Too many rats??

[chocolatepudding]

How long do bps stay at one food size??
I only have one bp and I want to order some rats online because it's so much cheaper but most places sell in huge bulk. I don't want to buy a bunch of rats and then have him be bumped up to the next size, forcing me to waste so many f/t rats

[redshepherd]

In my opinion, once he's up to eating small rats, it's efficient to buy in bulk for even one ball python. Usually small rats come in 20 or 25. And when he grows big enough that one isn't enough, you can just feed two rats per feeding until you finish them off.

[MarkS]

usually before moving my snakes up to the next sized rodent I'll be feeding multiple items of the size that they're used to. There's really no wasting of rats.

[chocolatepudding]

right now he should be at weaned rats but I have been giving Large adult mice, and when he's still hungry ill give him a smaller second. Is it too much to be giving him two large rats? He does fine whenever I do it, but I don't want him to get too fat..

[MarkS]

right now he should be at weaned rats but I have been giving Large adult mice, and when he's still hungry ill give him a smaller second. Is it too much to be giving him two large rats? He does fine whenever I do it, but I don't want him to get too fat..

Are you sure you mean large rats? I don't even feed my mature adults large rats. If you meant two large mice I would say give it a try, if you don't feel comfortable with two large mice at one sitting, feed large mice more often (like say twice a week instead of once a week) It's really difficult to feed young growing ball pythons so much that they get fat, they generally put the extra food into faster growth, (unless you're feeding so much that they regurgitate, then it's obvious that you'd need to cut back)

[chocolatepudding]

Are you sure you mean large rats? I don't even feed my mature adults large rats. If you meant two large mice I would say give it a try, if you don't feel comfortable with two large mice at one sitting, feed large mice more often (like say twice a week instead of once a week) It's really difficult to feed young growing ball pythons so much that they get fat, they generally put the extra food into faster growth, (unless you're feeding so much that they regurgitate, then it's obvious that you'd need to cut back)

yea sorry i meant two large MICE not rats!!

[Aercadia]

[wolfy-hound]

I don't worry about BPs getting fat. If you see him gaining too much fatness, you just cut back then. If he's young, he should just grow, not get fat.

I agree though, you can always feed multiple rodents if the size of each rodent isn't large enough. That way you'd use up all your frozen rodents even if he's "outgrown" that particular size. No waste.

[Yodawagon]

Big cheese rodents has reasonable sized packs of rodents. They have great quality and fast shipping.