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