes

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I feed my adult female every 7 to 8 days. Unless she is in shed, and weight until she has shed to offer her the day after. I feed one small rat and it seems to work well. when I first got her, about 4 months ago, she was bit skinny. Her previous owner was feeding a small rat every 2 weeks. She has gained a bit of weight but not to an extreme. Once im happy with her body "tone/shape" ill most likely switch to a 10 days schedule and possible medium rats. but to each there own.

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Originally Posted by George1994

Hello everyone.

I have read in a few breeders blogs and a few different posts on forums that most of the snakes that have the longest for them, are the ones that feed about once every 2-3 weeks. I was feeding my adult male once a week, and he was putting on weight very fast. I thought that if I kept that up the he would reach an unhealthy weight. Like all things, eating too much will lead to negative health effects. So, I was just wondering what the average ball python keeper does.

I was thinking of maybe offering food somewhere around the 2 week mark from now on. Opinions?

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I'd think it would be pretty rare for a ball python to reach an unhealthy weight. Nature has a way of keeping them in check...when he starts fasting you'll be glad he packed on a little extra weight...

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Originally Posted by sho220

I'd think it would be pretty rare for a ball python to reach an unhealthy weight. Nature has a way of keeping them in check...when he starts fasting you'll be glad he packed on a little extra weight...

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Hmm, I guess it would be nice to have the extra weight there if he does start to fast. But that argument works both ways, even if he does fast, nature will keep him healthy till he eats again. I will trial the 2 week feedings for about 3 months and monitor his weight closely. I will note the differance and see if he gains or loses. A gradual gain would be nice, I just dont want it as steep as the once a week feedings.

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I think most BP will eventually fast if given more food than they can use for good growth at a given time.

I also think that unless you have a 1 in a million BP, all you're doing with limiting their food to control their growth is limiting their food.

They won't eat if they don't want to. They're not corn or king snakes who will hit food just because it exists. They eat to grow. They're not reluctant to refuse. Trying to limit their growth just seems like pure silliness to me. UNLESS you are seeing signs of OBESITY as opposed to GROWTH, but again - that's that one in a million BP. They don't get fat easily.

Just how much growth was it you saw that concerned you?

(I feed once a week.)

Hatchling holdbacks every 4/5 days.

Juvies every 5/7 days.

Adult once a week.

In the end it depends on the animal itself not all animals will eat every 5 days.

For hatchlings to yearling i offered every 2-4 day depend on how well each bp able to digest
For adults about 7-10 days :D

I feed hatchlings every 3-5 days depending on the snake. Over time i decrease the frequency to 7-10 days as adults. As previously said it all depends on the snake. I had a male go over a year without feeding so adding a little extra weight to them does help.

Like Deborah said, Its dependent on size and age.

Aswell TBH I will never go above a Med sized rate even for my bigger girls at 2,000+ Its just overkill

My males stay at small rats, Females at medium

Even on small my males constantly are growing just not massively like the females.

Aswell When im 2-3 months away from breeding i will offer the them food more frequently, Not power feeding as they have size but to get up fat reserves on them, To reduce slugs, infertile eggs, aswell knowing my males and females will sometimes go off food!

I fallow same Ritual as deborah, But when breeding coming up i offer females every 5-6 days, vs every 7-8 days! If they take yay, if they dont ohwell!

I'm not totally consistent on this. Sometimes 5 days, sometimes 10. I consider the size of the prey items I have on hand, the last time the particular snake ate, and whether or not they are exhibiting signs of hunger. If I go in there after dark 4 days after the last feeding and everyone's heads are poked out of the hides poised to strike, I offer. If they're in shed, they typically won't display this behavior so I don't offer.

My oldest snakes are yearlings, they get small rats offered every seven days. The hatchlings have pups offered every five days.

I have two feeding days, so, everyone has an opportunity to eat every 6-8 days. Sometimes they eat, sometimes they don't. But doing it this way, I can offer rats to my picky eaters first, then take care of the garbage disposal snakes. (As far as the ball pythons -- other snakes get the same days on an every other week or monthly schedule.)

Feeding f/t, I started doing it this way having to throw away any uneaten rats.

i do not follow a regular feeding schedule with adult ball pythons. when i have a lot of small rats, i feed every week, if i have big rats on hand, the next meal will be 2 weeks after. if a snake refuses, i will feed it on the third week. i get very few refusals and never had an extended fast outside the breeding season with this system (or lack thereof). aside from wild snakes not being able to choose when and what size to eat, the rat breeding cycle is difficult to control, so i can't have a constant supply of any specific size. i'm not saying it's the right thing to do. just what works for me.

I offer every 7 days to my Corn snakes and BPs. I am working out a schedule for my Dumeril. Probably will be the same. We have found, like many have said, small adequate meals keep them feeding consistently. But to big and they may skip feed.

4/5 days for everyone except my adult pin male. He only eats a rat every two weeks or so by his own choice. The boa is on every 10 days. Otherwise everyone else is young and growing. There are two I'm working on getting to breeding size for next year.

For my sub-adults I offer every 7 days, my adult ball pythons every 10-14 and ever 4-5 days with young hatchlings to get them started healthy. These methods have always worked for me, but others may have different tactics and that's completely respectable :)

I feed my 1 year old male ball python two rat pups every 7-10 days (depending on my available time). It all depends on how big the snake is, and how much food you are offering it.