Couple of questions, new BP owner

[Chris.]

I've had my BP Onyx for a little over two months now and she's a bit on the weird side so I just need some clarification on some things. My BP eats like a champ (she only accepts live prey) she's on pinkies and fuzzies right now she eats on schedule once a week as she should but she's the type of BP that only poops when she sheds. She shed for the first time this weekend but the weird thing is that she did it in her hide. Is that normal? I didn't know she was shedding until I lifted her hide and there were pieces of skin everywhere haha it was a good shed though. But my second question is if she only poops when she sheds is it still ok to feed her once a week? And if so how much? I usually give her 3 pinkies and urates and pee pass just fine and there are no blockages. Thanks guys.

[RoseyReps]

It really depends on the size of your bp to say how much / big you should feed her. Usually people will tell you 10-15% of her body weight or nothing bigger than the widest part of her body. Hatchlings don't poop much, they use up so much of the nutrients to grow it takes a while for that "trash" to build up. There is nothing wrong with feeding her once a week, and depending on size some people even do every 5 days.

If you are feeding her pinkie mice, I can almost guarantee they are too small for her. Most hatchlings fresh from the egg can take hopper mice, or rat pinkies. Give her a weigh and see

[Chris.]

It really depends on the size of your bp to say how much / big you should feed her. Usually people will tell you 10-15% of her body weight or nothing bigger than the widest part of her body. Hatchlings don't poop much, they use up so much of the nutrients to grow it takes a while for that "trash" to build up. There is nothing wrong with feeding her once a week, and depending on size some people even do every 5 days.

If you are feeding her pinkie mice, I can almost guarantee they are too small for her. Most hatchlings fresh from the egg can take hopper mice, or rat pinkies. Give her a weigh and see

Ah that actually makes sense! I'll weigh her tomorrow because she just ate yesterday any input on the sloughing inside the hide? As opposed to using the $12 stick I bought her? Lol

[Stewart_Reptiles]

For a BP to defecate the BP needs to have waste to eliminate, the frequency and amount will depends on several factors, the animal itself, prey size and feeding frequency.

If you are feeding pink and fuzzy mice, you are UNDERFEEDING your BP, even an hatchling out of it's egg can start of on mice hoppers and can quickly move to adults.

A rule of thumbs for hatchlings and juvies is to feed a prey equal the girth size of the animal which is the widest part of your BP's body (no need for a scale).

Adult feeding is different since their metabolism is different as well.

Keep in mind that a growing BP will utilize most of the prey item for it's growth.

[Chris.]

For a BP to defecate the BP needs to have waste to eliminate, the frequency and amount will depends on several factors, the animal itself, prey size and feeding frequency.

If you are feeding pink and fuzzy mice, you are UNDERFEEDING your BP, even an hatchling out of it's egg can start of on mice hoppers and can quickly move to adults.

A rule of thumbs for hatchlings and juvies is to feed a prey equal the girth size of the animal which is the widest part of your BP's body (no need for a scale).

Adult feeding is different since their metabolism is different as well.

Keep in mind that a growing BP will utilize most of the prey item for it's growth.

Kind of a morbid pic but even those are too small? She ate 3 around that size yesterday and they left a fairly big lump hoppers just seem kind of big to me

[SlitherinSisters]

Kind of a morbid pic but even those are too small? She ate 3 around that size yesterday and they left a fairly big lump hoppers just seem kind of big to me

If you are feeding her multiple of that size it's fine. Can you not get a bigger size? Pinkies are definitely too small for any ball python.

It's totally normal for them to shed in their hide, they typically stay in hiding during the shed process. As for pooping, it depends on how much the snake is eating. Judging by the picture she looks like she could use a little more weight, not that she looks bad. If you want to feed her more often, it's not going to hurt her. If I have a snake that is on the small side I will feed them every 3-4 days.