Amount of Food

Hello,

Well, I've had my BP for two months now - when I bought her from a Reptile Show I was told she was an '07 hatchling so I assume she is a year old at this point.

I weighed her this past Saturday and she weighed 349grams and about 26" long. Is this a good weight??

Also, I was wondering if I am feeding her enough - I give her one adult mouse f/t every 7th day - she always eats good but I wanted to make sure I was feeding her enough.

Any help would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

She sounds like a good weight to me. I would start her on rats. The reason I feed rats over mice is mice stay too small. I would have to feed multiple mice instead of one rat. I feed all of my sub-adult and adult ball pythons one small rat every seven days.

Hope this helps.

This is going to depend mostly on the animal. I have an 08 that eats an adult mouse every 5 days and hes only 180-200 grams. If she will eat an adult mouse then she will eat a small rat. I'd say move her up to small rats and see how she goes.

It sounds a little small to me. I have 6 '07s and they are all over 700 grams.

I was thinking that sounded a bit small, theoretically females can get up to breeding weight after their 2nd or 3rd winter. Her weight would need to quadruple in the for her to be up to breeding size for next year.

But I'm not all that experienced, just a bit of reasoning on what I've read about ball python growth rates, so don't take my thought too seriously! Also, even if she is small for her age, that doesn't meen she is undernourished. I'm sure some snakes grow slow compared to others, just as some have a smaller adult size than others.

When I first got her I went a little overboard and ordered too many adult mice from an online dealer - I have them all individually packed in the freezer - in order not to have to waste them could I give her two feedings a week or offer her two mice on her weekly feeding day????

Thanks.

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Originally Posted by L.West

When I first got her I went a little overboard and ordered too many adult mice from an online dealer - I have them all individually packed in the freezer - in order not to have to waste them could I give her two feedings a week or offer her two mice on her weekly feeding day????

Thanks.

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Yes you can give her mulitple mice.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

I was thinking that sounded a bit small, theoretically females can get up to breeding weight after their 2nd or 3rd winter. Her weight would need to quadruple in the for her to be up to breeding size for next year.

But I'm not all that experienced, just a bit of reasoning on what I've read about ball python growth rates, so don't take my thought too seriously! Also, even if she is small for her age, that doesn't meen she is undernourished. I'm sure some snakes grow slow compared to others, just as some have a smaller adult size than others.

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I have 07's girls that range from 300 - 1000 grams. This also depends on their feeding habits and what time of the year they were born.

This may be a stupid question - but keep in mind I am totally new to all this.

When I offer multiple mice for a meal - do I wait until she swallows the first one and the immediately offer the second or what???

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Originally Posted by L.West

This may be a stupid question - but keep in mind I am totally new to all this.

When I offer multiple mice for a meal - do I wait until she swallows the first one and the immediately offer the second or what???

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Not a stupid question at all. Yes, you wait until your snake has swallowed the first one. You will most likely notice that she is looking around for another meal a few minutes after she finishes the first one.

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Originally Posted by L.West

This may be a stupid question - but keep in mind I am totally new to all this.

When I offer multiple mice for a meal - do I wait until she swallows the first one and the immediately offer the second or what???

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I had to feed multiple mice last night for the first time. What I did was wait til she had just a bit of the tail sticking out of her mouth and when she opened her mouth again just almost rested the other mouse in her mouth to see if she would take it and she did with no problem. Mind you these mice were tiny which is why I did this..

I wait until the snake has finished the first one and has realigned the jaw and is on the hunt again :)

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Originally Posted by starmom

I wait until the snake has finished the first one and has realigned the jaw and is on the hunt again :)

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X2 :D

Okay, thanks. It appears that the consensus is that she can more than handle two mice each week so I will try. If she doesn't eat the second one it will be no need for concern - correct??

Correct- no need for concern :)

Ditto what Starmom and Lenastorms said :gj:

Robbin

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Originally Posted by starmom

I wait until the snake has finished the first one and has realigned the jaw and is on the hunt again :)

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Same here

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Originally Posted by piper

I had to feed multiple mice last night for the first time. What I did was wait til she had just a bit of the tail sticking out of her mouth and when she opened her mouth again just almost rested the other mouse in her mouth to see if she would take it and she did with no problem. Mind you these mice were tiny which is why I did this..

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Wouldn't that be considered power feeding? :confused:

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Originally Posted by starmom

I wait until the snake has finished the first one and has realigned the jaw and is on the hunt again :)

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Same here. I also have an 07 female Pastel (don't know which month she was born in) that was 224 grams when I brought her home this past July. I bumped up the size of the mice she'd been eating & I am feeding her every 5 days. She now weighs 364 grams. But I noticed last feeding she was still hungry after the first mouse. This week I will attempt a small rat. If she does not take it, I will give her another mouse if she's interested.

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Originally Posted by JayBP

Wouldn't that be considered power feeding? :confused:

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If you had seen the size of these mice, it may have been the equivalent to the size of what I regularly feed her so I didn't see any harm in doing so. I had a friend go to the petstore to get me a few f/t adult mice and they weren't even close to adults. Did I do harm? :oops:

So, given that Wednesday night is her usual feeding night - I can offer the first mouse and then even wait about an hour an offer the other one??? What do you all think?

Mine generally re-aligns her jaw about 2 mintues after its down, so I would just keep it in a ziploc sitting in warm water waiting til he/she starts tongue flicking again.. Thats just my opinion though.

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Originally Posted by L.West

So, given that Wednesday night is her usual feeding night - I can offer the first mouse and then even wait about an hour an offer the other one??? What do you all think?

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An hour seems a bit long IMO. I would say wait 10-15 minutes after the first meal is down. That should be plenty of time for your snake to get their jaw re-aligned :D

Ok - Thanks For All The Helpful Advice. I Will Try The New Feeding Wednesday And See How It Goes.

I Am Getting My New Rbi Cage Tomorrow - Very Excited About That - I Sure Hope Bella Likes It More Than The Glass Aquarium She Is Currently In.

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Originally Posted by L.West

Ok - Thanks For All The Helpful Advice. I Will Try The New Feeding Wednesday And See How It Goes.

I Am Getting My New Rbi Cage Tomorrow - Very Excited About That - I Sure Hope Bella Likes It More Than The Glass Aquarium She Is Currently In.

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If you are moving her to her new cage when it comes tomorrow, I would hold off a week for feeding to allow her time to feel secure in her new digs....

I don't know how others feel about this, but I like to know that my snakes will eat multiple mice, or rats at any given feeding. I have tried all of the above with all of my snakes (established eaters). I have one mouser. Everyone else will eat anything anytime.

I was debating about moving her to her new cage but might wait until Saturday - that way she will have had her weekly feeding and can take the time needed to get used to her new cage.

But, I also thought that maybe because all the same hides and plastic plants and such will be moving right along with her that it might not be to stressful for her - your thoughts.

Hard to give thoughts on that....

If you are increasing the space a lot, it will most likely take her some time and so your thoughts about waiting until after the feed and digestion are good ones.

Every snake is a little different and you know your snake the best. Go with your intuition...

Hi Everyone, just an update - I fed Bella two mice last night and she did really good - took them both readily.

I will be moving her to her new cage this weekend.