Feeding a Rescue Animal

[BHReptiles]

I rescued a 6 month old (or so they told me) ball python female about a month ago. When I got her, she was weighing 44g. She was very skinny, very dehydrated and had a retained shed. I have been hesitant to give her larger meals because I don't want her to regurgitate and I want her to gain weight at a healthy speed. This has been my first BP so I've been very cautious with her and trying not to do more harm to her than good while also trying to learn about how to properly care for BPs. I've read countless books and done tons of research. Currently, she eats well for me and as of yesterday, she weighs 54g. She eats a F/T fuzzy mouse (usually 4-6g) every five days and hasn't refused a meal in 5 feedings. When is a good time to bump her up to hoppers? Also, is every 5 days too much/too little? I'm going to a reptile expo in August to purchase a rat fuzzy/pup to see if she'll eat them so I can switch her over to rats. Unfortunately, rats smaller than adults are hard to come by here so I want to order them through my mouse supplier. However, I'm hesitant to bulk order and her not eat them. I don't know any rat breeders in the Houston area who I can purchase one from. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Annarose15]

Wow, with having been that underfed, I would be surprised if she didn't switch to rats easily for you. At 54g, you can bump her up to hopper mice, and a 5-day schedule should continue to work great.

[BHReptiles]

awesome! I'll pick up some hopper mice next time in town and see if she'll start taking those. I hope she'll switch to rats. I know they are more nutritious and I want the best for her. I can't wait to see her gain some more weight! She's at a point where she's not so triangular in shape so things are going great with her!

[rlditmars]

Do you have any pictures of her that you can share?

[BHReptiles]

I don't have very many pictures. I haven't really taken her out and handled her much. I'm more concerned with getting her better than messing with her. I do however interact just long enough to snap a picture or two when I go in to mist her cage. This first one is from the day I got her:



Isn't she a pretty normal? Here she is today. She ate yesterday but I snapped this picture real quick while I was misting her cage tonight:



I've never seen her without her retained shed. I'm waiting for her to shed out to see if she'll remove it on her own before I get overly concerned with it.

[rlditmars]

She's pretty. Has a nice clean reduced look to her. I hope all goes well with her.