Feeding schedules

Best and safest feeding schedule advice would be great my BP is 4 yrs old about 3 feet havent measured or weighed him yet though so thats a guess. I gave him his 1st medium rat and has a slight bulge which is great i normally would go 2 weeks before I feed him again but longer if he hasnt gone to the bathroom yet. I heard from "experts" I should give him a small rat every 1-2 months and these "experts" are keyboard warriors too saying I'll kill him by feeding him a medium rat which hurt me honestly he had NO PROBLEM downing that medium rat and seems satisfied with that (small rat never seemed to fill him up). He eats that medium rat and goes in his hide till he poops yet with the small rat he seemed like he was starving and never retreated to his hide just searched for more and more

Any ideas would be appreciated

I have a 4-year old female. I feed her a medium rat once a week. I don't follow the schedule "EXACTLY". In general, it's once a week. Sometimes I might miss a day or two, and instead of a week it turns into 10 days. Not a big deal.

I think if you have a male, you're probably fine with a small rat. If you're not seeing a small bulge and want to try a medium rat, I don't believe there'll be any harm done. I. The wild, they take what they can. If they can swallow it, they most likely will.

But, I would say, while not necessary, sometimes it's good to weigh him on occasion. It'll give you an idea on how he's growing.

Without actually seeing your BP & just going on your information (and no weight?), I'd have to guess that your 3' male BP IS being over-fed. I'd agree with feeding a male BP only "small" rats, and about every 10-14 days.

I agree with you that feeding him a small rat every 1-2 "months (-?- or did you mean to type "weeks"?) would be extreme- maybe they were suggesting a "diet" but in that case I'd disagree. If your adult male BP seems "underfed" on small rats, are you sure the gender IS "male"?

You might feed a small rat every 10 days for a while, & gradually lengthen the time to 2 weeks between meals. Many snakes stay in "feed mode" (ie. act hungry, as if unfed!) for hours or even a day+ after being fed. It's much like us humans, when we eat fast & our brain hasn't quite gotten the "I'm full now" signal from our stomach, so we keep eating & pack in a dessert, only to later realize we're STUFFED. Your snake is now used to feeling "stuffed", but you're doing his health no favors in the long-run by continuing to fall for his "apparent starvation".

Human or snake, our health is proven to be better when we eat enough but don't over-eat. It's not a matter of your BP being "able" to handle a medium rat- & it's not a contest. In the wild, it might even be more appropriate, but remember our pet snakes don't have the most active lifestyle- and over-eating can cause fatty liver disease or other issues that shorten his life. All this is in your control- he's not catching his prey, you're in charge of his food & his health. Sometimes food is just too much of a good thing.

My adult male is a little older and is offered a small rat, fortnightly. He typically around 1500g but has been heavier before a eating dry spell, in the past.

He's approaching that time of year again where he's going to go off his food, so this year I'm going to offer a medium, two smalls and a medium again, fortnightly, until he goes off his food.

Last time was a 6 month spell where I stopped putting him with a female because I was concerned he was losing to much. I'm not pairing him this year so basically trying to stock up his fat reserves before the hunger strike begins.

But to echo what others are saying, 1 small rat every other week from the description you gave of your male.

My adults are offered bi-weekly, but will offer my breeding female weekly if looking keen.

Sub-adults, weekly.

There’s no schedule or scale needed. Just establish and follow some reasonable guidelines. I don’t weigh any of my snakes anymore. I feed them larger meals sometimes and smaller meals other times. I feed them every 2-6 weeks depending on the season. All of my snakes are pets only so I feed my males and females exactly the same. I’d feed a 4 y/o BP a small rat every 10-14 days, a medium rat every 2-3 weeks, and a large rat every 3-4 weeks if he can handle that size.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

There’s no schedule or scale needed. Just establish and follow some reasonable guidelines. I don’t weigh any of my snakes anymore. I feed them larger meals sometimes and smaller meals other times. I feed them every 2-6 weeks depending on the season. All of my snakes are pets only so I feed my males and females exactly the same. I’d feed a 4 y/o BP a small rat every 10-14 days, a medium rat every 2-3 weeks, and a large rat every 3-4 weeks if he can handle that size.

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Thats what i thought 1 medium rat every 2 weeks minimum

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Without actually seeing your BP & just going on your information (and no weight?), I'd have to guess that your 3' male BP IS being over-fed. I'd agree with feeding a male BP only "small" rats, and about every 10-14 days.

I agree with you that feeding him a small rat every 1-2 "months (-?- or did you mean to type "weeks"?) would be extreme- maybe they were suggesting a "diet" but in that case I'd disagree. If your adult male BP seems "underfed" on small rats, are you sure the gender IS "male"?

You might feed a small rat every 10 days for a while, & gradually lengthen the time to 2 weeks between meals. Many snakes stay in "feed mode" (ie. act hungry, as if unfed!) for hours or even a day+ after being fed. It's much like us humans, when we eat fast & our brain hasn't quite gotten the "I'm full now" signal from our stomach, so we keep eating & pack in a dessert, only to later realize we're STUFFED. Your snake is now used to feeling "stuffed", but you're doing his health no favors in the long-run by continuing to fall for his "apparent starvation".

Human or snake, our health is proven to be better when we eat enough but don't over-eat. It's not a matter of your BP being "able" to handle a medium rat- & it's not a contest. In the wild, it might even be more appropriate, but remember our pet snakes don't have the most active lifestyle- and over-eating can cause fatty liver disease or other issues that shorten his life. All this is in your control- he's not catching his prey, you're in charge of his food & his health. Sometimes food is just too much of a good thing.

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Nope you read it right 1-2 months for a medium rat and he is a male that I'm sure of I generally will feed him every 2-3 weeks I was told that was to soon and should wait as I said 1-2 months

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Originally Posted by Bleh

My adult male is a little older and is offered a small rat, fortnightly. He typically around 1500g but has been heavier before a eating dry spell, in the past.

He's approaching that time of year again where he's going to go off his food, so this year I'm going to offer a medium, two smalls and a medium again, fortnightly, until he goes off his food.

Last time was a 6 month spell where I stopped putting him with a female because I was concerned he was losing to much. I'm not pairing him this year so basically trying to stock up his fat reserves before the hunger strike begins.

But to echo what others are saying, 1 small rat every other week from the description you gave of your male.

My adults are offered bi-weekly, but will offer my breeding female weekly if looking keen.

Sub-adults, weekly.

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He did the same a few yrs back didnt eat for almost a year I tried everything even picked at the breeders brain a bit and how he fed him before i got him. Eventually he ate and sometimes goes 2-3 weeks certain parts of the year when he was younger he would eat while shedding but he stopped

Just to throw my 2 cents in. My 1 year old is sitting around 800+ grams right now, I switched him from every 7 days to every 14 once he start refusing the weekly offer pretty consistently. I've had him on a small rat every 14 days for a few feedings and he just seems to respond better than he was right before I transitioned him. I haven't been weighing him quite as consistenly as I did leading up to his hatch day, but he seems to be doing well, with no noticably difference in behavior.

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Originally Posted by TheBeard9789

Thats what i thought 1 medium rat every 2 weeks minimum

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You quoted a post that said a med every 2-3 weeks and turned it a medium every two weeks minimum???


A male ball python doesn't need mediums on the regular and if you want to feed larger meals like that then once a month might be appropriate. Otherwise I'd stick to a small every 2-3 weeks which would be better. My male coming up on 20 years old eats smalls about every three weeks and could honestly stand to lose a bit.

Its very easy to get caught up in how much and how often you need to feed your snake and everybody has their own opinions on what is the right way. My opinion is that there is no 'Right Way' as many schedules work fine. The key is simply to ensure that your snake is maintaining a healthy body weight.

I generally feed a male every 10-14 days with meals being on the smaller size.
I feed females every 7 days or so and larger meals, especially if they have laid the previous season to get their weight back up.

I dont follow any schedule and feeds will fluctualte slightly.
Remember, in the wild these snakes will eat when the opportunity arises and they wont be given the exact same meal size everytime so this isn't critical in captivity either.

As long as your snake is maintaining a healthy weight and doing what they should, I wouldn't change something that works.
Hope this helps put your mind at ease.

Does the theory that male BPs need less food apply exclusively to breeder animals and not pets? I don’t breed snakes, but when it comes to pets, I don’t think feeding a medium rat every 2 weeks would be an issue for any adult BP (male or female). They can definitely survive on small rats but I’d hardly consider a medium rat every fortnight over feeding. I take a more liberal, generous, approach to feeding my snakes. They get small, medium, large, and occasionally XL sized meals. As long as they have the proper heat and time to digest their meals, and they get a bit of exercise, they should grow into big, healthy, and strong animals.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Does the theory that male BPs need less food apply exclusively to breeder animals and not pets? I don’t breed snakes, but when it comes to pets, I don’t think feeding a medium rat every 2 weeks would be an issue for any adult BP (male or female). They can definitely survive on small rats but I’d hardly consider a medium rat every fortnight over feeding. I take a more liberal, generous, approach to feeding my snakes. They get small, medium, large, and occasionally XL sized meals. As long as they have the proper heat and time to digest their meals, and they get a bit of exercise, they should grow into big, healthy, and strong animals.

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I think some of the confusion when we talk rat size comes down to everywhere labelling them differently. I've mentioned a few times having a local mice/rat breeder that I get my feeders from and what they consider a medium is closer in size to a small if you compare it to some of the frozen feeder websites. I don't want to say all the confusion comes from that, but really there's so much variance in what they're labelled as that I can see how people might get confused.

Regardless I agree, I've fed my guys larger meals, not too large but larger than I typically feed, if/when my vendor is out of my preferred sizes. I just alter their feeding schedule if they get something bigger than usual, maybe let an extra week go before feeding again. Never seen an issue and everyone has maintained what I would consider healthy weights and body sizes.

I have a 5ft BP that has always been a finicky eater and frozen/thawed was iffy at best. I have fed her live rats for the last 5yrs but recently tried her on mice. She lets me know when she is hungry by sticking her head out of here hide and getting close to the front doors. However I have to question the need for a "schedule" for feeding. If your reptile is hunting they its hungry. If its staying in its hide its probably not. Remember, these are VERY simple animals and basically its eat, hide and digest, eat again if prey comes by. I suppose if you have a room full of reptiles then a schedule would be necessary to keep track so nobody gets left out. I found out recently that she much prefers mice to rats even the South African Rat. She is a little piggy with mice and will often eat 2 in the same day. There is no stalking with the mice, they are hit within 30 seconds at most. Rats she seemed much more cautious of and took quite a while to take one. I got a dozen adult mice last week and she has taken 5 already. Then again she might stop eating for months. If she is hungry she will eat.