1 Year Old Ball Python (Help)

[BrandonPythons]

Hello, I bought a Phantom Ball Python last week and the pet store employee was the one who bred the snake as he has a lot of ball pythons in a rack at home. He gave me what I believe is a 'frozen rat small weaner', I think. He said to feed him/the snake one of them per week and I weighed him yesterday and he weighed 300g which I thought was very low compared to other 1 year old ball pythons I've seen (I'm new to ball pythons). Now, my question is what should I feed him, how many I should feed him and how often should I feed him per week?




Picture of him:



Thank you - Brandon

[C.Marie]

I stay with what he recommended, you never know could have been a small hatchling, or started off life as a difficult feeder, he looks great in the picture from what I can see. Very pretty babe. Wishing you both nothing but the best, I know someone with more experience will chime in

[BrandonPythons]

I stay with what he recommended, you never know could have been a small hatchling, or started off life as a difficult feeder, he looks great in the picture from what I can see. Very pretty babe. Wishing you both nothing but the best, I know someone with more experience will chime in

Thank you for the advice and kind words.

[C.Marie]

Thank you for the advice and kind words.

Anytime, we all get nervous about weights, pink bellies, and feeding it's normal part of learning, and everyone here is amazing learn something new everyday. so happy you and your new fabulous noodle are now part of bp.net family it's a good one

[hilabeans]

A general rule of thumb is to feed 10%-15% of your BP's body weight. That would put you at a feeder of roughly 30-45 grams, which should be about right for weaned rats.

Your BP looks great!

Let him settle for a week or two before feeding and don't handle him until after he's had 2-3 successful feeds for you. This is a species very prone to stress fasts, so give him plenty of time to get accustomed to his new environment and solidly feeding before you handle too much. Then make handling sessions short and positive, 10-15 minutes to start.

Another critical key to a happy ball is husbandry. How's your setup? Be descriptive and we can help you dial that in to a T as well. Improper husbandry is the #1 mistake newbies make, so we can save you a lot of stress by getting that straight from the get-go.

Welcome to the forum!

[Aerries]

Brandon, first off welcome to the family! Secondly I love the contrast of ur little guy! Thirdly, I worried about my girl Daenerys for a while...she was older then my BEL and Banana that were born in August and September of last year but outweighed Daenerys by at least 30-40 grams....7 months later she’s at least caught up or surpassed them. Every Ball Python grows at different rates. 300g is okay for a yearling just continue to feed the weaned rats weekly, your have the entire forums plethora of knowledge at your fingertips. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions regardless of how simple it may seem. There’s always going to be an answer or some type of guidance.


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[BrandonPythons]

I stay with what he recommended, you never know could have been a small hatchling, or started off life as a difficult feeder, he looks great in the picture from what I can see. Very pretty babe. Wishing you both nothing but the best, I know someone with more experience will chime in

He's currently being fed one rat small weaner a week, every 7 days and I did originally buy a vivarium for him but the pet store employee (He also keeps and breeds snakes) said the vivarium was too big and suggested me to get a 18L tub to keep him in for a couple months then increase the tub size because vivariums have many disadvantages to ball pythons. The current tub has a small hide by Exo Terra which he fits into fine and also has a Exo Terra water dish. The current substrate is paper towels as I tried bark chips and the humidity was way too high so I changed it to paper towels as suggested and the humidity is fine now. Temperatures are fine, current temperature is at 89 degrees belly heat on the hot side, humidity is at 70% right now (I've tried to get it down to 65 but I just don't know how too, I've tried a lot of things and none of them seemed to work).

In the future I'd also like to buy more ball pythons and have a small rack system as long as I am looking after and keeping this one healthy because I don't want to go out my way to buy all these things and be doing something wrong to affect the snakes.

Thanks, Brandon.

[BrandonPythons]

Brandon, first off welcome to the family! Secondly I love the contrast of ur little guy! Thirdly, I worried about my girl Daenerys for a while...she was older then my BEL and Banana that were born in August and September of last year but outweighed Daenerys by at least 30-40 grams....7 months later she’s at least caught up or surpassed them. Every Ball Python grows at different rates. 300g is okay for a yearling just continue to feed the weaned rats weekly, your have the entire forums plethora of knowledge at your fingertips. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions regardless of how simple it may seem. There’s always going to be an answer or some type of guidance.


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Thank you for the quick reply, do you suggest me feeding him 1 per week or should I feed him 2 per week? Another thing was, what age/weight should he be before I increase the size of the rat that I purchase, thank you!

I'm also worried today I woke up and around 2PM he has just been very active and looks like he's attempting to escape as he just keeps going up to the lid of the tub.

[Aerries]

Here’s a feeding chart that is perfect
I have followed this since I started with BP.net and it’s helped me immensely!


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[BrandonPythons]

Has anyone got any more suggestions on weight/food or any suggestions on why he's being so active today as he's just looking like he wants to escape as he keeps going up to the lid?

Thank you all for the replies!