New BP Questions

Hey everyone! Im still fairly new to the hobby so please forgive the question but id love some feedback.

We picked up a lesser BP from the pet store on 10/5. The BP was hatched on 8/2 and first shed on 8/9 and currently weighs 136g. On 10/2 the store said he ate 2 adult mice and he looked massive. Curious if thats normal for that size of snake to eat two adult mice. I felt he was a little over fed but i feel i may be too new to this area to know for sure. Thoughts? Also, since he ate two mice on 10/2 should i try and offer him a meal today (10/9) or give him some more time to digest. He still looks like he might be digesting. I have set up a 20gal long bio active habitat for him and will be moving him to that in the next day or two. Should I try and feed him before the move or move him and then wait a few more days before offering a meal?

Thanks

I'm fairly new to this as well but there is no way a baby that size should be eating 2 adult mice. One adult mouse would be pushing it. My ball weighs around that much and he eats one rat pup (similar size to a small mouse) once a week. There is no reason a snake that size should be being fed two mice at a time. I would wait another week before feeding him. But I am no expert and as I said I am fairly new to this as well. This is just my opinion. My ball had the opposite problem at his pet store...they were only feeding him a mouse fuzzy once a week...way to small.

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Agreed. 2 adult mice is way too much food for a baby. There are feeding charts floating around here, but a good rule of thumb is 1 rodent per week that is no bigger than the biggest part of the snake. It should leave a barely noticeable lump. You could prob bump that to every 5 -7 days but no adult mice when they are this small.

If your snake pooped since it has been in your care, I would attempt to feed it 1 small mouse. One attempt per week. After 3 successful feedings, start thinking about switching to rats and use a rat fuzzy, a smaller prey item but smaller sizes helps with the transition. If you want to stay with mice, then continue following the feeder size chart listed in the forums.

Thanks for the input. I had a feeling it was way too large and was actually surprised it even took both mice. I will double check his tank today to see if he has pooped. Should I go ahead and move him to his new home then and attempt a feeding on Sunday/monday? that would allow about 10 days between that large meal

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Originally Posted by SeverusSnake27

Thanks for the input. I had a feeling it was way too large and was actually surprised it even took both mice. I will double check his tank today to see if he has pooped. Should I go ahead and move him to his new home then and attempt a feeding on Sunday/monday? that would allow about 10 days between that large meal

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Yea. It should be fine. Make sure you keep the new enclosure somewhere with little foot traffic and do not disturb him until feeding day. Placing a pillow case over its tank (if possible) or keeping the enclosure somewhere dark will help him settle down. Less stress = more likely to eat. For some bp, they settle down faster than others. If he won't eat, confirm your husbandry is correct and try again 7 days later.

Fyi, too big of a prey risks regurgitation, which is a bigger concern than overfeeding a baby snake, which will use all the food for growth. Not that overfeeding is a good thing, but the regurge is more serious between the 2 and since he ate them without issues, I would not worry about it going forward.

I'm really sorry if I'm doing this wrong, please correct me if I am. I'm not used to this site at all.
But...

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...500&height=375https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...282&height=376
I just checked on her today and she has these marks on her belly. When I rubbed them with my finger they were crinkly at the edges. I have her enclosure set up with a humidifier and little digital humidity readers and I checked around to make sure nothing was too damp or too dry. It did feel too dry; so I wet it down a little.

To me it seems like she's lacking humidity? Maybe my humidity readers are broken. From what I've researched: BP's need 60% humidity..?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeverusSnake27

Hey everyone! Im still fairly new to the hobby so please forgive the question but id love some feedback.

We picked up a lesser BP from the pet store on 10/5. The BP was hatched on 8/2 and first shed on 8/9 and currently weighs 136g. On 10/2 the store said he ate 2 adult mice and he looked massive. Curious if thats normal for that size of snake to eat two adult mice. I felt he was a little over fed but i feel i may be too new to this area to know for sure. Thoughts? Also, since he ate two mice on 10/2 should i try and offer him a meal today (10/9) or give him some more time to digest. He still looks like he might be digesting. I have set up a 20gal long bio active habitat for him and will be moving him to that in the next day or two. Should I try and feed him before the move or move him and then wait a few more days before offering a meal?

Thanks

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Two adult mice? Store is wrong or the snake is an aggressive feeder.

Weight to feeding chart: http://www.ebballpythons.com/resources.html

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ing-Guidelines

I would wait to feed. Try three or four days (or more) after a poop.

Ignore this, I definitely messed up. LOL

So today was the first feeding since we purchased him. He shed yesterday so we offered two hoppers today. He ate them both. They honestly looked a little small for him. We offered one live and the other was a fresh kill and he took out both with no issues. My goal is to get him on Frozen/thawed so this was a great start. He weighed 130g before the feeding. Do you think I should bump up to weanlings or go ahead and offer an adult mice? After eating the two hoppers, you could barely tell he even ate anything. I regretAbly didn’t weigh the hoppers to get an idea how much he ate.