Ball Python Prey Size

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Now, to my understanding, a good indicator of the size food for your BP is about as big as their girthiest body segment.

Yes up until a certain point, about 500 grams.

It's important to understand that their metabolism changes tremendously as they get older.

Feeding smaller prey weekly will allow you to have an animal eating with consistency.

I have several females 3000 grams and up including up to 4000 grams and even those females eat a medium rat around 125/150 grams a week, males even the largest ones around 1500 grams do not get anything larger than small rats (55/75 grams) every 7 days with breaks here and there.

Always keep in mind that there is a big difference between what they are capable of eating and what they need to thrive and be healthy.

Sure a large female could take down a large 200/250 grams rat however if would make it very risky if fed live, and while she might eat that rat she is likely to refuse food for the next several week, making the food intake less than if you were feeding small prey weekly. The female would also be sluggish for days.

[AlwaysSunnyJenn]

I will try to keep this short and to the point. I'm debating with my girlfriend about the size of the food to feed our ball pythons. We have several ranging from a sub 100 gram baby to a 1400 gram adult as well as a 600 gram female and 900 gram male.

Now, to my understanding, a good indicator of the size food for your BP is about as big as their girthiest body segment. However (and if this is wrong which I think it is please back me up here) she is afraid to switch our biggest female (1400 grams) to medium rats because she feels like its too big for her to swallow. If you look at her, her body seems a little larger than what our pet store defines as a medium rat, although her head is maybe 1/4th the size of the rats widest part.

Am I wrong for thinking she could be switched? She wants to eventually breed that female to my male, but I've told her I refuse to breed anyone until we have females at at least 1800 grams. Only way to grow is to eat right? At the end of the day, when mine are big enough, I'm prepared to switch them to medium rats. (The 600 and 900 gram snakes are exclusively mine, while the other 2 are hers. I cant force her to do something she isnt comfortable doing with her pets, just like she cant stop me from doing what I think will be best for mine)

The proof of who's right will be in the results in the end. I suspect that when mine are wide bodied enough to comfortably take down a medium rat, as long as they are healthy, their head and neck will stretch to accomodate. One thing I won't do, is feed anything bigger than my snakes widest area, since I don't want to injure them. Am I wrong here? Should that big females stay on small rats, or am I not so crazy for thinking she can take mediums. She's been her current size for a long time, and I don't think she's going to get any bigger unless her food intake was to go up.

If she is right, and the head is indeed too small to take down a medium rat, would a good backup plan be to feed meals of say a small rat, and then something smaller to compensate for the difference in mass from a small rat to a medium? Any and all help and advice is appreciated.

Edit-For the sake of the argument, when I get home, I will take a picture of each snake next to an object, and then their food next to that same object to show a size difference.

This is my pinstripe girth. I probably feed closer to small rats but I have never had a regurgitation nor has he ever missed a meal. I also included a pic of his head size compared to his rat size since I know that was part of the argument.

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[cheosamad]

Yes up until a certain point, about 500 grams.

It's important to understand that their metabolism changes tremendously as they get older.

Feeding smaller prey weekly will allow you to have an animal eating with consistency.

I have several females 3000 grams and up including up to 4000 grams and even those females eat a medium rat around 125/150 grams a week, males even the largest ones around 1500 grams do not get anything larger than small rats (55/75 grams) every 7 days with breaks here and there.

Always keep in mind that there is a big difference between what they are capable of eating and what they need to thrive and be healthy.

Sure a large female could take down a large 200/250 grams rat however if would make it very risky if fed live, and while she might eat that rat she is likely to refuse food for the next several week, making the food intake less than if you were feeding small prey weekly. The female would also be sluggish for days.

About where do you start switching your females to medium sized rats? Also that's interesting to know about how your 3k+ animals still eat the same sized prey every week.

Another question, when ball pythons get up to that crazy size, does it have any adverse effect on their lifespan and ability to thrive?

This is my pinstripe girth. I probably feed closer to small rats but I have never had a regurgitation nor has he ever missed a meal. I also included a pic of his head size compared to his rat size since I know that was part of the argument.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

He is very pretty. And it's incredible that his neck can stretch enough to eat that! Impressive boy.

[AlwaysSunnyJenn]

About where do you start switching your females to medium sized rats? Also that's interesting to know about how your 3k+ animals still eat the same sized prey every week.

Another question, when ball pythons get up to that crazy size, does it have any adverse effect on their lifespan and ability to thrive?



He is very pretty. And it's incredible that his neck can stretch enough to eat that! Impressive boy.

Well he never has a bump after eating so I know for sure the rat is not bigger than his thickest part. Here is a pic literally right after eating and you can see no bump.

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[Stewart_Reptiles]

About where do you start switching your females to medium sized rats? Also that's interesting to know about how your 3k+ animals still eat the same sized prey every week.

Another question, when ball pythons get up to that crazy size, does it have any adverse effect on their lifespan and ability to thrive?

Females are to switch to medium which are 80 grams rats around 1200 grams and topping at 150 grams rats for the largest girls.

Obviously big 3000 and 4000 grams females would not get to that weight if they were maintenance fed just to get by.

What people forget is that those animals are very efficient and their metabolism is very different from the time they hatch to the time they are considered adults.

The main issue with BP and feeding is that people over feed their animals, than wonder why they will fast for 2,3 or 6 months.

BP are opportunistic they may eat 3 or 4 rodents and eat nothi bg for months in captivity they get the same prey same size serve weekly.

Another thing to keep in mind is that cases of fatty liver have been diagnose in BP an IMO those will be on the rise.

Yes they can take large prey no they do not need it, pretty much like human I am sure some people can eat a large pizza by themselves doubt they need it.

Long term effect of feeding smaller preys, animals that are feeding with consistence, female that are plump but not fat which can lead to female slugging out, animals that are healthy and not sluggish after their meals etc