new to ball pythons

[tonkatoyman]

I noticed you have only had him a week. we generally recommend to our customers that they don't attempt to offer food or even mess with the animal for a week. Then offer food. If they refuse wait a week leaving it alone and try again. a ball python will not eat if it feels insecure. It takes time with some to get acclimated to the new environment. Also we start many of our new hatchlings on hopper mice or rat fuzzies. Just look at the girth of the snake and feed something about the same size. Hope that helps

[MsMissy]

Is there a chart somewhere here that shows the progression of rats? Like approx weights for them as they grow? My newest Cheddar is a year old, 450 gram bp. He's getting ready to shed so not feeding him just yet but it's coming and I need to be prepared. He'll be at 3 weeks with no food as the seller had fed him a week before I got him. Between that and getting his tank set up and waiting for a thermostat and him now going into shed, poor guy has got to be getting hungry.

[the_reaper]

Based off of all the input im going to try feeding him frozen fuzzies next week if I can find some.

[norwegn113]

Is there a chart somewhere here that shows the progression of rats? Like approx weights for them as they grow? My newest Cheddar is a year old, 450 gram bp. He's getting ready to shed so not feeding him just yet but it's coming and I need to be prepared. He'll be at 3 weeks with no food as the seller had fed him a week before I got him. Between that and getting his tank set up and waiting for a thermostat and him now going into shed, poor guy has got to be getting hungry.

Ms Missy, There is not a chart as far as " if your snake is 300 grams then feed him a 30 gram rat as far as I know , because everyones snakes are different but as rule of thumb I believe its 10-15% of your snakes weight. I personally use the girth method. I feed my ball pythons rats that are about as round as the thickest part of their bodies and it has worked great for me.

[norwegn113]

Rat progression by weight and size
Pinkies = 3-8 grams 1.5-2 inches
Fuzzies = 9-19 grams 2-2.5 inches
Pups = 20-29 grams 2.5-3.5 inches
Weanlings = 30-44 grams 3.5-4.5 inches
Small = 45-84 grams 4.5-6 inches
Medium = 85-174 grams 6-8 inches
Large = 175-274 grams 8-9 inches
XL or Jumbo = 275-374 grams 9-11 inches
XXL or Colossal = 375-474 11-13 inches
XXL or Mammoth = 475-600 grams 11-13 inches

[bcr229]

I found this handy chart on another forum, and have it printed and in my herp room for reference.

[MsMissy]

Perfect!!

Thank you very much, I'll be adding that to my snake files. I'm going to switch my female to rats since my male already needs them, no sense in having to do both. Once I get this all taken care of and I settle into a normal schedule with the snakes, it might just be time to start a small rat breeding set up. Only one store here does them. Given that I have several friends here in need of a good supplier, I figure it will pay for itself in no time.

[SlitherinSisters]

A hopper mouse or a fuzzy rat should be fine. There are pretty much no ball pythons that should be fed pinkies, they are way too small. You want to see the lump in your snake after it eats.

The only exception for feeding pinkies if you are assist feeding a hatchling or feeding a hatchling that is extremely underweight to help avoid overloading their system.



Here is a picture I took for size comparison. He already has a rat that size in his belly. The thing I learned with these guys is to feed them a prey item that looks slightly too big. That should be about the perfect size. I did not feed him two,I only put this one in for the picture. The snake was about 75 grams in this picture.

[martin82531]