6 Month Old Ball Python still acting hungry after two small mice?

[PaulBython]

So, I have had my ball python for a month. He has seemed fine with one small mouse, but tonight I gave him his mouse and put him back in the cage and he started scaling the walls of his enclosure. So I took him out, thawed another mouse and offered it to him and he took it after only a couple of seconds and ate it. I put him back and once again he is scaling the sides of his tank. Should I possibly up his mouse size? He usually just goes straight to his hide and digests for 48 hours before he is active again. He has never refused a meal within the month I have had, even his first week. And he has ate steadily, but tonight he seems way more active after this, and I am afraid he is going to regurgitate his meal.

[Bogertophis]

Sounds like you're under-feeding him, but without his actual weight or the actual weight of the mice, it's hard to be positive. (by "small mouse" you could mean a
"hopper", which is actually the right size for most BPs when they're hatchlings)

This: and you need to get & use a scale if you don't have one.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ing-Guidelines

[PaulBython]

Sounds like you're under-feeding him, but without his actual weight or the actual weight of the mice, it's hard to be positive. (by "small mouse" you could mean a
"hopper", which is actually the right size for most BPs when they're hatchlings)

This: and you need to get & use a scale if you don't have one.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ing-Guidelines

Alright! I will try to weigh his mice tomorrow. Thank you for the advice. That was just what everybody recommended for his size, and so I went with it but I was worried tonight as he was avidly telling me that he was still hungry.

[Bogertophis]

Alright! I will try to weigh his mice tomorrow. Thank you for the advice. That was just what everybody recommended for his size, and so I went with it but I was worried tonight as he was avidly telling me that he was still hungry.

I honestly don't weight food for my snakes, but I've kept so many snakes for over 3 decades now, so I can tell the right size by "looks" but that's hard when you're new at this.

I pretty much go by feeding a rodent that is slightly less than the widest part of the snake's (un-fed) mid-section, with exceptions for a few of my snakes that have very narrow faces (rosy boa & TX longnose snakes, for example). But until you get the hang of it, that chart should help.

[Damien79]

A lot of times, I’ve came to learn, snakes will stay in “hunting” mode after they eat. Because in nature they don’t never know when their next meal will come along so they stay in hunt mode for a while.

[Craiga 01453]

Like said above, without knowing the weight of the snake or the prey item it's tough to say whether he's likely still hungry or not.

I did just want to throw my two cents in here though:
It sounds like you're using a separate feeding tub? I would definitely ditch the feeding tube and feed in his enclosure.

Feeding tubs are old school and proven counter productive over time. I honestly don't even know where people are still getting the idea to use them...
Anyway feeding tubs will:
A) increase the chance of the snake refusing it's meal. Moving = stress, stress = refusals.
B) increase the odds of a regurge. Moving the snake AGAIN = more stress. More stress = regurge.
C) increases your chance of being bitten. As mentioned above, snakes can remain in "feed mode" after eating and increase your chances of being bitten.

There's literally ZERO benefit of using a feeding tub.

[PaulBython]

Like said above, without knowing the weight of the snake or the prey item it's tough to say whether he's likely still hungry or not.

I did just want to throw my two cents in here though:
It sounds like you're using a separate feeding tub? I would definitely ditch the feeding tube and feed in his enclosure.

Feeding tubs are old school and proven counter productive over time. I honestly don't even know where people are still getting the idea to use them...
Anyway feeding tubs will:
A) increase the chance of the snake refusing it's meal. Moving = stress, stress = refusals.
B) increase the odds of a regurge. Moving the snake AGAIN = more stress. More stress = regurge.
C) increases your chance of being bitten. As mentioned above, snakes can remain in "feed mode" after eating and increase your chances of being bitten.

There's literally ZERO benefit of using a feeding tub.

Honestly, he loves coming out, he’s very social and being moved or handled isn’t stressful to him, and he trusts me enough to pick him up. He knows the difference between my hand and his food, as he instantly snaps out of his hunting mode when he sees my hand and goes back to wanting to be held, but obviously I can’t do that so I just move him back to his cage. Honestly, it seems to work out perfectly fine for us, and as he has aspen bedding, I don’t want it to get stuck to his mouse. And as for refusals, he hasn’t refused a meal for me yet, so that seems good as well.

[PaulBython]

I honestly don't weight food for my snakes, but I've kept so many snakes for over 3 decades now, so I can tell the right size by "looks" but that's hard when you're new at this.

I pretty much go by feeding a rodent that is slightly less than the widest part of the snake's (un-fed) mid-section, with exceptions for a few of my snakes that have very narrow faces (rosy boa & TX longnose snakes, for example). But until you get the hang of it, that chart should help.

I just weighed the two mice he has left and one is 12 grams while the other is 16. His last weight measure was 157, which was a couple of days after he ate.

[Craiga 01453]

Honestly, he loves coming out, he’s very social and being moved or handled isn’t stressful to him, and he trusts me enough to pick him up. He knows the difference between my hand and his food, as he instantly snaps out of his hunting mode when he sees my hand and goes back to wanting to be held, but obviously I can’t do that so I just move him back to his cage. Honestly, it seems to work out perfectly fine for us, and as he has aspen bedding, I don’t want it to get stuck to his mouse. And as for refusals, he hasn’t refused a meal for me yet, so that seems good as well.

Well, there's no way to tell a snake "loves coming out". BPs tolerate handling, they don't seek it out.

Your snake, your choice. But I'm telling you as someone with about 15 years of experience that you're better off feeding in his enclosure.
If you're worried about substrate ingestion, consider this: they've survived thousands and thousands of years without us cleaning off a place for them to eat. Nobody moves them to a clean environment to feed them in nature, yet they've basically been around since the dinosaurs. In the future you may want to consider a Coco coir substrate as well. It holds humidity well, spot cleans easy, absorbs odor and looks naturalistic. It's also not nearly as dusty or messy as aspen. But that's obviously up to you.

[PaulBython]

Well, there's no way to tell a snake "loves coming out". BPs tolerate handling, they don't seek it out.

Your snake, your choice. But I'm telling you as someone with about 15 years of experience that you're better off feeding in his enclosure.
If you're worried about substrate ingestion, consider this: they've survived thousands and thousands of years without us cleaning off a place for them to eat. Nobody moves them to a clean environment to feed them in nature, yet they've basically been around since the dinosaurs. In the future you may want to consider a Coco coir substrate as well. It holds humidity well, spot cleans easy, absorbs odor and looks naturalistic. It's also not nearly as dusty or messy as aspen. But that's obviously up to you.

Yeah, that is what I was using but my pet shop ran out so I just got some Aspen. I like the coco fiber better.