Are we feeding too much?

[NorthernRegius]

Thanks everyone for this great info.

I have one question. When is a BP considered Adult? I see 18 months thrown out alot here and there, but no one says why 18 months.

Thanx

Males, usually will be producing sperm plugs during this time (some before) but the 1st 18 months is when BPs grow the most.

Personally I wouldn't consider a female an adult until she hits 1500+g; at 800-1499, she's a juvie IMHO. That being said- females typically take 2-3 years to mature.

[Aleria]

I have a 13 year old bp and have always let him dictate his own feeding schedule. I purchased him as a baby from a pet shop when I was 11. For the first year or 2 he put himself on a weekly or bi-weekly feeding schedule for the most part, just depended on his mood. But after that point he tapered down to eating maybe once every 3-4 weeks instead. And once in a while he'll get on a kick and want something every week for a month.
He has always kept a nice body mass, never looking too skinny or fat, and he basically just comes out of hiding and will stretch himself up the walls of his cage and move around a lot to let me know he's ready to eat. Sometimes when he would try to go longer than 4 weeks I'd try to feed him anyways and it almost always resulted in having to toss his food in the trash. If he wasn't hungry he wouldn't come out and eat. But considering he's lived as long as he has and not once has he had any health problems I'd have to say sporadic feeding doesn't seem to be detrimental. And luckily with him I think if I would have tried to force a weekly feeding schedule I probably would have ended up with a lot more rats going in the trash than in his stomach.

[Egapal]

I find my BP is setting her own schedule as well. When I got her last year about this time she would eat every 5 days, around December she started missing a meal every now and again so I moved her to 7 days. Now she is missing a meal every now and again and I think I am going to move her to every 10 days. She is about 650 grams now and hadn't eaten in 3 weeks. I after offering and her eating 2 mice she was still in hunt mode so I gave her a third, a total of about 90 grams of mouse. Now I won't offer another for at least 10 days. The first time she missed a meal I was anxious and frustrated but now I trust that she will eat when its time. I keep a close eye on her and handle her often, as long as she doesn't look too skinny or too fat I won't worry or change anything.

[branson]

My girl is 2 yrs old. I got her at 150 g. After a year in my care, she's up to 1100 g. She eats like a pig, and I could count the number of refusals of food on a single hand. I tend to feed her on the upper end of the 10-15% body weight rule. I've always wondered, though, if her growth is too rapid and if she's getting fat.

In the world of fisheries, length-weight relationships for a given species is often calculated. Perhaps this would be an interesting thing to do for ball pythons on this site. We could probably generate a solid plot with enough samples and figure out where our snakes lie on the curve (above or below). The only problem is that our population of snakes is probably overweight to begin with. Anyone think this is worthwhile?

[bad-one]

In the world of fisheries, length-weight relationships for a given species is often calculated. Perhaps this would be an interesting thing to do for ball pythons on this site. We could probably generate a solid plot with enough samples and figure out where our snakes lie on the curve (above or below). The only problem is that our population of snakes is probably overweight to begin with. Anyone think this is worthwhile?

I think it is an excellent idea.

[Bundu Boy]

My girl is 2 yrs old. I got her at 150 g. After a year in my care, she's up to 1100 g. She eats like a pig, and I could count the number of refusals of food on a single hand. I tend to feed her on the upper end of the 10-15% body weight rule. I've always wondered, though, if her growth is too rapid and if she's getting fat.

In the world of fisheries, length-weight relationships for a given species is often calculated. Perhaps this would be an interesting thing to do for ball pythons on this site. We could probably generate a solid plot with enough samples and figure out where our snakes lie on the curve (above or below). The only problem is that our population of snakes is probably overweight to begin with. Anyone think this is worthwhile?

Sounds like a very good idea. If this method is used elsewhere then it may be suitable for use with our ball pythons

The way I see us moving forward in this is to get an idea of the length & weight that the older ball pythons are (>10yrs, >15yrs, >20yrs). The older the better as these mature balls are more likely to have been fed in a healthy manner to get to their grand age.

You could then get an average weight per unit length (you guys use inches, I use centimetres ) for a healthy adult ball.

Anyone want to start a poll on this to gather data? Branson?, it was your idea so do you wanna run with it?

[seclark]

I would like to pose a question in relationship to some of the thoughts posted on this thread. As humans if we are on a regular feeding schedule our bodies respond well, however if we are not our bodies tend to store fat not knowing when the next meal is. Might this be true with ball pythons? Does anyone have any idea? However the amount of food we need is based upon our activity level and metabolism. I might suggest that it would be better for a ball to be on a schedule (which could very depending on the snake) but the amount of food would be adjusted based upon the needed nutrients at the time. I have only had my ball since April so I have hardly any experince under my belt. I adopted her from a pet store and they told me to feed on a regular schedule every two weeks or after she defecates. I have fed her every two weeks since april and she has not yet skipped a meal. I don't know if she is under or overwieght, (I after reading this post feel the need to by a scale) however she seems to be at a healthy weight to me. This is just my hypothesis and any replies or suggestions are welcome!

[Haydenphoto]

Ive been reading all the post everybody have made but do we really know how they eat in the wild ? Has any research been done ? I would think they eat more then every 7 days in the wild ?

[Bundu Boy]

I would like to pose a question in relationship to some of the thoughts posted on this thread. As humans if we are on a regular feeding schedule our bodies respond well, however if we are not our bodies tend to store fat not knowing when the next meal is. Might this be true with ball pythons? Does anyone have any idea? However the amount of food we need is based upon our activity level and metabolism. I might suggest that it would be better for a ball to be on a schedule (which could very depending on the snake) but the amount of food would be adjusted based upon the needed nutrients at the time. I have only had my ball since April so I have hardly any experince under my belt. I adopted her from a pet store and they told me to feed on a regular schedule every two weeks or after she defecates. I have fed her every two weeks since april and she has not yet skipped a meal. I don't know if she is under or overwieght, (I after reading this post feel the need to by a scale) however she seems to be at a healthy weight to me. This is just my hypothesis and any replies or suggestions are welcome!

That is a very good point there seclark.

Putting things into context. Humans have a much higher metabolism than reptiles, in relation we eat small amounts often to maintain energy for day to day activities. Ball pythons are recommended to be fed 10-15% of their body weight, I weigh 85kg, but I don't eat 8.5-13kg at each meal.

After a meal a healthy adult ball python can last a year without food, we'd last a few weeks...

I think we cannot compare our eating needs/habits to those of a reptile.

But your comments about feeding less on a set schedule are interesting. I have been mulling this over in my mind. I think that 10-15% of body weight one a week is too much, I feel that 5% would be more suitable each week. This would allow less fat to be stored on the animal whilst still providing it with all the nourishment it needs to grow.

These are my thoughts, I've not seen hard facts that feeding smaller meals is detrimental, but I've found plenty saying that feeding every 7-14 days is too much...

[Bundu Boy]

Ive been reading all the post everybody have made but do we really know how they eat in the wild ? Has any research been done ? I would think they eat more then every 7 days in the wild ?

Pythons are generally opportunist feeders who ambush their prey. In the wild food does not arrive on their doorstep once a week, every week.

Sure there may be times of feasting, say during warmer months where the animal may feed a few times a week, but they do this under their instinct that they will be times of famine, when a meal may only come along every month or so.

I cannot say if studies have been done to prove if they eat more or less than every seven days, but it is a known fact that in the wild there are seasons when food is plentiful and when it is scarce....

My view is that in the wild feeding is erratic, you may eat like a king for a few weeks but then no food may be around for a few months...