Feeding

[Tyner]

What should a four foot ball python eat a week? Right now I have mine eating a feeder mouse a week, and I think they should eat more.

Thanks.(:

[RetiredJedi]

Feeder mouse? The best thing to do is to weigh your BP and feed it something that is 10-15% of it's body weight or as big as the thickest part of the BP?

[Bill T]

^^^^^^ what retired jedi said. a full 4 ft bp should eat more than that. i have a female about that size and she eats a full size rat. she is pretty thick tho.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Feeder mouse? The best thing to do is to weigh your BP and feed it something that is 10-15% of it's body weight or as big as the thickest part of the BP?

So this means I need to feed one of my female a rat 350 to 525 grams? . Have you ever fed a 350 grams rat to a BP how often do you do that? How consistent is your BP when it comes to feeding?

There is a difference between what they can eat and how much they need to eat.

While the rule of a prey equaling the girth size is true for an hatchling or a juvenile, one important thing to remember if that when they become older their metabolism starts slowing down and eating on a weekly schedule is likely more food than they really need.

To have an animal that eats with consistency and to limit fasts smaller preys are the way to go, not mentioning possible issue that can results from feeding rats in the 300 to 500 grams range

I can tell you that even the biggest of my girl who is 3500 grams gets rats no bigger than 150 grams and usually it's more around 125 grams. I can tell you that if she is offered a 250 grams rats she will take it however she will be sluggish and uncomfortable for several days afterward, adding to that she will refuse any food coming her way for the next 2 to 3 weeks.


Now to comeback to the original question regarding a 4 feet BP, first thing it will depends on whether it is a female or a male, adult males don't really need anything more than 55-75 grams rats (3 to 4 weeks old) once a week (bigger the male, bigger the rat), female can be fed rats between 85 to 125 grams (4 to 6 weeks old) once a week. Mice equivalent would be 2 to 3 for an adult male or 3 to 5 for a female. Gram per gram of food it's all the same however it makes a lot more sense to feed one pray versus several.

They do not need more than that to thrive and grow.

[Tyner]

Thank you very much. I have a female, and a male that are both about 4ft long, give or take a few inches. When I go to the pet shop next week, I'll try a rat and see how they like it. I'd like them to thicken up a little bit, because their kind of thin and that's what made me wonder about the feeding schedule.