Wow he's getting long... feeding concern

[SludgePuppy]

Hi again, so I have a concern. Raul should be seven months old rn according to the breeder. When he hit six months I went to switch him from mice to rats and the rats they gave me were...big. Like not super big to were he couldn't get them down but big to were he grew girth way too quick, so I stretched out his feeding days (only by two extra days) thinking, "It's fine they said these rats would do..." but then I noticed he was losing weight between feeding, (he also took a huge crap) he was at 500+ g and when I weighed him outta concern he was 288g I panicked! How can he lose that much between a sitting? He doesn't have worms he got a clean bill of health from the vet, but if it sounds like it I'll take him back.

My problem is, he's grown length now. It's like that girth went to length! He's almost 3ft long!

Out of fear that I was following someone's orders who was wronging me I switched to a smaller rat and he's back on his normal feeding schedule. They had me feeding him medium rats...(He was only fed three times with med rats)

So now I am worried. Did I over fed him? I'm taking him to the vet again soon but I want a second opinion as I'm doing so cause so far one person says one thing and another says another and I want to be safe.

He's doing better now and is back to being lean and full, idk... He had a big bludge when he ate when he was on medium rats and then grew girth, with small rats it's a slight bulge and he does fine...I think he was being over fed.

[Bmocken]

That's what it sounds like to me. I would hold off on the vet since that's stressful and monitor his weight for a bit.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There is not need to feed a medium rat to a male especially one so small, even large males do not need anything larger than a small rat 55/75 once a week.

By feeding large prey you will end up with an animal that will not feed with consistency and that is overfed.

As far as weight do not focus on weight focus on overall proportion, I can't comment on the weight loss since aside from no it's not normal however I have seen people more often than not, not weight their snake properly or having faulty scales.

If the snake is eating but not growing have a fecal done.

[SludgePuppy]

He ate a smaller rat six days ago...now it is close to when he should feed again. He is hunting, he is interested but he doesn't strike. I am concerned. He was doing fine but now suddenly he does not want food yet asks for food.

I talked with a herpotologist they said that overfeeding wasn't the issue, sometimes they eat large meals in the wild as well. But he is concerned that my snake may be ill from one of the rats from this new breeder we got rats from during an emergency. I am taking him to a vet. We saved two rats for him and he wasted both when we tried to feed him again and he is losing weight!

[hhw]

It's normal to lose weight after a large defecation, as obviously they'd lose the weight of the feces. The real question should be whether he's losing weight after taking the feces into account, i.e. does he weigh less empty now than he weighed empty before? It's important to do an apples to apples comparison.

At 288g empty, which is the real weight, you should not be feeding anything near a medium rat. A weanling rat would be much more appropriately sized.

Give your snake a long break before its next meal, as you've been way overfeeding him, so that he has time to catch up. Definitely wait until the next defecation if he's eaten since the last time, and then maybe another week after that. He's also approaching the age where you can start slowing down feedings in general, if he doesn't slow down on his own. My 2016's would gladly continue eating every week, but I've slowed them down to every other week already, as I was noticing they were a bit more pudgy and less toned/muscular than I thought they could be. They're still growing like weeds fed less often. Growing up ball pythons isn't a race, or at least shouldn't be.

By feeding large prey you will end up with an animal that will not feed with consistency and that is overfed.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Consistency in feeding is not natural for ball pythons, which are binge feeders in the wild. They'll go into a rodent burrow, eat multiple prey items at once, and then just sit there until another rodent comes in, which they will eat also. Then, after they've fully digested and defecated, they'll move on in search for another burrow with rodents inside. They're not such effective hunters that they're able to accomplish this immediately either, so it can take a while to find the next meal(s).

Given what's now known about organ remodelling in most boids, it's likely that larger meals less often more similar to their feeding habits in the wild is likely preferable to smaller meals more often. The benefits in doing so (e.g. effect on longevity) may take 30+ years to demonstrate, assuming someone actually gathers the data of snakes fed one way vs the other. Ball pythons are so forgiving that it's hard to tell in the short term either way, as they can be successfully kept and bred either way, although slug rates or breeding related issues or fatalities could perhaps be measured.

In more challenging species, more success is usually had when husbandry better approximates conditions in the wild (minus of course more obvious threats like predators). So presumably, there should be similar benefits with ball pythons also even if these benefits are not noticeable in the short term.

[SludgePuppy]

My scale was off!! He's actually 487g he was 524g when he ate that big meal, he just looked very lean and the scale must have switched and read a different "0" that what was zero.

He's okay. Scared the crap outta me. However, her is refusing food, vet said it was a large meal and to leave him be for a week before trying to feed him.

Thank you for the info and concern. I'm going to listen to me gut the next time someone says, "Trust me, hell get it down, he's getting bigger!" Even if they are a breeder.

[hhw]

My scale was off!! He's actually 487g he was 524g when he ate that big meal, he just looked very lean and the scale must have switched and read a different "0" that what was zero.

He's okay. Scared the crap outta me. However, her is refusing food, vet said it was a large meal and to leave him be for a week before trying to feed him.

Thank you for the info and concern. I'm going to listen to me gut the next time someone says, "Trust me, hell get it down, he's getting bigger!" Even if they are a breeder.

Yeah, a medium rat would be quite large for a 487g ball python still. Not dangerous, but not appropriate either. A small would definitely be more suitable. But as mentioned, by this size you can easily slow down to every 10-14 days, if not even further given that he's a male.