size of ball python

[joellajas]

i was told that if i kept my snake in a 10 gallon tank and only fed it 1 mouse a month, it would pretty much stay the same size forever. Is this true?

[stratus_020202]

No. And, a common mistake it seems. You will only have a cranky underfed ball. That will be small becuase it will be sick by being underfed.

[tonkatoyman]

Chances are that if you only feed him one mouse a month he will die. Ball Pythons do not get extremely big any way. But if the size bothers you, you may want to switch to something smaller as a pet.

[K2exotics]

The short answer is No

Here is my longer answer: Ball pythons (and most other snakes species) will not stop growing based on the amount of food and space they are given. They will become malnourished and gain all the health issues that come with that, be stunted to a degree, and become very agitated all the time. Probably develop cage aggression and various other issues not to mention pass on at an earlier age.

As far as space a 10 gallon is fine for a baby ball but the tank should have a circumference that is about twice the length of the snake ( usually a 20 gallon for adults)

For feeding you should feed 1 appropriately sized meal every 5-7 days as babies and 7-10 (from what I have read and heard from other keepers) days as adults. Determining the size of the meal is pretty easy, it is either 10-15% of the animals total weight or about the same girth as the thickest part of your snake.

You should check out the care sheet: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet

it has a ton of great information, so do the people on here. Welcome

[NewParadigms]

I don't know how this myth keeps getting perpetuated. There is a small bit of truth in that if you feed them more when younger that they will get a bit bigger as adults, but the concept that you can control your animal's size by starving them and keeping them in a small enclosure is just wrong. If you want a happy and healthy ball python you should keep it in an appropriately sized enclosure (not too small or too big) with hides, proper humidy, clean substrate, heat gradient and feed it an appropriately sized food item once a week or so as it's growing. When it's full grown it won't need to be fed quite as often, but once a month is still too long IMHO.

[mpkeelee]

I don't know how this myth keeps getting perpetuated

because people are dumb

[stratus_020202]

The real question is, do you think we're feeding a troll?

[loonunit]

The real question is, do you think we're feeding a troll?

What, the original poster? I'm not getting a troll vibe off them at the moment.

Petco. I don't know if Petco gives out this particular piece of advice, but looking at the poor, tiny, hungry ball pythons they usually sell in-store, I'm guessing they've also all been told it and bought into it.

[jdryden78]

I'm going with feeding a troll. Just my gut.

[Vypyrz]

I don't know how this myth keeps getting perpetuated.

Petco. I don't know if Petco gives out this particular piece of advice, but looking at the poor, tiny, hungry ball pythons they usually sell in-store, I'm guessing they've also all been told it and bought into it.

The way it was explained to me is this is a common tactic used by some of the salespeople at certain "Brand X" Pet Stores, who will tell a customer anything they think the customer wants to hear in order to make a sale, whether it's a twisted truth, half truth, or flat out lie. The way they get away with it is there is usually a small information placard somewhere around the display with general info about the animal. The salespeople will keep the customers engaged any way they can to keep their attention away from that placard. If a customer comes back and complains, all the salespeople have to do is deny remembering the conversation and point out the fact that there is a publicly displayed information placard and it's not their fault if the customer failed to notice or read it.