New member looking for advice with a rescue weight gain

Hey everyone I'm a new member and I'm looking for some advice. I've been caring for herps for years but I'm fairly new with ball pythons specifically. I came across a ball python in need of rescue and scooped him up he is pretty young maybe 18 inches in length and is far to skinny to the point that I can see his ribs he is taking mice frozen fuzzies to be exact I guess what I want to know is if he will take it can i offer him food more than once a week I really want to see him get healthy (by the way I'm saying him but I'm not sure if that is correct) any nutritional boost advice would be greatly appreciated. And I'm sure this will be asked he is in a 40 breeder glass tank it's 86 degrees with a 94 degree hot spot for basking the humidity is 54 % including a warm hide and a cool hide

It's not going to hurt to feed a snake that age once every 4 days or so, If he is that skinny I would definitely offer every 4 days, if he's hungry he will take it. I also think you may want to offer larger prey? Fuzzies are pretty small, something just slightly larger than the thickest point on his body can be offered. Usually once old enough to be sold, they're already eating rat pups, or mouse hoppers

Hope this helps :)

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ging_chart.jpg

Thank you I will pick him up larger meals and offer every 4 days he is a vigorous eater I don't think I will have a hard time getting him back to a good weight

I'd also recommend turning the temps down a few degrees (90° warm spot, 80° ambient). Other than that, it sounds like you're on the right track with this guy. He's lucky to have found you! :gj:

Alrighty I'll drop it down a tad thanks for the advice.

Ball pythons out of the egg take typically can take a mouse hopper or rat pup every 5-7 days. Since he's voracious you may want to take the opportunity now to convert him to rat pups, rather than waiting until he's developed a taste for mice.

Rat pups you say... alright I'll give that a shot is that fairly normal to find at you local pet store or will I need to order them? Also are they better for the boa?

I have local feeder suppliers for mice, rats, ASF, and rabbits. Your pet store should have frozen rat pups if it carries Arctic Mice, though at some point you'll probably want to find a breeder since pet store feeders are stupid expensive.

Do we have a chart like this for boas?

1.2 Normal
1.1 Red-tail
0.1 Albino corn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by magicmed

It's not going to hurt to feed a snake that age once every 4 days or so, If he is that skinny I would definitely offer every 4 days, if he's hungry he will take it. I also think you may want to offer larger prey? Fuzzies are pretty small, something just slightly larger than the thickest point on his body can be offered. Usually once old enough to be sold, they're already eating rat pups, or mouse hoppers

Hope this helps :)

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ging_chart.jpg

---

The early parts of that chart look off to me:

Hatchlings (first couple of meals) - prey weight 4.5g to 8g

That can be bigger. My ~65g hatchlings get 10 to 14g mouse hoppers twice a week until they reach around 90g and are switched to adult mice.

Hatchlings to 150g - prey weight 3g to 8g

Still too small, IMO. Mine go on adult mice (18g to 20g) at 90g. They go on rat pups (25g to 30g) at 115g or 120g. At this point they are only being fed once a week, though. 8g for a 150g BP is far too small at that age in my view.