What size rat would you feed a 810 gram "empty" ball python?

[mainbutter]

TBH depending on the snake I might be feeding med rats by then. However most of my medium rats come on the smaller side of the size range.

800 grams is right on that border where I'm thinking of upsizing.

[Jeremy78]

My female weighs in at 810 grams. Whats size rat should i feed her? She loves mice but i want to switch over to rats. Is the switch hard? I tried a f/t small rat thawed it out put it in a box with mouse to get the mouse smell and offered it to snake, she smell it then went on her way. I put a mouse in feeding bin and she ate it with no problem . Do i start her out on stung rats then switch gradually to f/t? I forgot to mention she eats live mice and freshly killed mice.

Thanks alot!!

Hey there!
There are soooo many tricks for feeding f/t. Me personnaly I have some garbage cans that will knock back a room temp f/t but then I have some picky girls who need certain tricks.
Try this..
Next time you thaw out that delicious little morsel, pop it in a ziploc bag seal it and put it in some 112*F tap water (that's the temp of my hot water in my tap) leave the small f/t rat in there for about 15 min. Then when it's nice and warm do the "zombie dance".
Hold the rat by the scruff of the neck with your feeding tongs about 2-3" away from the snakes nose and do a little dance. Even my picky eaters can't resist this.
If this doesn't work maybe try feeding in the enclosure. If you have a hide just do the dance in front of the hide until your snake grabs it.
Good luck!!! Let us know now it goes :-)

[MitsuMike]

Haha the "zombie dance"
But you can do that or heat it up with a hair dryer. (once thawed)
Also try prescenting with the scent of the meal your feeding them. I use the bedding from my rat colony to precent the cages and while doing it I put the rats in a 6 qt or zip lock with some more bedding to make them smell exactly like the prescenting so what the snakes smell to entice them they are also eating.
A good way to tell if prescenting worked is if your snakes head is out of the hide and his tongue is going like crazy or if they are halfway out the hide in the kill mode.
But I would also recommend feeding in the tub/tank

[chapskis1]

Do i start her out on stung rats then switch gradually to f/t? I forgot to mention she eats live mice and freshly killed mice.

Thanks alot!!

I would probably not go with this method. Then you have to introduce wasps or bees, and you are just asking for trouble... Plus, I'm not sure what the benefit of this would be...

[Freakie_frog]

Start with something the same size as an adult mouse. The trick is to fool the snake into thinking it's eating a mouse.

[seeya205]

Start with something the same size as an adult mouse. The trick is to fool the snake into thinking it's eating a mouse.

A rat pup!

[Freakie_frog]

A rat pup!

Well whatever size rat is as big as an Adult Mouse.. I mean it's not any smaller than what it's been eating.

[SERPENT_MASTERS]

i have to agree with purple python. A 810 snake should be fed a rat between 81-122 grams. That is around a medium rat and sometimes you can go bigger depending on how thick your snakes are. Mine are alittle thicker than their 10-15% rule so i go around 18%. Hell my 500 gram normal just put down a 90 gram rat today and it's his width.

your 500 gram normal gobble down a 90 gram rat? Wow! My pastel 810 gram look at a 67 gram frozen rat like " you must be joking, you know im strickly mice" lol!

[SERPENT_MASTERS]

a rat pup!

thanks for the advice! I will pick up some frozen rat pups at expo in two more days. Thanks alot buddy

[SERPENT_MASTERS]

hey there!
There are soooo many tricks for feeding f/t. Me personnaly i have some garbage cans that will knock back a room temp f/t but then i have some picky girls who need certain tricks.
Try this..
Next time you thaw out that delicious little morsel, pop it in a ziploc bag seal it and put it in some 112*f tap water (that's the temp of my hot water in my tap) leave the small f/t rat in there for about 15 min. Then when it's nice and warm do the "zombie dance".
Hold the rat by the scruff of the neck with your feeding tongs about 2-3" away from the snakes nose and do a little dance. Even my picky eaters can't resist this.
If this doesn't work maybe try feeding in the enclosure. If you have a hide just do the dance in front of the hide until your snake grabs it.
Good luck!!! Let us know now it goes :-)

i like the " zombie dance" lol! I will try this and let you know what happen.