Why is he so small?

[MarkS]

Her snake should be able to eat a rat pup but owner thinks they are too big

I agree, rat pups are not too big. Most people will tell you 10-15% of the snakes body weight for prey size. If you go by that rule of thumb you'd be feeding small hopper mice or large rat pinks to a 100g snake, I don't feed anything that small to anything but newborns fresh out of the egg. I've personally never weighed my rodents when feeding but will eyeball them and feed something about as big around as the snake is. As long as it leaves a visible bulge I'm satisfied. 10-15% of body weight may be good enough to maintain an adult but I think hatchlings need more then that if you expect any kind of decent growth rate out of them.

[aLittleLessButter]

I agree, rat pups are not too big. Most people will tell you 10-15% of the snakes body weight for prey size. If you go by that rule of thumb you'd be feeding small hopper mice or large rat pinks to a 100g snake, I don't feed anything that small to anything but newborns fresh out of the egg. I've personally never weighed my rodents when feeding but will eyeball them and feed something about as big around as the snake is. As long as it leaves a visible bulge I'm satisfied. 10-15% of body weight may be good enough to maintain an adult but I think hatchlings need more then that if you expect any kind of decent growth rate out of them.

This 100%. I've never weighed feeders. They don't weigh them in the wild, they eat what ever looks to be appropriately sized prey. I go off of the size of the snakes midsection and also the individuals needs for that season

[gameonpython]

Oh dear is seems that there is some confusion.

At 100 grams(now) Marshall is eating 20-30 gram ASF, which is ultimately the same size as a small mouse or rat pup correct? So what I'm saying is I agree with everyone that he can handle this size.

When he was around 60 grams, I was getting told on this forum that he should be eating rat pups. He was only the thickness of a quarter, and a rat pup was far too big for him to handle. When in doubt, I will go smaller because I do not want a regurge. I was feeding him 10-15 gram hoppers at this time.

Does this make sense?


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[MarkS]

Oh dear is seems that there is some confusion.

At 100 grams(now) Marshall is eating 20-30 gram ASF, which is ultimately the same size as a small mouse or rat pup correct? So what I'm saying is I agree with everyone that he can handle this size.

Sorry for the confusion, this sounds fine. You should have reasonable growth with this diet.

[200xth]

When he was around 60 grams...I was feeding him 10-15 gram hoppers at this time.

Most of mine hatch out slightly bigger than that, but I do the same thing. Mouse hoppers twice a week until they are around 90g to 100g.

I switch them to once a week at 100g but other than that from what I saw, your feeding is very similar to mine as far as size and weight go.

[gameonpython]

Most of mine hatch out slightly bigger than that, but I do the same thing. Mouse hoppers twice a week until they are around 90g to 100g.

I switch them to once a week at 100g but other than that from what I saw, your feeding is very similar to mine as far as size and weight go.

That sounds almost exactly like what I am doing!


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[Sauzo]

You would be surprised at how big a prey ball pythons can eat. You cant compare the prey to their head size or you will be thrown way off. You need to look at their mid section and then get prey that is about 1.5 times bigger than the snakes mid section at the preys widest spot(usually the rear hips). The only snakes I would be careful of are BCC which can/will regurgitate if the prey is too big. Never seen a ball python regurgitate because prey was too big. Dottie has eaten rats so big(because of my miscalculation) that when she got it down she literally looked like she ate a football and she almost went into a food coma on the spot but more or less "waddled" back into her hide and I didn't see her for about 3 days And this was when she was around 200-300g, now she just pounds weanling/small rats like they were pez candy at 500g.

[George1994]

You would be surprised at how big a prey ball pythons can eat. You cant compare the prey to their head size or you will be thrown way off. You need to look at their mid section and then get prey that is about 1.5 times bigger than the snakes mid section at the preys widest spot(usually the rear hips). The only snakes I would be careful of are BCC which can/will regurgitate if the prey is too big. Never seen a ball python regurgitate because prey was too big. Dottie has eaten rats so big(because of my miscalculation) that when she got it down she literally looked like she ate a football and she almost went into a food coma on the spot but more or less "waddled" back into her hide and I didn't see her for about 3 days And this was when she was around 200-300g, now she just pounds weanling/small rats like they were pez candy at 500g.

Why feed prey items 1.5x bigger? There isn't much need for that in my opinion. Sure you can do, but I can also put my head in an alligators mouth haha! Don't mean you really should. Same size as their widest point is comfortable for them to handle and provides a steady rate of growth if fed weekly.

[gameonpython]

Why feed prey items 1.5x bigger? There isn't much need for that in my opinion. Sure you can do, but I can also put my head in an alligators mouth haha! Don't mean you really should. Same size as their widest point is comfortable for them to handle and provides a steady rate of growth if fed weekly.

Exactly. Ball pythons can and will regurgitate if the prey is too big, I for one am not going to take that risk. Slightly wider than the thickest point is okay, but 1.5 times bigger? Yikes!


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[aLittleLessButter]

Exactly. Ball pythons can and will regurgitate if the prey is too big, I for one am not going to take that risk. Slightly wider than the thickest point is okay, but 1.5 times bigger? Yikes!


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Which is exactly why you should pick food based on size and not weight.