What size should I feed my New BP's?

[Muskrat24]

Hello I recently adopted two ball pythons and the previous owner said that they were eating adult mice. So I had purchased a couple adult mice, anyways I fed them for the first time last week, and while the mouse was the same size of the snakes head it wasn't now where near the girth of the widest section of either of the snakes. I was wondering what size they should be fed, and I would like to get them on rats because I plan on breeding rats. I wieghed them today and the one was 19.7 oz or 558.4859 grams and the other was 30.4 oz or 861.825 grams. Thank you for your replies.

[LaFilleClochette]

at 800 grams you can prolly try weened or small rats. My BP is a bit smaller then that and i feed him a mouse thats about 50-60 grams tho he could eat a weened rat...he just doesnt like to...

[AMC]

Prey items should be 10-15% of the snakes body weight or the same girth as the snake at its widest part.

[Muskrat24]

Ok thank you. I'll have to find the flexable tape around here and measure them.

[th3jok3r]

not to jack your thread but what would happen if you fed your python a mouse a little bigger than its widest part?? and what if they ate in 4 days??is that bad???

[Muskrat24]

nope go righ ahead. I'd like to know also.

[Kaorte]

You can feed them a prey item slightly bigger, they will be fine.

If it is too large, they will either not eat it or regurg it. The easiest way to determine prey item size is to weigh the snake and then weigh the food.

A smaller snake (under 500g) could easily eat every 5 days. Every 4 days might be a little close though since it takes them a little over a day to digest a meal (get it out of their stomach).

[th3jok3r]

how long does it take a snake to regurgitate?? does it happen after a day can it happen after 3,4+ days?

[SoundUnsleep]

When the previous owner told you that he was feeding adult mice, did he by any chance tell you how many he fed in one feeding session? If not, maybe you could contact him and ask?!
Looking at the weight of your snakes you should be feeding weaned and small rats. To substitute for a weanling it takes 2 adult mice. To substitute for a small rat it would take anywhere from 3 adult mice to 2 XL mice per feeding session.
Nice to see that you are paying this much attention to the details! Great question with a lot of info.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

how long does it take a snake to regurgitate?? does it happen after a day can it happen after 3,4+ days?

not normally. normally a regurg will happen within a day.