9 months old and about 35 cm...

[astral_dream_god]

Okay well at the rate you are going, you are going to starve the snake to death.

You can tell if the snake is obese because you will be able to see skin in between the scales. Kind of like they are stretched apart.

So what should I do?feed her 2 fuzzyes once 5 days?

[Kaorte]

So what should I do?feed her 2 fuzzyes once 5 days?

That wold probably be more appropriate for the time being.

If you can, I would get a digital kitchen scale to keep track of the snakes weight. This will also help you decide how much to feed your snake. I feed 10-15% of my snakes body weight once every 5-7 days. This is a pretty good rule to follow while the snake is still growing.

[angllady2]

I think that it is good you are trying so hard for this baby. I understand about being worried about the eating habits. I have a little tiny BP, and when I first got her she refused to eat for three weeks. So was so skinny and so tiny I was afraid to give her the right size food because it looked so huge for her tiny self.

But, after I got her two or three little tiny mice, she started looking for the rest of the food each time she ate. So I bumped up from feeding one to feeding two. She did that twice, but she was STILL looking for more. So I got her the next size of mouse, but that mouse looked HUGE compared to her. She gulped it down like she'd never eaten before and wanted another!

I made her wait the 5 days, then I gave her two that size. She looked like she had swallowed a baseball bat, but she was happy. Now she takes two every 5 days, and she's not fat, just normal size. You'd have to feed your snake a lot of prey for a long, long time to make her fat. She will be just fine with two hopper size mice or two fuzzy rats every 5 days for a while. The good rule is 10 - 15 % of the snakes weight every five days until they are about 500 grams, then drop back to once a week.

If you have trouble finding a local source of food for her, check online. There are a number of sources of pre-frozen mice and rats as well as a few that sell live. Some places you have to buy a ridiculous amount, like 50 at a time, but I've seen some that sell as few as 10 at a time.

But really, don't worry about making her fat. You'd have to feed her one or two mice/rats every day for months to make her that fat!

Best of luck with your baby.

gale

[Patricia]

So I got my ball python about 2 months now and the pet store guy that I got her from told me that she is 7 months old,she was shorter when i got her and now at 9 months she is about 35 cm.

No one seems alarmed at that size. 12" = 30cm. This 9-month-old BP is only little over a foot long! Aren't hatchlings close to that size?

Astral, if the snake really is 9 months old and only 35cm, that's very small. Try to weigh it. At 9 months old mine was 400g and about 75cm, and others are bigger. Is it very thin? If the shape of it is like a round circle, then it's good. If it's narrow, more like a triangle, that's VERY thin.

Don't worry about making it fat, as it sounds like it's starving at the moment. Feed 2 fuzzies every 5 days. It should soon fill out, and then you can move up to the next size. I feed mine 2 adult mice for a total of 40-45g.

Good luck!

[astral_dream_god]

I think that it is good you are trying so hard for this baby. I understand about being worried about the eating habits. I have a little tiny BP, and when I first got her she refused to eat for three weeks. So was so skinny and so tiny I was afraid to give her the right size food because it looked so huge for her tiny self.

But, after I got her two or three little tiny mice, she started looking for the rest of the food each time she ate. So I bumped up from feeding one to feeding two. She did that twice, but she was STILL looking for more. So I got her the next size of mouse, but that mouse looked HUGE compared to her. She gulped it down like she'd never eaten before and wanted another!

I made her wait the 5 days, then I gave her two that size. She looked like she had swallowed a baseball bat, but she was happy. Now she takes two every 5 days, and she's not fat, just normal size. You'd have to feed your snake a lot of prey for a long, long time to make her fat. She will be just fine with two hopper size mice or two fuzzy rats every 5 days for a while. The good rule is 10 - 15 % of the snakes weight every five days until they are about 500 grams, then drop back to once a week.

If you have trouble finding a local source of food for her, check online. There are a number of sources of pre-frozen mice and rats as well as a few that sell live. Some places you have to buy a ridiculous amount, like 50 at a time, but I've seen some that sell as few as 10 at a time.

But really, don't worry about making her fat. You'd have to feed her one or two mice/rats every day for months to make her that fat!

Best of luck with your baby.

gale

Please tell me a site or two where I can buy frozen mice or rats online,a site that ships to Europe,Romania more exactly...and that doesn't need to buy 50 because like that I have seen,It would be really helpful...

[Jt.]

Well I have mice fuzzyes and here in romania you buy the snake...at an overhight price I might add but you can't buy food for it because they don't have it so you buy the snake but it will die from hunger because they don't offer food to buy...so this fuzzy mice i went to hell to procure it's all i got...When i said sick from overfeeding i ment an obese snake because i saw some short but very thick snakes and i don't like that at all...

If it's that hard to find food for the snake, why buy the snake?

Don't get me wrong, I had trouble finding rodents in my hillbilly town too. So what I did was start breeding my own but you also said you don't want rats in your house.

Good luck on finding a reliable source of rodents.