Yay, rats! & a question regarding powerfeeding

[Alyvrae]

Hi all!

Today, after feeding my BP mice for the past 3 months, I switched him over to rats. Thankfully, he seems to have had no problems making the switch, he took those rats the second I dropped them in his enclosure!!

But something got me thinking. When I got this lil guy, he was the teeniest thing ever. Not quite a hatchling, but I don't think he could have been over a month/month and a half old. Now, he's getting so big! He's grown very fast, and me and my boyfriend both agree that he's pretty thick.

I've asked various people (that own BPs) about the concept of powerfeeding. I wanted to make sure that I was staying away from any kind of powerfeeding because I know it is very bad for the health of the snake in the long run. My friends told me "No, that's just normal, they grow very fast in the first few months and then stop". But he's growing so fast that I'm starting to get worried.

I don't have any accurate weights to give because my scale is broken But I wanted to ask what the signs of powerfeeding are. Are there any indicators I can look for that would tell me that I'm feeding my snake too much? He's never regurged, never refused, always been a great eater. But what should I look out for?

Thanks!

[angllady2]

If your snake is resting and relaxed such as on the floor or a bed, look carefully at his scales.

If you can see skin between the scales while he's resting he's fat. If not he's ok.

I know baby balls can grow at a ridiculous rate sometimes, some of mine have.

Gale

[Alyvrae]

Also I wanted to note that he has shed for me twice so far. He seems to be right on schedule with his shedding, and also his pooping.

Thank you for the advice angllady2, I will make sure to look at him!

[AkHerps]

How often are you feeding? Some consider every 3 days power feeding. I keep my baby snakes every 5 days, and adults every 7.

The skin through the scales is also not the best indication of whether or not your snake is fat, as some ball pythons are a lot larger than others, but I think with a young snake that would be right, and that would probably be one fat snake!

My hatchling didn't eat for almost 2 months when I got him, and now in the mast month or two, he has exploded. Babies do grow really fast. Think of them almost like large breed puppies. Great dane and mastiff puppies explode before inbetween 8 weeks and 12 months, although you can power feed a large breed puppy too much and kill them, snakes don't have this problem if you realize you are feeding them too much on accident, you can just back it down without causing any harm.

[Alyvrae]

I feed him every 7 days, every Sunday. We skip meals when he is shedding (e.g. in blue on feeding day) and we've stuck to that since we got him, and so has he. Taken everything I've thrown at him so far.

Edit: Before, we were feeding him mice. Most recently, he was pounding down 3 medium mice per feeding. He always seemed hungry even after feeding him the three mice, by mid-week he would be "asking" me for food. When I come towards his cage, he stuck his head out and acts the way he would on feeding day. So today we bought him 2 rat pups. I thought that might be too much but I figured we would see how it went and if he would be satisfied with that. He took them both with absolutely no issues and has been chillin' on his UTH ever since. (Or should I say warmin'?)

[AkHerps]

Yeah I don't see a problem at all with what and how frequently you are feeding. My hatchling gets either gets two f/t hoppers every 5 days or one adult f/t mouse.

[SnakeKB]

I think your feeding him fine. My babies that are just over a month old and are getting adult mice (20g) every 5 days. The weights on my snakes are 165g, 145g, and 110g right now. The smallest one didnt eat at first but shes catching up now. Im going to try switching them all over to rats here shortly.

[Darkice]

For about the first 6 months I feed them every 4 or 5 days. Most of the time they take it. If you offer the snake a meal and it takes it voluntarily it’s not being power fed. If you offer the snake a meal and while it is swallowing try to ram in a second meal at the same time as the first then that is power feeding. You are causing the snake to eat more then it normally would.

So if you offer it food and it takes it then you’re ok. Don’t try to sneak in extra rats while its already eating.

The snake knows if its hungry. It will refuse a meal if it’s not 100% comfortable with it. Hatchlings should be aggressive eaters there is nothing wrong with them eating about every 4 days. After about 6 months they will slow down on the eating all by themselves.