I've seen a number of threads here and discussions elsewhere discussing ball python feeding. A good chunk of them seem to focus on just getting them to eat regularly. My question is, if you have a ball that eats anything you put in front of her, how do you regulate it? With my corns, the closest together they ever get fed is 5 days and if they aren't pooping in between, it gets lengthened out to 7 days. With my ball, I don't think it would make sense to wait until she poops to feed her again. She's pooped once with me (fed 3 times) and it was smaller than I expected from her. Is that because she's not getting enough or am I just worrying over nothing?
Her current schedule is every 5 days, she's getting a large rat pup. They are slightly smaller around than she is at her largest and I think she could handle larger prey (once again, thinking from a corn snake point of view here). Tonight, I gave her 2. 1 was a very small pup (size of a small adult mouse) and then a larger one. She downed both and then kept cruising her cage, reacting to any movement outside with interest. Weightwise, she's gone from 225g to 271g (empty this morning).
I'm careful with my corns to keep them from getting overweight as it can cause issues with egg binding and I believe there are other health issues it can cause as well that just aren't proven yet (heart, etc.). With Ceti, I'm not sure what is overweight for her size to use that as a guide.
Any input would be much appreciated as I would like her to grow well, but I'd rather wait an extra year to breed her to know that she's in good condition and not just 'bulked' up to the right weight.