13 month old, what should i be feeding him?

[andyurgay]

I got my guy about 4 months ago. Gorgeous banana python. He turned 1 in August according to the sheet he came with. Apparently in the 5 months he was at the store, he only ate a fuzzy twice, two weeks apart. Since I've had him he has eaten a ton. Like, a lot more than I thought he would. He is my first python though so maybe that's normal.

Since he was eating fuzzies I fed him 4-5 fuzzies every Friday. I bumped him up to three small mice a week and now he is downing two large mice a week. I'd say he has grown about 6 inches since I've had him. He is about a foot long now and filled out a lot. The large mice he gets down fine but they just look huge to me. Can he go bigger? He still looks hungry after the two mice and I've read about 6 month old pythons eating baby rats.

He looks good and healthy, his set up and heating is right, he sheds very well and is active+alert. I just want to make sure I'm feeding him well enough. Is one foot small for his age? I don't mind feeding him rat pups if that's what he needs, just don't want to hurt him. I've read about "power"feeding and how its not good so I just need some guild lines. He is eating f/t.

[andyurgay]

I'd sumbit pictures but I'm not sure how...

[PitOnTheProwl]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Post-Pictures


Unless you are sewing the mice together OR shoving one in right as it is downing the other, you are not power feeding.
What is its weight?

[blue roses]

Weigh him, then feed a rat that weighs between 10 and 15% of his body weight every week, You can go every 6 days bu once a week is fine unless hes underweight. is he eating ft or live. Sounds like hes ready for rat pups, the only way to be sure is to weigh him.

[Willowy]

I'm sure he's more than a foot long---they hatch out around that size . But, yes, the best way to figure out what to feed a young BP is to weigh him and feed something about 10%-15% of his weight. You can get a small postal or kitchen scale just about anywhere that sells shipping or kitchen supplies. Once he's on small rats you can stop worrying about the size/weight of the feeder. Males will be fine eating a small rat weekly for life. Large females may move up to mediums.

[Doggtyred]

Weigh him, then feed a rat that weighs between 10 and 15% of his body weight every week, You can go every 6 days bu once a week is fine unless hes underweight. is he eating ft or live. Sounds like hes ready for rat pups, the only way to be sure is to weigh him.

^^^^ This.

Dont go by length or age of the snake. Go by weight. Get a postal or food scale and set it to grams. Put a bowl on it, and "tare" the scale (zero it with the bowl on it).

Whatever you feed it should be right at about 10% of the snakes weight. And no larger in girth than the snakes widest point.

I've read that Rats are more nutritious than mice, so consider using rats as your feeders if you are interested in growing to potential.
Pinkie rats run around 8-16 grams... fuzzy rats around 18-25 grams. Weaned/crawler rats run in the 25-40 gram range... and small adult rats run 40-60 grams (these are approximations, in my area)....

My adult is 5 years old, and weighed 900 grams. But she was skittish about adult rats (she got bit once or twice)... so while her meal would be about 90 grams or so... I fed her 3 crawler rats in the 30-40 gram range for each session, and she did just fine with it.

[redshepherd]

The 10~15% weight rule really only applies to hatchlings and small ball pythons who aren't close to full grown. It really depends on how heavy the snake is and how his body proportions look. Age isn't the factor here, because ball pythons can grow at very different rates, depending on how well they were fed.

If he's only a foot long, that rule can still apply. But if he's very thin or not, it would make a difference in what feeder is appropriate. Generally, appropriate one prey item is the same width as the width of the thickest part of the BP's body.

The snake's weight combined with a picture would help determine feeder size!