My ball python undereats

[ogdentrece]

Hey guys I have a young ball at 280-300g, and as far as I understand I should be feeding him about 10-15% of his weight weekly, so that's like 30-45g rats or mice correct? He's still on mice, and mice look pretty big for their weight so I do weigh them before offering.

I usually offer a 15-20g adult followed by a 20-25g one. Honestly despite their weight, the mice look about the same size as him, if not for the weighing scale I'd probably be feeding only 1 a week. But usually after eating the first one, he would just hide away and refuse the second helping. I know he can eat multiple meals hes even take 3 small ones before. Nor is it the size of the mouse, if I offer the bigger one first he'll take it, but the same thing happens he refuses the second helping.

Any cause for concern here? How do I up his intake? I know I should be changing to rats about now if I can but for now they arent available and I dont know why but a single 40g rat look pretty big for him. He has never rejected a meal before, but he gets full too quickly..

[JLC]

The "10%-15%" is just a guideline...not some hard and fast rule you have to obey. If your snake is eating one mouse a week at the sizes you describe, he's still getting WAY more food averaged out over the year than he'd ever get in the wild.

As the snake grows, you may try switching to rats since it seems he prefers one rodent per meal rather than multiples....but it could be that the snake also just knows when he's had enough and he'll be ready to eat multiple mice when he needs more than ~20g of rodent.

[szynk450]

yea i feed all my snakes rats.... my 270 gram female pastel will destroy 45-55gram rat pups its all on the snake, at ur weight i wouldnt waste time with mice especially 15-20 gram thats basically hopper size.. get him some rat pups and be all set !

[vangarret2000]

If he is only wanting to take one per feeding then you just need to be feeding one properly size item instead of multiple smaller items. Don't worry too much about the prey weight, just make sure it is about as fat as the largest width of the snake.

[vangarret2000]

yea i feed all my snakes rats.... my 270 gram female pastel will destroy 45-55gram rat pups its all on the snake, at ur weight i wouldnt waste time with mice especially 15-20 gram thats basically hopper size.. get him some rat pups and be all set !

15-20 grams isn't basically hopper size. Hoppers are generally 7 or 8 to 11 or 12 grams.

[ogdentrece]

Thanks for all the replies! I was just wondering if he does need more since its so far below the 10% mark. Well he's growing and putting on weight just fine so with these comments my minds at ease, thanks. But I'm still v thankful he eats at all. Now to focus on my adult male who's still on his 6month and counting hunger strike... And he's not on mice dont worry.

15-20g is almost an adult for mice, mice are pretty light really. Most of my male adults are at just above 20g, females get slightly larger to 25+. It takes really long and really well fed mice to get past 30g in my opinion, maybe its also because of my warm climate. I know for sure because I do breed mice at home. It started out as an unintended result and an accident, but I find it really fulfilling when they breed so I've kept going.