Question regarding Feeding

[LavenderFields]

A little backstory:
This summer I got my first Ball Python. The person I got her from said she was a 1.5 year old female, that she was fed once every six weeks, and was on medium rats.

Now, she came with a full set up (besides a heating pad...apparently she was being kept on a garden heat pad or something...who thought that was a good idea I don't know) and there were pieces of old scales all over the enclosure, so clearly she hadn't been shedding in one piece.

Not liking what I heard, I started feeding her once every two weeks on a small rat to try to get her to eat more regularly- No problems whatsoever! She always struck and ate without problems, and I stopped worrying about the whole 'white' thing a month in and she takes them no problem!

Now here's my question:
I'm feeding her once a week, with a small rat and like I said, she eats no problem. Considering she's still relatively young I was thinking it would be best for her to be eating this frequently...but is it? I don't want to 'power feed' as I've heard it referred to, but I also don't want her starving like before. She's /always/ excited and' eager to feed, but should i be concerned about rapid weight gain?

[Kamerick]

Ball pythons will not eat if they are not hungry. I feed my 1 year old male (860g) a small rat every 7 days. Just offer a rat that is about 10-15% of your snake's body weight every week. Good luck with her!

[Velrys]

Another good rule of thumb is that the food item should be as big around as the animal.

"Power Feeding" can't be done accidentally. As long as your BP is actually eating the offered food it is not power feeding. This entails a whole slew of bad practices you have to do intentionally.