Ball Python Not Growing

[CALM Pythons]

I have a image on imgur. Lets see if this link works. He doesn't look that skinny does he.
https://imgur.com/gallery/EE2tg

Doesn't look unhealthy.. Looks proportioned. If its easier to feed mice (for whatever reason) you can give him 2 every 7 days instead of 1. Also different stores call Rats different names at diff sizes. Make sure to keep something with you so you know the correct size to get him. Sometimes once your at the store what looks small enough will end up looking Huge compared to your snake once you get home. Hahahaha. At least you cant go wrong with a mouse size at this point. He can eat a Jumbo so they cant screw that up.

[Outdoormagruder]

Doesn't look unhealthy.. Looks proportioned. If its easier to feed mice (for whatever reason) you can give him 2 every 7 days instead of 1. Also different stores call Rats different names at diff sizes. Make sure to keep something with you so you know the correct size to get him. Sometimes once your at the store what looks small enough will end up looking Huge compared to your snake once you get home. Hahahaha. At least you cant go wrong with a mouse size at this point. He can eat a Jumbo so they cant screw that up.

I have access to rats, so I picked up a pre killed rat pup today that I'm going to try feeding him. I'll have to see if that fattens him up.

[larryd23]

Our August 2017 hatchling started on 30 gram f/t rat pups at around 180 grams. We switched to 40 gram weaned rats at around 260 grams. He's now on 50 gram weaned rats and, as of last week tipped the scale at just over 400 grams. We have fed every 6 days since we brought him home and he's never missed a meal except when in shed.

Cuisinart makes a great digital scale that you can pick up on Amazon for around $25.

I am definitely not expert in this area but he look fine to me. Following the feeding chart worked wonders for our boy. Hopefully it will do the same for yours.

[Outdoormagruder]

Our August 2017 hatchling started on 30 gram f/t rat pups at around 180 grams. We switched to 40 gram weaned rats at around 260 grams. He's now on 50 gram weaned rats and, as of last week tipped the scale at just over 400 grams. We have fed every 6 days since we brought him home and he's never missed a meal except when in shed.

Cuisinart makes a great digital scale that you can pick up on Amazon for around $25.

I am definitely not expert in this area but he look fine to me. Following the feeding chart worked wonders for our boy. Hopefully it will do the same for yours.

Yeah, I looked at that chart and it seemed he should be on rat pups. I'll feed every 5 days to get him gaining weight quicker.

[Ladybugzcrunch]

Over feeding a male is a mistake. It is likely an over fed ball python will go on a fast. A male is more likely to do this sooner than a female in my experience. Is there a reason why you want him big fast? If you want a snake big fast you could adopt one of a million unwanted Normal adult ball pythons or switch to a retic. Not so funny story: When I was first getting interested in reptiles I was pushed into the cutest little hatchling rainbow colored female retic. She was about a foot long and ate little mice. I kept her in a 10 gallon aquarium with a heat rock as reccomended and sold by the pet shop (20+years ago). In 2 months it was obvious that she needed a bigger home so I bought her a 20 gallon aquarium. She was also very aggressive so I started feeding her small rats. This went on. In 6 months she was 12 feet long and very aggressively eating the biggest rats I could find. I watched her eyeball my cats out of her 55 gallon aquarium. I decided to sell the snake. The person who bought her (she ended up being practically free) was deplored by how skinny she was and told me she should be eating rabbits. I gave the snake to the knowledgeable keeper and was thankful that he was willing to give the animal the care it needs. The pet store never told me that this snake would grow like this, but I did not ask either. I just assumed it should grow in a certain way. In the end I made it right, but it could have turned into one of those Florida horror stories about big snakes that you often see on the news. FYI, retic teeth in the knuckles will itch and burn for weeks

[Outdoormagruder]

Over feeding a male is a mistake. It is likely an over fed ball python will go on a fast. A male is more likely to do this sooner than a female in my experience. Is there a reason why you want him big fast? If you want a snake big fast you could adopt one of a million unwanted Normal adult ball pythons or switch to a retic. Not so funny story: When I was first getting interested in reptiles I was pushed into the cutest little hatchling rainbow colored female retic. She was about a foot long and ate little mice. I kept her in a 10 gallon aquarium with a heat rock as reccomended and sold by the pet shop (20+years ago). In 2 months it was obvious that she needed a bigger home so I bought her a 20 gallon aquarium. She was also very aggressive so I started feeding her small rats. This went on. In 6 months she was 12 feet long and very aggressively eating the biggest rats I could find. I watched her eyeball my cats out of her 55 gallon aquarium. I decided to sell the snake. The person who bought her (she ended up being practically free) was deplored by how skinny she was and told me she should be eating rabbits. I gave the snake to the knowledgeable keeper and was thankful that he was willing to give the animal the care it needs. The pet store never told me that this snake would grow like this, but I did not ask either. I just assumed it should grow in a certain way. In the end I made it right, but it could have turned into one of those Florida horror stories about big snakes that you often see on the news. FYI, retic teeth in the knuckles will itch and burn for weeks

I don't want him to get obese. I just thought that he might be a little underweight. Cool story! That is good you gave it to someone that could provide better care. Anyways, I tried to feed him a pre-killed rat pup today. He wouldn't eat it (he was scared). I noticed that it was much bigger than the large mice I previously fed. Anyways, I froze the rat and am going to try again in 5 days (he might be more hungry than). Ball pythons really are picky eaters. If it was a mouse it would be down with in seconds. I sure do hope he eats it the next time I try.

[the_rotten1]

If you want to increase your odds you can try scenting the rat with a mouse. If you have any leftover mice just thaw them in the same bag with the rat and rub them together. I've gotten a lot of snakes to take different prey items by scenting them this way.

If you don't have an extra mouse around you can also use dirty mouse bedding. Just ask the pet store to give you some.

[Outdoormagruder]

If you want to increase your odds you can try scenting the rat with a mouse. If you have any leftover mice just thaw them in the same bag with the rat and rub them together. I've gotten a lot of snakes to take different prey items by scenting them this way.

If you don't have an extra mouse around you can also use dirty mouse bedding. Just ask the pet store to give you some.

I might try that. Thanks for the tip!

[cchardwick]

FYI, I wouldn't refreeze a thawed rodent, you should use a fresh one every time. I usually go by body condition, if he was really skinny I'd say feed multiple mice every 5 days until he shapes up. But his body condition looks good to me, I'd keep feeding him as you are doing.

[Outdoormagruder]

FYI, I wouldn't refreeze a thawed rodent, you should use a fresh one every time. I usually go by body condition, if he was really skinny I'd say feed multiple mice every 5 days until he shapes up. But his body condition looks good to me, I'd keep feeding him as you are doing.

I tried to feed him a pre-killed rodent, so I figured it would be fine to freeze that?