Ball Python Food Schedule

Hi, I got a ball python a few months ago. He (not actually sure of the sex, previous owners just called him "he") is estimated to be around 7 years old and 4.5 feet long. I've been feeding him a medium rat every two weeks, but he only poops once a month, if even that. However, his previous owners did not have a feeding schedule so I have no basis to go off of for whether I should be feeding him more or less. How often do you feed your adult ball pythons and what size? Your input is greatly appreciated!

First step, get a good weight on him and post a picture if you can. If it really is male - medium rats are probably too big, and we can help you figure out if he's overweight. My 3 year old male is 1100 grams and is on smalls. (50-80g rats). Ball pythons get chunky easily and this will lead to health issues. I offer food every 10-14 days in the summer and every 21 in winter, unless he's actively acting hungry/hunting.

A big female 3000+grams could handle medium rats. But if you are not planning on breeding, you should not have to worry with over feeding to prepare for egg production and fasting

As mentioned above, mediums are typically bigger than an adult male needs.

Adult males usually do well on a small rat every 14 days or so.

If "he"is actually a "she" then would it be bad to feed him less?

I do suspect that he is overweight and that hasn't changed since I've been feeding him, so I think I will go back to smalls (his previous owners were feeding him two small rats every meal). I will be on campus somewhat late today but will try to post a picture later.

I'd personally just feed 1 small rat per feeding. It's not bad for them to "feel hungry" every now and then. Also over feeding will lead to longer fasts since their bodies don't need as much food as we can provide them.

My males get 1 small every 2 or 3 weeks.
Interested in a weight, I kind of am on the fence of yours being a male. I have had a couple males that were huge but that really doesn't happen too often.

Yeah I'm on the fence as well because of his size

Uh...how do I post pictures :P

A lot of people use tapatalk never used it I just snap a picture with my phone upload it to my google drive from there I upload it to ShareX(then resize) and post it here....(It sounds like a lot but its like 30 seconds once google drive syncs)

Also you hit the Picture frame button and copy and paste the image link which is done by right clicking and hitting copy image address(In google chrome)

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cust...tar74475_2.gif

Did....Did I do it?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2bcba34211.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7061bad677.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0e1a62d234.jpg

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I did it! Don't mind the small cage, by next week he should be in his new 4x2 PVC enclosure.

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Originally Posted by TayKiren

Uh...how do I post pictures :P

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Many of us, myself included, use the free app tapatalk to upload pics. Super easy.


Edit: you beat me.

If you can tell by the pictures, do any of you think he looks overweight? Is it fat chub or normal ball python chub?

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He's fat

Looks a little over weight to me......
Then again most people make their animals fat.

Alright I thought so. He's not going to like it, but I'll try feeding him small rats every 10-14 days and see if that does anything.

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Hi, This is my very first post yall, so take it easy on me please. I started out about 4 years ago as a small scale rat breeder and eventually got national level ball python breeders as customers. As we pulled their hundreds of rats (live) we talked about ball pythons. Breeding, feeding, morphs, rack systems etc. Eventually I bought or traded for bps. At first I just passed them on to other rat buyers. Finally I took the plunge and began keeping some of them. So here goes the part that's going to upset some of you.
Since I have unlimited rats to feed I don't have to follow any particular schedule. I have come to the conclusion that most people are seriously underfeeding their snakes. Let's start in the wilds of Africa where ball pythons live free. It crawls into a termite mound and if rats are there well it eats them. If there is one rat...it eats that rat. If there is a nest of pink rats, a fully grown ball python isn't going to turn up it's nose. It eats them. It eats until it's satisfied then curls up to digest. In a while it poops and leaves the territory for a new hole. There it either eats or waits. Staying again until it poops. So what I'm saying is that the snake isn't on a schedule of feeding. It's not going to eat a single rat and let others run around to play. It's going to eat.
So, one breeder (before I have snakes) tells me it's better to feed multiple small rats to larger snakes. Others say give a large ball python a jumbo. My observation now is that it really doesn't matter. A 3000 gm bp will gladly eat a pink, fuzzy or whatever. They are opportunistic feeders. Whatever you offer them if they're hungry they will eat it.
A 4 ft. ball python can easily swallow a 300 gm. rat. That same snake will gladly eat a mouse.
In conclusion what I do is to carry a bucket of live rats into the snake room and sit it down. Hungry snakes soon start waving their heads and going crazy. Those snakes get a rat and smack it when it gets in range. Disinterested snakes may be offered a rat after obviously hungry guys are fed. The disinterested may or may not eat. If not the rat is removed in a minute.
Using this feeding schedule your ball python will grow from a hatchling to full adult in one year.

Clean your tubs often, wash them in hot water, provide clean water & bedding, keep the temp in snake room about 80 degrees with regulated heat under the tub around 92 to 96 degrees.

Snakes that go off feed seem to be spooked. Tear the top off a cereal box and lay it in the tub. leave them alone 3 weeks then offer an adult mouse. Usually that works.

OK, your turn....slap me down.

There are no hard and fast rules to my mind ... I just send myself a text whenever I feed them just for info.

I've mentioned before about the guy who mixes everything up - moving back and forth between 5 to 14 days and anywhere inbetween - then going from mice to chicks or quals and onto rats / mice again - also varying sizes of the meals .

I am pretty flexible , feeding different sized mice / rats on a very haphazard schedule anywhere from 6 to 14 days .. ... I also occasionally throw in hamsters and gerbils although they are a fair bit more expensive...

It seems to work wonderfully well !!


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