I need help getting my ball python's weight up please

[Idon'tknow]

I've got a ball python that I believe is under a year old. I got him last Christmas. He's been eating frozen thawed mice very well but he is under weight. I tried to switch him to rats but when I offer it to him he's not interested in it at all. He just seems scared of it. I tried using rats that were the same size as the mice, I tried scenting the rat, I tried braining it, and I waitied 5 days before offering it to him again. He doesn't seem the least bit interested in rats and he will gladly take a mouce. Once he bit the rat thinking it was a mouce but he freaked out when he realized that it wasn't. Most people say that the only way to get ball pythons too switch to rats is to keep trying but he's pretty young and he loses weight pretty fast. I honestly have no clue what to do. Is there any way I can get his weight up by feeding him mice? I've been offering him a second mouce after the first and he looks at it and smells it but then doesn't take it. Also Iv'e heard that feeding your snake too frequently can be very bad for their health. Can I please get some advice on what to do?

[Awesomethepossum]

Do you have a picture?

I'm not an expert, but if your snake is actually underweight, I think your priority should be focusing on getting weight on him- by offering him appropriately-sized mice, if that's what he's willing to eat. And try to switch to rats once his weight is stable. He will gain weight as long as the prey is an appropriate size. Do you weigh him regularly?

My snake is a little over 3 months, and is at 210g. I give him 10-15 percent of his body weight of an adult mouse every 5-7 days. I always weigh the mouse beforehand to make sure it falls within the proper range.

[Bogertophis]

You can certainly get his weight up by feeding mice, but what size mice are you feeding him? And we cannot advise much without knowing the size of your snake.
You should be feeding once every 7 days- one mouse of the size appropriate for his size; yours isn't the only one that won't take more than one rodent per meal.
If he's underweight right now (& we don't know that for sure yet) the main thing is to keep him eating reliably & worry about switching to rats later. The main
advantage of rats is just that they're bigger, & since many BPs will only eat one item, eventually rats are a more appropriate size for an adult BP. There are other
alternatives to feeding rats too, but for now, a weight & photos of your BP would help us help you. For now, feed him once a week on mice of appropriate size.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It's not about what you are feeding but how you are feeding it, grams per gram it's all the same so if you feed the right amount your snake should not lose weight but keep gaining, if you feed the right amount of food and the animal is losing weight than there is likely an underlying issue.

[Craiga 01453]

Without seeing the snake we can't help determine whether the animal is underweight or not.

Can you share some pics? Preferably with the snake on a flat surface and taken from above.

Also, many snakes in captivity are actually over weight. So your snake may not be overweight at all...

[Idon'tknow]

Here are some images of him



I feed him adult mice (or at least I've been told they are adult mice) that weigh about 10 grams (they might weigh a little more than that but I don't have any with me right now so I can't check)
he weighs around 285 grams

[Craiga 01453]

He's not underweight. He looks really good actually.

[Awesomethepossum]

Oh..a 10g is a hopper, not an adult mouse. I feed those to my Pacman frog.

He looks just fine weight-wise, definitely not underweight. But he should be eating adult mice if that's how much he currently weighs.



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[Bogertophis]

I agree with above posts...first, he looks fine, but also, it's time to up-size the mice to standard adults (not "jumbos").

[Awesomethepossum]

1.0 Pumpkin Pied BP
0.1 Bearded dragon
1.2 Leopard gecko
0.1 Ornate Pacman Frog