ANOTHER newbie question >.<

[qman1126]

ugh hopefully i can one day start answering questions instead of asking them, but BPs are still too new to me [Panther chameleon RIP :*( ]. but anyway, finaly got my BP to start eating again!!! but heres the thing, last thing she ate was a small rat, now she just ate a large mouse, is that change in food size bad for them? and she ate some aspen bedding stuck to the mouse? o and she ate it tail first which idk bout BPs but dnt snakes eat head first? O AND the time between the rat and the mouse was about 10 days, should i keep doin 10 days or wait for her to poop, then feed aft each poop? i knw im a wreck but this forum keeps giving me good answers

[shorty54]

I personally rotate from rats to mice. Depends on what I have available. I raise my own rats and mice. Plus none of my snakes are full grown adults. Some say it's bad and some say it's good. I have a friend who is a breeder of many different reptiles and only feeds mice to all of his snakes. As far as size, you want it to be the proper size for the snake. A small rat is the same size as a adult mouse. So, which is better? Good question....you can look at it from both sides. The yound rat has just started eating hard food and is on milk from the mother. Is this better than a adult mouse that eats hardy meals? I have a male BP who when I feed mice, he gets two to three.

[Alexandra V]

It's not really bad, per se, just make sure it's within a size range that your snake can handle. As for switching between mice and rats, from what I gather your snake was off feed before? If so, you might just want to stick with one prey type for a little while to make sure you don't do anything that would throw it of again.

As for the stuck bedding... I remember, it's happened a couple times where my ball ingested a little aspen or coconut, and I always FREAK OUT. But he always ends up fine. As long as it isn't like humongous amounts of aspen (a couple chips is fine) and it doesn't happen too often you have nothing to worry about. Snakes can break down bones, and although I do understand that snakes cannot break down plant cellulose a little bit in a blue moon is still within their means to handle. What would happen if a ball in nature ate a dead rat outside and it had some stuff stuck to it? Surely nature wouldn't have made them, occasional carrion eaters, so fragile that they wouldn't be able to handle a little bit more "fiber".

Yeah, snakes do tend to eat head first, but as long as they get it down the direction in which they swallow doesn't really matter. Sometimes they do it because the prey is too small, sometimes they just feel goofy, nobody knows.

You can continue to feed every 10 days, or even 7 if you wanted (if it's a younger snake I'd want to lean more towards 7). If you wait till she poops to feed her you may end up only feeding her once a month, maybe even longer in between. She can eat even if she hasn't pooped.

[MissDizzyBee]

Don't worry about him eating backwards. They normally swallow front-first,but sometimes they go a little stupid and do it the hard way.

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[Sombra]

good to know

[Drumsinthenight.]

Rats or mice its all food and it don't hurt to change it up.

Feeding every 10 days is not enough unless it's a large adult. feed a smaller BP at least every 7days and its ok to feed every 5 days if its a growing baby female.

[ss10gotanks]

Changing from mouse to rat shouldnt matter if it eats both of them. The good thing about rats is that in their growth cycle theyll be able to feed most sizes of ball pythons up to adults. When you ball pythons get to be adults youd have to feed the multiple mice to fill them up cause they only get so big. I dont think aspen getting eaten every once in a while is a big deal. but it can cause health issues. I reccomend either feeding them in a seperate tank or if they dont work well with that then change the bedding. I have found success with indoor/outdoor astroturf. You can get it at homedepot for pretty cheap. You can get enough to have a spare for your tank and when one needs cleaning go outside and spray it down with the hose and let it dry and use the other one while your cleaning it. As far as feeding goes I wouldnt do every 10 days unless its an older snake. Mine are 6-12 months and i have all of them on a 5 day or 7 day cycle. The way i do it is, I start with 5 days and when they start consistently refusing everyother feeding them i move them to a week.

[TDent1]

I'm somewhat of a newbie myself, but I've gotten a lot of answers to similar questions. Here's what I've learned... If the snake is eating tail first, it may mean the prey is too small. Currently, I own two snakes.... My male Ball just barely manages adult mice, while my female Blood is perfectly capable of taking large rat fuzzies... The ball weighs around 130g, and the Blood weighs 280g. The Ball is eating about as big as he can. I would switch back to the small rats if you can since they're likely larger than the mice you tried feeding. My male never turns down a meal, F/T or live, and he eats every 5 days. Don't be afraid to feed at least once every 7 days. They'll eat ever 5 days if you want to beef them up a little. Also, I asked recently about rat vs. mice nutrition and from what I understand, rats are no more nutritious than a mouse of the same size. So, in your case, I'd say throw the biggest rodent in there that you think she can swallow. Chances are she can kill and eat a rodent as big as she is round at her thickest point. I'm always amazed by what they can take down. Good luck!