Can I feed my 200g ball python a rat weanling?

[reknirt]

He's getting to the point where rat pups and mice are only keeping him full for a couple days. He's going hunting 2 or 3 days after being fed, whereas a month ago he wouldn't hunt until the 5th day.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Nope usually weaned rats are about 30 to 45 grams and at least 3 weeks of age, a little too big. Now of course it depends who sells the rats based on who is selling them they might not label them properly or their might be some dependency in sizes.

At that size you are looking at rat pups.

[blue roses]

At 200g the prey item fed should weigh between 20 and 30g, that is 10-15 % of his weight. I fed my guy that size rat every 5 to 6 days at 200g. He is now about 950g, and i am still using that same formular but feed every 10 days. My guy is a pig, and would eat every 5 days still if i wasn't concerned about him getting to fat. Your guy is still a baby so that will work on a 5 day schedule. I would feed Rats, i think they might have more substance.

I also have a girl, at 225g and she gets a ft rat pup every 5 days. I switched her from live, about 4 feedings ago, so far so good, i'm keeping my fingers crossed she will continue to eat well. Hope this info helped. Also snakes are oppertunistic eaters.