BIG snake, small meal

[Kaorte]

Any particular reason why you can breed mice but not rats?

your snake will probably be moving up to 2 mice a week pretty soon. That is a typical meal for a juvenile. An adult ball pythons will eat about 4-5 full grown mice once per week.

[don15681]

You can feed an adult ball python mice all their life. Yes, it will take more mice than rats. I have a female a little over 4000 grams thats a mouse feeder. I offer her food every 3 days, 2 to 3 mice if she takes them. sometimes not, and she puts her weight back on quickly after laying eggs. Get a scale and weigh her. This will be your best judge on how much to feed her. Also there are so many keepers out there that keep the hot side very hot. not that it's going to burn the snake, but the snake metabolizes it's food faster, and doesn't get as much out of the food item. I read keepers with temps at 92 to 94, Dr. Scott Stahl (not sure on the spelling) one of the top vets for ball pythons keeps his hot side at 85. I keep my around 88. Why? when all my snakes poop it is digested to the point it should be. Also there are many large breeders that drop the temps on males durning breeding season to around 86 on the hot side, the reason I was told, it's less of a chance for damaging the sperm with these temps, I read so many posts that saids that this is what you need to do, No, It should say, This is what you need to try.This is a hobby with still so much to learn, what works for one, doesn't always work for the other.

Someone might post something after this post and disagree with something in here. I'll read it, using common sense might try it, and could change my mind. nothing is written in stone, which is one of the reasons I enjoy this hobby.

[Savage420Siege]

Any particular reason why you can breed mice but not rats?

your snake will probably be moving up to 2 mice a week pretty soon. That is a typical meal for a juvenile. An adult ball pythons will eat about 4-5 full grown mice once per week.

First of all, where is the best place to get a scale to monitor the snakes weight, and what kind of scale should I buy (digital/other) ?

No reason at all, actually this is why I posted this thread. No matter what I do I will be keeping the mouse colonies as my 2 bearded dragons relish young mice. Is there a particular strain/species of rat that is best for BPs, or can I just breed fancy rats? Can someone who is currently breeding rats give me some pointers/info...like: What size of cage/tank to breed them in? Is two females and one male sufficient to keep a consistant supply for one snake? Anything you people can tell me will be great!

[Kaorte]

You can get a gram kitchen scale from walmart or target for about $20. Just make sure they can go up to like 5,000 grams or so.

If that is the reason why you want to keep the mice (small babys) then I would try and get a colony of African Soft Furred rats (ASFs) they are pretty small as babys and when they are full grown they make great meals for adult ball pythons.

[Savage420Siege]

You can get a gram kitchen scale from walmart or target for about $20. Just make sure they can go up to like 5,000 grams or so.

If that is the reason why you want to keep the mice (small babys) then I would try and get a colony of African Soft Furred rats (ASFs) they are pretty small as babys and when they are full grown they make great meals for adult ball pythons.

Great, Thank you!

Just bought a 5000 gram scale on eBay. Now for the Rats, if I cannot get ASF locally will normal "Fancy Rats" be ok? This is assuming that I can get my snake to take them after eating live mice.

[Kaorte]

Yeah a normal rat will be fine. I was just trying to kill two birds with one stone for you. A prey item that will grow to the size of a small rat for the ball python, and a baby that will be small enough for your bearded dragons.