Ball python Feeding

[Chris Cash]

Ive purchased my ball python a few months ago and looking at her (or as far i know her) feeding chart from petco shes spent about 6 months there, and only about two in my own care. So i'd estimate shes about 7 months old depending on how long petco keeps their snakes before they ship them out. She's a very good eater and will eat anything i offer her in before shed and also deep into shed. I feed her right now 1-2 hopper mice and im not very sure if thats big enough for her or if thats what she needs.

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Im about about 6 feet and she's as long as my legs but i feel she should be much larger around, shes kinda skinny but has a huge appetite. shes about the width of my pointer and middle fingers and the fattest part of her body.

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does this look like the right size and what size mice and or rats should i be feeding her at this stage in her life?

I keep her in a 30 gallon terrarium at the time being until she grows out of it. i keep the heat at a steady 85-90 degrees and humidity around 50-60, i have a vine for he to climb on a log to get under on the cold side and on the warm side with a heat pad under the tank i have a hide. i also keep the water bowl in the center of the tank.

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thanks for everyones time and if you cant see the pictures sorry i tried my best to get them on here.

[jasonmcgilvrey83]

Your photos didn't show up. A good rule of thump is to feed her a rat or mouse the size of the thickist part of her body. She will plump up quick by doing so.

[Eric Alan]

You need to upload your pictures to a third party site before linking to them on here (http://photobucket.com/ is a common one).

Without being able to actually see your pictures, my guess would that she'd be on weaned rats (3.5-4.5" body, 35-49 grams) about every 4 days.

[C2tcardin]

Sounds like way too small a meal for a 7 month old snake. As an example last night I fed my Coral Glow, who hatched on7/5/14 a small to medium sized mouse and he pounded it down no problem. His weight on 8/21 was 122g and I would guess he's already added at least another 10g's. (I usually only weigh them every couple of weeks.) I also have a Mojave that hatched on 8/4/14 and is currently 90 grams and she took a small mouse the other night too. So my youngest animal, the Mojave, has already moved beyond hoppers without issue. I agree with Eric, at 7 months your snake should easily be taking medium to large mice or small rats.