No. There is no otherwise healthy ball python anywhere that will starve to death if it misses a week of food simply due to lack of food. If a meal is skipped and it dies, it has some other enormous issue besides lack of food.Originally Posted by Karokash
A brand new, out of the egg hatchling can go 7 or 8 weeks without any food and still have more time. Juvies and subadults can go months and months if they need to. Adults can go over a year in some cases. If an otherwise healthy ball python starves to death, it's because of monumental neglect that you as an owner who cares about their snake will have easily noticed long before it reached that point.
As for the feeding question, it's partially a matter of how fast you want your snake to grow, and partially a matter of your scheduling. Some people can easily do rotating 4 or 5 day schedules, some find it much easier to do once a week. Either works. The more often you feed it, the faster it will grow. It's not really a race, so it's up to you figure out what you want. Find what works for you and your snake.
I will say, if you are feeding appropriately sized food, once a week is enough for them to grow consistently. If you were feeding once a week and he got skinny you were feeding him food that was too small.
Just as a quick example, at 90g to 100g I switch my hatchlings to 1 rat pup a week. They continue to grow consistently without issue until I switch them to weaned rats at 230g to 250g.
Whatever you do, remember there are multiple ways to do all of this. All of the advice you got probably worked for each person giving it to you. Part of figuring this out is simply experimenting a little bit, tracking feedings and weights, and deciding what works for you and your snake to achieve the results you are happy with.
Reply With Quote