Let's Discuss Dietary Requirements for Ball Pythons

[CloudtheBoa]

This is an extremely interesting thread, and something I've been giving myself some thought on since I was informed that I may have been overfeeding my boa constrictor a bit. Since then, I've been advocating feeding smaller prey items less often, and my boa constrictor has been on a diet of rabbits that leave no bulge every 4 weeks for about a year now (they weigh roughly 3-8% of his body weight), and I've noticed body tone more similar to what he had when he was a baby and 3ft long. I have also been fasting him for the winter, withholding food for 3 months and lowering temps, and he should be ready to eat again mid- to late-February. I'll be raising temps 1-2 weeks before I feed him again to get his metabolism running again, and he'll get a rabbit. I'm also thinking about ordering some chicks to shake up his diet, feeding a mix of rabbits, chicks, and rats, and I may start him on a 5 week feeding schedule for rats and rabbits, and 3 weeks for the chicks. The success I've seen feeding my boa constrictor this way has made me think on feeding the ball python similarly, especially since he's much older and no longer growing.

I have also become less worried about if my ball python eats on time, although I still do like when he meets the schedule. lol Right now, I have him eating 1 jumbo mouse every 2 weeks, and I have noticed an extreme increase in his feeding response. The mice average 40-50 grams, 70 grams being the largest and 25 grams being the smallest. Each week I would offer two, but he would only take one, but this last feeding he had an especially strong feeding response, striking the side of his tub a couple times as I walked by. He actually took two that time, which was 17-18 days ago, and he refused to eat when I offered again, despite just coming out of a shed earlier that day and defecating. Keep in mind, when I was feeding regular-sized adult mice he had no qualms about eating 5 of them at a time, so I doubt it's a problem with taking multiple prey. He generally makes use of every inch of space I offer him, exploring and moving/flipping hides for about 1-2 hours at the beginning of the night before settling down and then hiding the rest of the day, unless he just ate or is in shed. I also noticed an increase in feeding response when I dropped down from feeding mediums weekly to feeding small rats biweekly. In my experience, his strikes seem to be based off of overfeeding and stress, as his most major strikes coincided with each time I moved residences. If it weren't for the 8 month strike he went through last year, I would have been fasting him with the boa. If he continues to eat well, and I may be extending his feeding even further to every 3 weeks, then I will also be fasting him winter of 2015. I have noticed he is a lot more muscular than most ball pythons I see online, as he regularly explores and doesn't eat every week.

Right now, due to lack of space, he's in a tub with a red light heat lamp (was considering a CHE, but decided it would take a lot more care than just hooking it up to a thermostat to make it safe and opted to stay with the bulb) set so that he has a 90F hot spot. This is because the room is cold and in order to keep the cool end above 70F he needs a good basking spot, and I don't like using just heat tape since it really only heats the bedding without heating the cold air entering the tub (if I can't get him into his custom enclosure again soon I may use my leftover heat tape and shut off his lamp at night leaving only the heat tape running during the night - I already turn off all heat and light for my garter at night). While he was in his wooden enclosure, I kept the entire enclosure at 80-85F evenly, and I have noticed no difference in defecation rates or activity levels even though his feeding rate has not changed (I do still prefer offering a gradient, but that's just my opinion). He seems to defecate every 1-2 months, and leaves urates every other week. Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm not sure if this means I'm underfeeding him as 40-50 grams, and even 70 grams, is a small percentage of the ~1380 grams he weighs, yet he gained weight after he started eating and now his weight is staying pretty steady barring fluctuations from urates and as-of-yet expelled feces. He may even still be steadily gaining weight, albeit much slower than at first.

I would be interested in seeing the X-rays of ball pythons fed on these aggressive feedings schedules, and ones fed a more conservative diet, if that could show their internal fat deposits for comparison's sake. I feel seeing the fat deposits in different individuals would be an extremely useful part in seeing the impact various diets have on them, as well as data on wild individuals. Overall, this thread is very good food for thought.

[Sonny1318]

Sorry, just don't want this thread to get lost. Or it's message.

[GoingPostal]

Interesting topic for sure. I have an adult male approx 9 years, 2400 grams in a 3 x 2 cage who is a mouser, he gets 1-3 per week, normally two, he fasts several months per year and always been very curious on whether I am feeding the "right" amount.

[Sonny1318]

This thread has to be the most fascinating of almost anything I've read on this site. Thanks again Skiploder. Looking forward to more of your observations.

[Skiploder]

This thread has to be the most fascinating of almost anything I've read on this site. Thanks again Skiploder. Looking forward to more of your observations.

Not related to ball pythons, but as clelia and boiruna become more popular, more and more pictures of obese examples of these animals are making their way onto the internet.

These are the two species that make up what is commonly and collectively known as mussurana in the hobby. These snakes eat a wide variety of prey items...the vast majority of which are other snakes. They are only nominally opportunistic mammal and bird eaters. This data has been proven in exhaustive studies.

What is also happening is that many of these animals are dying very young. While many of the keepers don't bother to have a necropsy performed, those that do are finding out that these snake are dying early of "lifestyle" disease - namely feeding an inappropriate diet.

Using the nutritional information of a rattlesnake and then comparing it to a rat, both prey items have similar protein contents and gross energy profiles. The difference is that a rat has almost 30% more fat.

Still, despite the evidence, people will continue to overfeed their mussuranas a diet rich in fat and then wonder why the heck they die at an early age.

[Sonny1318]

And yet I get the feeling that besides the facts and examples you cited. It will continue to be done. I've been keeping different boids now for close to thirty years. And I never have claimed to be an expert. And have learned at the very least what not to do. It sadened me to see some very old advise surface to defend these practices. But not point out some of these sources also recommend things that some keepers on here claim are archaic. And in all sincerity I really appreciate your contributions, and look forward to more in the future.

[Sonny1318]

There was discussion on over feeding / feeding the other day, hope this helps.