BP maintenance diet after 1 year?

[fishmommy]

Hi guys,
sorry I have not been around as much...summertime is always completely nutty for me.

Anyway, Augie is doing great! He's really calm to handle and quite confident in his enclosure.

He's almost one year old now and in the 700's for weight.
I have read some places that after this point the feeding requirements of BP's change, and that overfeeding an adult can result in appetite problems.

Any thoughts on changes I should make to his feeding amount/frequency?
He's currently eating 2 adult mice, once every 7 days. His feeding response is good, and he's often begging for food every day except the day after a meal and during shed.
I hope to switch him over to one equivalent-weight rat in the next few months or so as my mouse supply runs low.

Thanks for any and all advice

[jkobylka]

for my ball pythons that size I got with one weanling to small rat each week. I don't think its possible to overfeed of you only go with an appropriate sized meal once a week.

Hope that helps.

Justin

[jglass38]

Overfeeding can definitely result in fasting periods. I feed all my adults a small small once weekly. I would guess he is out exploring rather than "begging" for food.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

At that weight I feed my BP 2 to 3 adult mice (depending on their weight) or 1 small rat (4 weeks old 45-65 grams) and I never feed anything more then that even to my large adult females, doing so allows me to have BP that feed with consistency.

[fishmommy]

JGlass,a small small what?


I went into more detail about his 'begging for food' in another post recently, but essentially if I am in the room he comes out and gets into an 'S' posture like he's waiting for food. If I leave the room he goes back into his hide. It looks like a feed response to me and that indicates good appetite

[fishmommy]

At that weight I feed my BP 2 to 3 adult mice (depending on their weight) or 1 small rat (4 weeks old 45-65 grams) and I never feed anything more then that even to my large adult females, doing so allows me to have BP that feed with consistency.

Thanks for the weight info

[jglass38]

JGlass,a small small what?


I went into more detail about his 'begging for food' in another post recently, but essentially if I am in the room he comes out and gets into an 'S' posture like he's waiting for food. If I leave the room he goes back into his hide. It looks like a feed response to me and that indicates good appetite

Sorry..A small small (or large weaned) rat. In the wild Balls may eat a dozen times a year or less. In captivity we feed them to excess. They have slow metabolisms and with too much food will need to fast to allow their digestive system to catch up. Hope this helps!

[fishmommy]

yep, it helps

I'm a first-timer so it's all good info

[frankykeno]

Something that I always keep in mind too is that it's good stimulation for them to feel hungry or do do that exploring, strike position, lurking out of their hides thing. Their nature is to be opportunistic, ambush predators so to my mind if they simply get food dropped in once weekly and never feel the need to prepare to hunt, they are missing a vital thing.

We feed weekly but I always enjoy watching the snakes come out a day or two before and begin the searching or lurking behaviours. It makes me feel like they are engaged in life, getting keyed up to feeding night and I think that's a very good thing.