fuzzies

[Brandon.O]

i am still trying to switch from live mice to f/t i am trying to do this with small hopper mice. my question was....do you need to do the whack method on fuzzies when they are alive. i am not feeding fuzzies but i was just wondering becuase a fuzzy cant hurt a snake like a larger hopper would but i guess if u wanted to get them switched u would do that ??

[Marla]

You should be able to feed hoppers or small adult mice to a hatchling bp, so fuzzies are irrelevant.

[Brandon.O]

yeah thats what i was thinking but i was going to continue feeding live while he was eating small hoppers but the sooner i have him switched the better, i dont wanna wait until he is eating adult mice or have him hurt.

[Brandon.O]

(i forgot to put this up there) my ball seems a little skinny compared to others. he eats with no problem but he doesnt seem to get any rounder

[ffollett]

If your bp isnt gaining weight you may want to increase the size of his or her food. Also this is a matter of debate with some people but I would try to switch to rats as soon as possible. Eventually you will have to change over or buy stock in mice. The sooner you can get them to start taking rats the better. They also have more nutrition in them for the snake. Rats will also help him get some weight on him sooner. That I know from expereince.

[Brandon.O]

he is only a foot and a few inches long, do u think rap pups are too big ? an adult mouse looks like a big meal for him. are rat pups and adult mice about the same size ?

[gozetec02]

Rat pups maybe a little too wide for a ball python that small. How often are you feeding. Perhaps instead of feeding once a week try feeding every 5 days.

[Brandon.O]

i tried feeding every 5 days but he wasnt intrested. im going to try to feed him again tomorrow (a small frozen hopper) and see if he takes it. he didnt take the last one so i waited a week to let him get a little more hungry so he would take this one, hopefully he will. i had been feeding him live fuzzies but im switching to hoppers so he will gain some weight.

[ffollett]

What about rat pinkies they are about the same size as mouse hoppers

[Brandon.O]

ohh ok ill try those, thanks