Ball Python Food Schedule

Did....Did I do it?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2bcba34211.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7061bad677.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0e1a62d234.jpg

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I did it! Don't mind the small cage, by next week he should be in his new 4x2 PVC enclosure.

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Originally Posted by TayKiren

Uh...how do I post pictures :P

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Many of us, myself included, use the free app tapatalk to upload pics. Super easy.


Edit: you beat me.

If you can tell by the pictures, do any of you think he looks overweight? Is it fat chub or normal ball python chub?

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He's fat

Looks a little over weight to me......
Then again most people make their animals fat.

Alright I thought so. He's not going to like it, but I'll try feeding him small rats every 10-14 days and see if that does anything.

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Hi, This is my very first post yall, so take it easy on me please. I started out about 4 years ago as a small scale rat breeder and eventually got national level ball python breeders as customers. As we pulled their hundreds of rats (live) we talked about ball pythons. Breeding, feeding, morphs, rack systems etc. Eventually I bought or traded for bps. At first I just passed them on to other rat buyers. Finally I took the plunge and began keeping some of them. So here goes the part that's going to upset some of you.
Since I have unlimited rats to feed I don't have to follow any particular schedule. I have come to the conclusion that most people are seriously underfeeding their snakes. Let's start in the wilds of Africa where ball pythons live free. It crawls into a termite mound and if rats are there well it eats them. If there is one rat...it eats that rat. If there is a nest of pink rats, a fully grown ball python isn't going to turn up it's nose. It eats them. It eats until it's satisfied then curls up to digest. In a while it poops and leaves the territory for a new hole. There it either eats or waits. Staying again until it poops. So what I'm saying is that the snake isn't on a schedule of feeding. It's not going to eat a single rat and let others run around to play. It's going to eat.
So, one breeder (before I have snakes) tells me it's better to feed multiple small rats to larger snakes. Others say give a large ball python a jumbo. My observation now is that it really doesn't matter. A 3000 gm bp will gladly eat a pink, fuzzy or whatever. They are opportunistic feeders. Whatever you offer them if they're hungry they will eat it.
A 4 ft. ball python can easily swallow a 300 gm. rat. That same snake will gladly eat a mouse.
In conclusion what I do is to carry a bucket of live rats into the snake room and sit it down. Hungry snakes soon start waving their heads and going crazy. Those snakes get a rat and smack it when it gets in range. Disinterested snakes may be offered a rat after obviously hungry guys are fed. The disinterested may or may not eat. If not the rat is removed in a minute.
Using this feeding schedule your ball python will grow from a hatchling to full adult in one year.

Clean your tubs often, wash them in hot water, provide clean water & bedding, keep the temp in snake room about 80 degrees with regulated heat under the tub around 92 to 96 degrees.

Snakes that go off feed seem to be spooked. Tear the top off a cereal box and lay it in the tub. leave them alone 3 weeks then offer an adult mouse. Usually that works.

OK, your turn....slap me down.

There are no hard and fast rules to my mind ... I just send myself a text whenever I feed them just for info.

I've mentioned before about the guy who mixes everything up - moving back and forth between 5 to 14 days and anywhere inbetween - then going from mice to chicks or quals and onto rats / mice again - also varying sizes of the meals .

I am pretty flexible , feeding different sized mice / rats on a very haphazard schedule anywhere from 6 to 14 days .. ... I also occasionally throw in hamsters and gerbils although they are a fair bit more expensive...

It seems to work wonderfully well !!


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