Hi, Guys. I'm relatively new to Ball Bython and having a question concerning feeding issues. It would be very much appreciated if you could help me out. Any information is helpful.
Yesterday, I've got a 2012 April born (according to its previous owner) female ball python. It's about 74cm(29") long,weights just 352g. It feed on a 30g mice once a week despite its good appetite. By contrast, my another BP born last year(I'm not sure the exact month but I guess it's safe to say it's younger than the newly-purchased ) which I've been keeping since last December weights 495g last time I checked, she's been a great eater for me and have never off feed once. Basically I feed her a 30g mice every 4-5 days , until one and a half month ago I noticed his active activity the second day I feed him, I guess her wanted more ,so I moved up to 2 mice every 5 days and she seems to be quite satisfied. She weight 374g on Feb 26, 452g on March 25 and now is about 490g. All was measured empty-stoached.
It's under my impression that the small BP had not been feeding enough since she weights only 352g exactly one year after she was born. Unlike some hatchlings sometimes go off feed, this one is a great eater too. She's been feed so little only because her previous owner thought it was safe to do so, moving up to one mice every 4-5 days would be defined as power feeding and thus cause sterility, I think this was kind of ridiculous. In my opinion feeding prey weights 10-15% of snakes every 4-5 days in their early stages is quite reasonable as long as they don't go off feed or show any bad signs. And that's exactly what I've been doing the last couples of months for my snake.
I'd like to hear what you have to say about this. Am I overfeeding or what? Thanks very much.