feeding question less than year old female bp

i have a maybe 1.5 ft to 2 ft female bp when i got her the person said she was eating twice a week a regular size frozen mouse. now my question is she seems to have no problem eating twice a week but if im suposed to wait 48 hours to handle her that really only leave one day a week? do i have to wait 48 hrs? and can i up the size of her meals so maybe she will eat once a week instead? when she eat there is a hardly noticible lump not big at all. i know the rule of dont feed bigger than biggest part of body im just curious because i want to be able to handle her more than once a week thanks in advance

Do you know how much she weighs (in grams)? If you have access to a kitchen scale, that's an easy way to measure. If not, do you have a picture of her that you can share with us?

Once they reach about the 500 gram mark, you can start feeding them an appropriately sized meal once/week. For this size BP, that will be a small rat (which is the equivalent of about three adult mice per feeding). Once you get on this schedule, you've solved your wanting to handle problem. :)

Id love to share some pictures but im new to forum and im not sure how to do so it ask for a url but doesnt give me an option to browse photos???

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Originally Posted by dgrout1989

Id love to share some pictures but im new to forum and im not sure how to do so it ask for a url but doesnt give me an option to browse photos???

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If only someone would make a how-to guide on how to post pictures. :confusd: Oh wait... I did last week and it's stickied at the top of the Site Info and Pictures subforums! ;) Enjoy! http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Post-Pictures

That helped alot thank you I posted a couple pics under my first bp can you check them out ley me know what you think

Hey pretty snake!

Yeah you can definitely bump up the size so that you can decrease number of feedings per week.

Can you get rats? That will open up a whole new world of sizes for you.

Though if you can't you can also feed multiple items per feeding so that you are still only feeding once a week but she is still eating twice as much.

If you feed a proper meal, feeding once a week is just fine. I've been feeding mine once a week since they were about a 100g and they're all doing just fine.

Get a scale to monitor her weight. That will also give you a much better idea of what meal to offer.

By the way, if you have a smartphone, you can download the Tapatalk app and post photos straight from your phone.


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You can feed a larger meal every 2 weeks and grow ball python plenty fast.

48 hours seems long. I have 10 month old BP @ 350 grams, feeding him weaned rat (35 grams) every 5 days, around 7:30 pm. He's fine 24 hours later. When we move up to next size of rat I'll give him 48 hours to digest the first couple of times.

For instance I fed him Thursday night and then Friday night I left the front door of vivarium open and allowed him to 'escape'; we played a session of Hide And Seek for around 3 hours so I was picking him when he headed for places I didn't want him to go, and held him a couple of times for 15-20 minutes with no problems. He's very curious and likes to explore.

One great piece of advice I read here is: observe your snake - get to know his 'personality', and when he's comfortable being held and when he wants to be left alone.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

If you feed a proper meal, feeding once a week is just fine. I've been feeding mine once a week since they were about a 100g and they're all doing just fine.

Get a scale to monitor her weight. That will also give you a much better idea of what meal to offer.

By the way, if you have a smartphone, you can download the Tapatalk app and post photos straight from your phone.


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

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i will for sure pick up a scale the next day im off work or maybe have my wife pick one up.

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Originally Posted by Velrys

Hey pretty snake!

Yeah you can definitely bump up the size so that you can decrease number of feedings per week.

Can you get rats? That will open up a whole new world of sizes for you.

Though if you can't you can also feed multiple items per feeding so that you are still only feeding once a week but she is still eating twice as much.

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im sure my local pet store carrys them i will check the next time im there i still have a few mice left before i need to make a trip. ive heard that some people have a problem switching to rats is this true?

So what size rat do you recommend my wife is picking up a scale would it be better to weigh her tonight then go from there.

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Originally Posted by dgrout1989

So what size rat do you recommend my wife is picking up a scale would it be better to weigh her tonight then go from there.

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Weigh her tonight and go from there. It's much more accurate to recommend what she should be eating by weight than anything else.

Most people use one of these suggestions: feed a meal that 10-15% of your snake's body weight or feed prey thats is the size of thickest part of your snake.

Here's a chart of approximately how much the mice and rats weigh. If you want to be more accurate, you can always weight the feeder mouse or rat:
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...d693f67b77.jpg

Regarding the switch from mice to rats, in my experience most of them switch over pretty easily. You can always scent a rat with some mouse bedding to make an easier transition.

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Thanks that helps alot I will weigh her tonight and get back with you all.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mr. Misha

Weigh her tonight and go from there. It's much more accurate to recommend what she should be eating by weight than anything else.

Most people use one of these suggestions: feed a meal that 10-15% of your snake's body weight or feed prey thats is the size of thickest part of your snake.

Here's a chart of approximately how much the mice and rats weigh. If you want to be more accurate, you can always weight the feeder mouse or rat:
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...d693f67b77.jpg

Regarding the switch from mice to rats, in my experience most of them switch over pretty easily. You can always scent a rat with some mouse bedding to make an easier transition.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

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So I weighed her and she's alot smaller than I thought only 180grams

So maybe you should try medium mice. Weigh the mouse before the feeding so you have an idea on the weight. Different stores also name their feeders differently so you'll have to experiment a bit.

If the medium is too small, then next week either try two mediums or move on to a large.

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