weight of food vs weight of bp

I have been feeding my BP 2 small meals a week. She is 144g, and her food is 7g. Tonight I tried to give her a small adult, 20g mouse. I held it up to her body to see if it was the same as her girth, it seemed about right. However, she struck it "killed" it, and never ate it. She sat there and looked it over sorta then after about 5 minutes she decided she would try to find a way out of her feedingtub.

Was this mouse too big for her? or is she no used to it? or maybe just not hungery?

Joe Conklin

She should be able to take a small adult mouse no problem. How long have you had her, and what are her temps and how do you measure them. It may be an environmental issue.

it was suggested to me... that i only feed once a week... so perhaps your snake wasn't all that hungry?

no, they can take food much bigger then their girth if they need to.

a ball python striking and killing but not eating is usually a sign of a stressed or sick ball python.

I've had her 2-3 months or so. I measure temps with a thermometer, 90 hot 80 cool. The probe is always in the tank. I have a lot of those because i have other reptiles too.

She has been eating great up to this point. Moday she took a 7g mouse (a baby but fully furred). Maybe i stressed her by watching? But I always watch so not sure why it would be different this tme.

Joe

I missed the feeding twice a week. Sheesh I must be tired. Just feed once a week. That's plenty. Is the thermometer digital?

Yes digital. Why not they are cheap.

But my origonal question was, is there like a normal size range foodfor a specific sized ball? like a 144g ball eats eats 20g food. Its hard to go to a store and imagine the size of the python compared to the mice on hand. However it is easy to weigh the mice and see how bigthey needto be.

Maybe i'm too pick and like numbers too much, the engineer in me coming out i guess :)

Joe

i just pick a mouse who's hips are the the same size or a little bigger than the widest part of the snake.

Some ball pythons just prefer smaller prey items. Nothing you can do to convince them othewise. :P

If she wants smaller mice, there's nothing wrong with that.

-adam

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jsc230

Yes digital. Why not they are cheap.

But my origonal question was, is there like a normal size range foodfor a specific sized ball? like a 144g ball eats eats 20g food. Its hard to go to a store and imagine the size of the python compared to the mice on hand. However it is easy to weigh the mice and see how bigthey needto be.

Maybe i'm too pick and like numbers too much, the engineer in me coming out i guess :)

Joe

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Sorry, I must have been outta it last night! SHEESH! You mentioned a probe, and for some reason it didn't register. You're right, but you'd be surprise how many people don't have digital thermometers. Lots of people get suckered into the dials or strip things.

I'm sorry there's no exact formula for the size of prey. :oops: It's a kinda of guess and see what works kinda thing. I'm sure that will just drive the engineer in you nuts. ;) It'd be so much easier if that worked, but you could always measure your snake's girth and them try measuring a few mice (frozen ones would sit still the best) then weigh them. But that's not necessary, just thought it might appeal to your analytical side. :D

I have a "formula"... but being as I've only kept BP's for a little over 4 months now, I don't know how exact or right it is... :) All of my snakes eat every week without fail, not one refusal yet (knocking on wood right now), and all I did for my new snakes was look at the feeding record for my older snake that I've been able to run from 120g at purchase to a little over 720g now only 4 1/2 months later.

I feed one adult mouse per week until at 200g, then two mice a week (on the same day) until at 450g, then a small rat (60g or so) for the rest of life. :) In a few years when my females get up to 2000g or so, I'll probably give them 2 smalls a week a couple of months before breeding, and the same a month or so after they've layed their clutches just to pack on some fat stores for the breeding season.

As far as everything I've heard, even the largest of large females can do just fine with two to four mice as adults. But like Adam said, some just like the smaller meals, and as most of us already know, BP's are imprint feeders, so some will refuse everything except for mice, and some are strictly ratters.

I've fed both to all of my snakes, and like I've said (knock on wood again, I just KNOW I'm jinxing myself :) ) have never had a refusal.

Good luck!

As far as judging size of your snake for when you are at the store purchasing mice, Use some type of objcet to help you with size. Be it a quarter, your thumb, a dollar bill, or a volkswagon, just something that is about the same size as your snakes largest part, then you can take that with you and judge your mouse, rat, rabbet, horse, whatever. Maby this will help with your food selection. As for the rest of these things. Though I have not been in this forum in quite a while, I have yet to be steered wrong by Adam_wysocky when it came to advice. (No offence to anyone else) Matt at Mg Reptiles has also been very helpfull a bunch. Accept any advice that is endorsed (sp) by either or both of them. Good luck.


Cheers
Ray