Switched to F/T -- Too Large?!?! - Some Concerns - Please Advise

[Emily Hubbard]

I just fed my snake her first 50gm rat and she is 300gm. By the weight rule, your guy is pretty. small for them, however, you saw him prove that snakes can swallow a lot more than we give them credit for. Personally, I did not feel comfortable feeding my snake a meal yours is getting until she was almost twice his size. HOWEVER, that was me, I am not going to tell you it is wrong. But I think his hesitation MAY be because it was a big meal and it took him some time to figure out how to go about it. But he did it, which is very impressive....

Getting them on rats sooner rather than later is always a good thing. If you have a 1500+gm snake someday that is eating mice, that is a whooooole lot of mice you have to feed on one sitting. Also, your snake successfully made the switch to rats AND f/t in the same try, which is an epic win! Also, I have heard a lot of stories about snakes who started on live not coiling for f/t. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it just seems some actually do know the difference between live and dead and will eat it anyway, just save the energy. My snake has only had f/t and she strikes and coils every time, and there and some who have switched who will still strike and coil. If yours stopped, he's just a little smarter and knows not to waste his time.

All I can tell you is that my snake ate adult mice until she was 300gm (two days ago) and then I gave her a 50gm rat. I don't have enough experience to tell you that you are feeding meals that are too big, I can just tell you that I personally did not, which doesn't make either of us wrong. But you certainly have a ball python that is not a picky eater, which is a VERY good sign, not everyone is so lucky!