What size meal to feed? rodent wight vs Ball python wieght

[MeinDraco]

Hey, I heard once there is a good rule of thumb when it comes to rodent size and ball python size. what is the percent of weight that a rodent should be compared to your ball pythons weight?

Thanks

[RichsBallPythons]

Ive never in years done a percentage ever.

Feed what looks appropriate, if its too small, go next size up and so on.

I feed 60-80g rats to adults for life nothing bigger, as they dont need bigger. You will notice if your overfeeding, as you will get a fat snake, as well as excessive poop.

[Trackstrong83]

Best rule of thumb that has worked great for me, try and get a mouse/rat about the same size as the widest part of your snake. (I refer to it as their "hips" lol)

[MeinDraco]

I should have clarified....the reason I am asking about weight is that I switched to African soft furs. they don't get as big as Norwegian rats so I will be feeding more than one at a time to my larger snakes. I like the ASF's because they satisfy my picky eaters and they don't stink up their enclosure like Norwegian rats.

[RichsBallPythons]

I should have clarified....the reason I am asking about weight is that I switched to African soft furs. they don't get as big as Norwegian rats so I will be feeding more than one at a time to my larger snakes. I like the ASF's because they satisfy my picky eaters and they don't stink up their enclosure like Norwegian rats.

Even then 1 Full grown ASF is plenty for an adult ball python every 5 days. Adult ASF are same at Sm Rats in the 60-80g range which is plenty.

[Trackstrong83]

Ohhh okay I see
I am just feeding mine mice from the local pet store, I know there are people on here that are more accustomed to ASF's that I am.

[RichsBallPythons]

Even on Occasion I get 100g+ Adult ASF

[The Serpent Merchant]

it's 10%-15% of the snakes body weight. (This works well for young Ball Pythons but not as well for adult BP's)

[MeinDraco]

OK great that helps. I thought it was something like 10-15% of body weight. I am starting an ASF colony and it will be awhile until they get to full adult size so I may have to feed a couple smaller ones at a time.

Thanks again