Proposed Ball Python Feeding Chart

[GamerAgeDad]

Hello fellow ball python lovers,

I am a scientist and I am tired of people giving me the rule of thumb that I should feed my ball python prey approximately as large as it's girth. Feeding is the most expensive part of keeping snakes. Thus it is important to know what to buy, and how many to buy in order to come up with a good budget for feeding. One person that proposed a feeding chart (http://medusa-corns.webs.com/feedingchart.htm) for corn snakes is Dave (Roy Munson). Kudos to Dave for not being like the rest of the sheep. This is great for corn snakes, but how about ball pythons? The people of Ball Pythonz have come up with a nice feeding chart for ball pythons (http://www.ballpythonz.net/feeding.html). Funny enough, I was actually going to propose a ball python feeding chart according to my research that I have done, and while writing this post I came across the feeding chart from the people at Ball Pythonz. Needless to say, the chart the Ball Pythonz people came up with is extremely close to what I was going to propose and I will go over my rational for why I think their feeding chart is mostly correct. I will also add an addition to their chart and specify the weight ranges in grams I think should be appropriate for the common names which they have specified. ​Although I am a scientist, this post is going to be based off opinion and speculation. There is no evidence that any formulas specified here are correct, and nor will I be providing any. Therefore, I present to you Johnny Pittmans Ball Python Feeding Chart:

First off, here is what the people of ball pythonz proposed:

Weight of python (grams)	Size to Feed (grams)	Common Name
Hatchling-99	9-12	Hopper Mice
100-199	13-20	Weanling Mice (or small rat pups)
200-349	21-30	Rat Pups
350-499	31-45	Rat Weanling
500-799	46-79	Small Rat
800-1499	80-149	Medium Rat
1499-2499	150-265	Large Rat
2499+	266-360	Extra Large Rat

For my feeding chart I read various forum users, and yahoo answers users input on what they fed their adult ball pythons, and ball pythons that were a year old. I looked at the average weights of the plotted ball pythons of the 15 subjects of The Dragons Den (http://www.thereddragonsden.com/avgweight.htm) and there were some interesting observations I was able to make. For the first 3-4 months it seems baby ball pythons grow about 200 grams, for the next 4-5 months they grow about another 200 grams, and for the next 4-5 months after that they grow about 200 grams. The babies came to a stop around month 13 or so where it takes them about 10 months to grow another 200 grams, then again they grow 200 grams in 500 months. This is a pretty good rate of growth. My feeding chart should be able to help give a rough estimate of how long a ball python will need to feed on each different rodent size.

Given the suggestions by Ball Pythonz feeding chart, what I currently feed my snakes, and user responses of what they feed their ball pythons, I came up with a better suggestion than the rule of thumb about feeding a snake about the size of its girth. My new rule of thumb (according to my chart) is that you should feed your snake about 10 times less than the snakes weight (in grams). For example, if you snake weighs 350 grams, you would feed him a (350/10 = 35) 35 gram critter. This would be a Rat weanling. This seems to be right on par with what I have found users are feeding their ball pythons, and what I feed my ball pythons. The weight of the ball python being proportional to the weight of the critter by a factor of 10 seems like it would make sense given that the girth of every rodent size specified matches up with my snakes compared to their weight. There is probably a mathematical explanation of why a 10 gram rat is about as girthy as a 100 gram snake, but I am too tired at the moment writing this post to try to come up with that formula.

Anyway, this is my opinion of what a ball python should be fed based off this chart. I am enthusiastic about it and hope this feeding plan will work out well for my baby ball pythons. If it does, I guess I was right, if it doesn't well I guess I'll have a bunch of frozen critters to feed my boa or corn snake. Please critique this, share it, or tell me what you think because I would like to add to this chart.

[SnowShredder]

Not to be rude but I feel this is common knowledge, or easily learned knowledge. Many people do the "10-15% rule" for ball pythons (until a certain weight)

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I assume this chart is base on you experience? So how many BP have you fed base on this chart? Especially adults fed xl rats?

I guess I am one of those sheep I eyeball it it and never feed anything bigger than a 120 grams even to the largest of my BP.

Based on your chart and my experience I can guaranty that those fed xl rats will fast, personally I prefer animals that eat with consistency.

There are many ways to do a lot of thing and if this is what you want to do it´s fine whatever works for you (does that mean that´s what they SHOULD be fed???).

It´s lot more food then they really need not to mention the risks associated with feeding an oversized prey.

[Coleslaw007]

I would personally NEVER offer anything larger than a medium rat live to any of my snakes and I'd only offer mediums to the LARGE, AGGRESSIVE feeders and watch closely. Far too much risk of injury. They don't need that much either.

Um... I just eyeball it lol. I don't have any sort of mathematical formula for size.

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[MootWorm]

I assume this chart is base on you experience? So how many BP have you fed base on this chart? Especially adults fed xl rats?

I guess I am one of those sheep I eyeball it it and never feed anything bigger than a 120 grams even to the largest of my BP.

Based on your chart and my experience I can guaranty that those fed xl rats will fast, personally I prefer animals that eat with consistency.

There are many ways to do a lot of thing and if this is what you want to do it´s fine whatever works for you (does that mean that´s what they SHOULD be fed???).

It´s lot more food then they really need not to mention the risks associated with feeding an oversized prey.

Not to derail the thread, but do you feed multiple 120 gram rats for, say, a 2500g ball? Or just a single small meal? Just trying to plan out my future feedings, I don't have anyone over 1000 yet. Thanks!

[Coleslaw007]

I personally usually feed my huge females 1 to 2 small rats a week. I'll feed a bit heavier just after laying and at the beginning of breeding season. Rarely do I ever offer more than 2 small rats. They aren't very active snakes, they don't need to consume a lot of food.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

Not to derail the thread, but do you feed multiple 120 gram rats for, say, a 2500g ball? Or just a single small meal? Just trying to plan out my future feedings, I don't have anyone over 1000 yet. Thanks!

I feed a single prey once a week and have females pushing 4000 grams. Now things change a little around September when I feed females that are ready to breed every 5 days instead of every 7 but it´s only to bulk them up before breeding, knowing that the will soon be fasting.

Males kept being fed once a week and as for them they never get anything larger then a small rat, I even skip meal or feed smaller prey during breeding season to keep them lean and trim

[MootWorm]

I feed a single prey once a week and have females pushing 4000 grams. Now things change a little around September when I feed females that are ready to breed every 5 days instead of every 7 but it´s only to bulk them up before breeding, knowing that the will soon be fasting.

Males kept being fed once a week and as for them they never get anything larger then a small rat, I even skip meal or feed smaller prey during breeding season to keep them lean and trim

Wow so about 3% of body weight for the most part, at least for non breeding adults? Interesting. And you don't have any problem feeders on this regiment? I know it's been said many times over that we generally tend to overfeed, and this definitely makes me reconsider the 10-15% I've always heard tossed around.

[Mephibosheth1]

Not taking sides here (way too little experience) but "experience" must in some cases give way to scientific data. That's why we don't practice blood letting in human medicine, and realize that dinner shouldn't really be the biggest meal of the day.

Im not saying that y'all's experience is wrong, nor am I siding with the science guy. Just beware of using "experience" to counteract good science.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Wow so about 3% of body weight for the most part, at least for non breeding adults? Interesting. And you don't have any problem feeders on this regiment? I know it's been said many times over that we generally tend to overfeed, and this definitely makes me reconsider the 10-15% I've always heard tossed around.

I am sure that hatching probably get something along the line of 10% to 15%, but I wouldn't know since at that age I eyeball everything, what I know is that giving an adult 10% of their body weight is far from necessary.

Hatchlings are voracious and growing however as they grow and become adults their metabolism slows down.

Now can you feed xl rats? Sure you can, most of it will turn into waste, the animal will be sluggish for days and likely to refuse food for the next but few feedings, but it can be done, however it is not necessary, risky and far from being "that´s what they should be fed".