Newbie: How often (approximately) does a snake need to go up a size in its food?

[Blujay]

Hi, this will be my first time owning a snake, a Ball Python specifically. Since I prefer not to use Petsmart and Petco for food (I read the horror stories here and elsewhere), I am going to be ordering from PerfectPrey.com. How often will I have to change the size of rodent for my snake approximately? I've judged about every 2 months from some research online but I couldn't find any actual advice for this. I don't want to spend $40+ for shipping and not order what I need if I can avoid it. I do realize every snake is different and this estimate is just a guideline to see what I should order initially. Thanks for any advice/help you can give .

[Armiyana]

Honestly, the biggest problem with the frozen mice at petsmart for me is the prices and that Reptile Industries are a little weird with the sizing on the mice. For example....Small mice and fuzzies are almost the same size. =_=;;


As far as the actual ordering...My experiences with feeding lately have been mixed. I have one snake who has already gone up 2 prey sizes since April. Another who is on the same size for 6 months and she refuses to eat the proper size for her weight (on top of only eating live. Uggg =_=; ).

Obviously, you will need to get an idea on what size snake you'll be getting. Get a weight on them. Eyeball how girthy they are. Younger BPs will grow fairly rapidly when doing well, so if you're getting a baby, expect to only buy 25 or so mice in one size and then the possibility of sizing up.
You also don't want to buy in too large of a bulk and have the mice sitting in your freezer forever. I usually go about 4 months before I start to worry about freezerburn and such.

Let us know what age/size noodle your getting and maybe someone can give better advice =)

EDIT:
Also.... check here for the best feeding guideline chart I've seen. So that once you get a weight you can have a better idea as well!
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ing-Guidelines

[Highyeena]

For a ball python whatever you are feeding it shouldn't be anymore than 15% of it's weight in grams. (I try to stick around 10%) You need to buy a scale (digital preferred) weigh them and do the math. So if a baby was 200g you would feed it something 30g (or 20g if going by 10%) The 10%-15% depends on the snake, if it looks underfed go with 15% too big stick with 10%.

As they gain weight you up their food's weight.

[RickyNY]

I don't know if you have a male or female. And like you said every snake is different... with that in mind I looked at my ball python feeding records and this is what he was eating. *He's a male by the way* :

I got him in August 2017 and he was 181 grams = I fed him a rat fuzzy for 4 feedings. (once a week)
September, I switched him to 1 rat pup (20grams) (once a week)
November, he was 396 grams and I fed him 2 (20grams) rat pups for a month. (trying to finish up the rat pups I had) (eating once a week)
December, I switched him to 1 Weaned Rat (35grams) he ate 1 weaned rat until April (eating once a week)
April 2018, he weighed 880 grams and I switched him to 1 Med rat (90grams) (eating once every 2 weeks)

And he has been eating 1 Med Rat every 2 weeks until now.
If you have a female she will be much larger at this point and eating maybe Larger rats.

Hope this helps. Just a guideline for you to order frozen rats in bulk.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

A BP will go through 6 different prey size throughout it's life, now note that no one can tell you when (age wise) those changes in size will occur since it will depends on the individual itself, feeding frequency, refusal and possible fast.

However here is a chart on when they occur weight wise.