new to ball pythons - help with feeding amounts and schedule

[Royb]

I was given a ball python on Sunday (5 days ago) and have been reading about them since. I know it is a long term commitment to care for this animal and am prepared to do so in proper fashion.

The situation - a friend of a friend knows I have several types of animals (this is my first snake in a long time) and figured I'd take care of it. I have limited info on it. What I was told was it was fed once a month, 3 or 4 mice. She (don't know if its female or not, just what they told me) is about 3 yrs old, a little over 3 1/2 ft long and weighs about 920 grams. She is in 20 gal tall tank (it came with her but seems very cramped with one log hide and a water container and only has a heat lamp for heat) I've purchased an enclosure, a vision 332, and should have a my Ultratherm UTH and VE300 thermostat tomorrow to set up her new home.

My question is about feeding her. From what I've read it sounds like she should be fed more often and probably soon. She defecated Monday, so she must have been fed the week before I got her I guess?

She has only had live. I don't know what size they were feeding her or what she should be getting.

Should I try to switch her to frozen or just get her live for now till I get her in the new enclosure?

Should I get large mice or small rats (not sure what "name" they go by - I see lots of sizes at the store in the freezer) I would say she is about 2 inches at her widest.

they said she was a granite - looks like she might be a granite co-dom from the images I see

thanks for the help

[treaux]

Welcome and congrats on the BP! Sounds like you're making some wise investments to take care of her.

If your BP is a female and is 3 years old, then she is very underweight and has not been fed nearly enough if she's only been getting 3-4 mice a month. A normal adult BP can usually eat a medium rat every 7-10 days (and a medium rat is worth 3-4 mice on its own really).

I would start by buying a medium rat that's about the same width as the widest part of your snake and seeing if she will eat it. If she's been eating live, give her a live rat for now. If she'll take it, then you can try a frozen/thawed one next time.

Show us some pictures and I'm sure someone can help you determine her visible genetic traits. If you are not sure if it's a female, you can take it to a vet or breeder and they can help you determine the sex, or if you are confident working with reptiles you can look up popping and probing, the two methods for sexing BPs.

[Zincubus]

I've absolutely no experience with live feeding but dropping a medium sized rat into the viv as opposed to the 3 or 4 little mice sounds like quite a change up for the Royal to have to face ....

[treaux]

They have thousands, possibly millions of years of genetic experience for hunting and killing their pray. It shouldn't be a problem. As with any live feed, the snake should be monitored when the live rat is in the cage and the rat should be removed if it won't eat it.

If you are worried about feeding live, you can always try a frozen/thawed first. It may be a waste if it won't eat it though.

[greco]

Sounds like she's a bit undersized for her age. It's because she hasn't been fed often enough, or large enough prey. Mice are much smaller than rats and contain less protein and fat per gram. You'll really notice a big difference if you can get her switched over to rats.

I would try starting her out on rat pups if possible (closest size to an adult mouse) and slowly increase the prey size. At 920g, medium rats might be a bit too big for her, especially if she's on the leaner side and used to eating mice. Personally I only feed mediums to females over 1500g. I also have a 1900g male who won't take anything larger than a small rat.

There is a small chance that she will refuse rats altogether. If so, don't worry about it too much (unless you're planning to breed her). You can continue feeding mice, but increase the frequency to every 7-10 days.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

This animal is not necessarily underweight or too small number is one thing overall look is another, if it's a male it would be perfectly in range, and if it's a female well they don't all grow at the same rate, I have had female barely weighing 900+ grams at 3 years.

Right now offer the same type prey previously fed (mice) once a week, 2 adult mice will be more than necessary and a good routine of once a week is more than enough as well.

Once she feeds consistantly for you is when you can attempt to switch (it's easier to switch a well established snakes that feeds for you than trying to switch one right of the bat). Switching should be done gradually, from live mice to f/t mice or from live mice to live rats and than the final step. Going from live mice to f/t rats can be a lot more complicated and more likely to lead to refusal.

Having this BP sexed will also help when it comes to feeding. For an adult male you are looking at feeding 2 to 3 mice a week depending on their size or a small rat (about 60 grams), and for a female you will never have to feed anything larger than a medium rat (but you are not there yet).

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[Royb]

thank you all - I'll get some mice today and see how it goes

here she is -

[Mr. Misha]

As Deborah already mentioned, she's not necessarily underweight.

Once you have her feeding consistently, I'd switch to small rats every week. Choosing live or FT is a personal choice. You'll have to decide what works for you and your snake.


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[BWB]

Switching my girl from live to frozen went well. She was probably not fed at the proper rate by my son so I took a more consistent approach (after checking this site out numerous times) and fed her frozen/thawed adult mice. A couple of months after starting this I determined that she should be able to eat rats and that made a huge difference - she bulked up and generally eats with no problems (but being a ball python she is a bit finicky - has to be almost dark, quiet, evening/nighttime, white or light colored rat, etc). I hang the rat in front of her and dance it around. She is interested and looks like she will strike but most times she stops short of doing so. I will then leave it at the entrance to her hide, on a cardboard tray. Usually within a few minutes (if all of her conditions are met) she finishes it off although there have been times that the rat sits for a couple of hours or so. She is fussy about her eating ritual. If and when they are hungry enough then they will eat. I don't worry about the exact scheduling as long as I am close to a 10 day schedule, adjusted accordingly for shedding - I wait til she is through and cleaned up.

[Royb]

again, thank you all for your help and sharing your experience - I decided to give F/T a try since I can get those here in town, live would be a 40 min ride and I don't want to be left with a mouse/rat feeder turned pet right now.

The feeding was a success. I thawed and then warmed with blow dryer directing the flow into her enclosure. She never came out of her hide so I lifted it off her and dropped the mouse in front of her, I had to move it around with the snake hook to get her attention and about 30 seconds later she took it.

I only offered the one since as an "adult large mouse" it appeared to be just under the largest of her girth. I will see if she is ready to eat again in 7 to 10 days.

Also, increased the heat lamp to 75 watt infrared and dropped the UTH a couple degrees and have 92 on the hot side, 80 for ambient now.