Feeding question

[evan385]

I have a question about feeding, and I know already this question is going to get some mixed responses but please bear with me. As you know I have a female ball python, well when I weighed her a couple weeks ago she was 484g, and hadn't lost any weight when I weighed her again on Thursday. The problem is that she is almost one year and a half old. I'm figuring she should be about 1000g right now, or at least 800. She's very underweight I know, she was the size of a hatchling when I got her as six months old plus the two months she didn't eat when she broke her jaw are a couple reasons for her weight. Not I went to Critter Barn to buy some live rats, since she won't touch F/T anymore. I asked for two smalls for Thor and two mediums for Cpt Hook. Well these rats are very well fed, the smalls were what I would call mediums and the mediums what I would call a large. I explained my situation and said that I feed by weight. Larry said that you can't do that, when a snake is that underweight you can't feed by weight you need to feed them a bigger rat so they can pack on weight. So I went with it because he has over twenty years experience and every time I go there all of his animals are extremely healthy and well cared for. So I feed her this rat, and after I weight her I find that this rat was 190g and she now weighs a whopping 670 grams full. She still has an impressive lump five days later and apparently has just only started digestion within the last couple days. She swallowed it fine even though it took her an hour. Was this the right thing to do? I still have one more, she was so skinny for being 2'10 and I feel like I should feed her as much as she can handle so she can pack on weight. I still have one more of the "medium" sized rats, is it okay to go ahead and feed it to her before going back to a smaller size? Also I will be taking her to the vet since she has shown one sign of an RI, a popping sound she's made for a long as I can remember. While i'm there I will have a fecal done to check for parasites. Thank you for your time.

[RobNJ]

I wouldn't feed my snakes anything that will leave an impressive lump for 5 days.

And this may or may not pertain to your snake in particular, but I really don't know where or when people started thinking their snakes should be a certain weight/size. Unless it is noticeably skinny, it should be the size it is. Some snakes metabolize and transfer the metabolic energy into growth at a much faster rate than others. I have 5 2010's, ranging from 550-1,800 grams, and not one is underfed, "too small", or should be any bigger.

[Annarose15]

Way too big - she's going to poop out most of it, and will likely be a while before she'll even eat again. If you are worried about her needing to gain weight, go for smaller meals every 5 days (35-40g). I wouldn't even be worried about pushing growth on her if she has proper body tone. I have a 17mo old that is spotty about feeding and is only 550g - it's just the rate she's growing.

I have a 3000g female, and the largest I've fed her is ~120g. 190g sounds more like a blood python meal to me.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I wouldn't trust that guy. Why wouldn't you feed by weight? I would feed 10%-15% of the snakes body weight.

[Skittles1101]

I agree that you risked a lot feeding her that large of a meal. Definitely take it down a notch next feeding, hopefully at least another 5 days from now.

[evan385]

Thank you all for your advise. And she is noticeably skinny. I have a six month old pastel who is about 480 grams and his tail is nice and plump. He looked like that when I got him and in my opinion he is a good example of a healthy ball python. And going by that and seeing as she is skinny for a ball python that is 2'10" i'd say she is underweight. I guess I figured he knew what he was doing after 20 years. Thanks again and i'll wait another week and go down to the "small but actually medium" size which is about 15% of her body weight. Maybe i'll use the bigger one for a breeder, since he is tawny and white.

[Annarose15]

I don't know anyone from Critter Barn, but I have noticed that people with general snake experience will make broad generalizations that simply don't apply to BPs (or any specific snake when you get down to it). What works for boas doesn't work for balls, etc., not that I've met anyone that recommends feeding any animal 40% of their body weight. This is one of the reasons I believe new owners get such bad information from chain pet stores - the training is not species-specific even when the employees want to give good information.

[evan385]

I don't know anyone from Critter Barn, but I have noticed that people with general snake experience will make broad generalizations that simply don't apply to BPs (or any specific snake when you get down to it). What works for boas doesn't work for balls, etc., not that I've met anyone that recommends feeding any animal 40% of their body weight. This is one of the reasons I believe new owners get such bad information from chain pet stores - the training is not species-specific even when the employees want to give good information.

I'm not a newbie..i've been keeping balls for a year now and i've been on this forum every day learning as much as I can. I made a mistake, the way he said it coupled with me being worried about her weight..it made sense at the time. What more can I say?

[Annarose15]

I'm not a newbie..i've been keeping balls for a year now and i've been on this forum every day learning as much as I can. I made a mistake, the way he said it coupled with me being worried about her weight..it made sense at the time. What more can I say?

I'm sorry if that came across as me jumping on you - I was actually referring to the person that gave you bad advice. It can definitely be hard to disregard someone who you know has years in the industry, especially when you're concerned about one of your animals.

[evan385]

I'm sorry if that came across as me jumping on you - I was actually referring to the person that gave you bad advice. It can definitely be hard to disregard someone who you know has years in the industry, especially when you're concerned about one of your animals.

Thank you for your advise and that's totally okay. To be honest, he keeps multiple snakes in the same tank, no more than three and he doesn't do anything by weight. Plus he keeps them all in tanks though I have suggested switching to tubs. At least they all look healthy and well fed. And I can't say that I wouldn't do business with him. He's much better than my local Petsmart and he has the best prices on feeders. I'm actually going to buy a BCI from him on Thursday as long as she's very healthy, but i've never seen a sickly or skinny snake in his care.