Feeding Juvenile BP Every Other Day Like Vet Said???

[BPEnthusiast]

Hello, I am new to owning ball pythons and I got my first one about two months ago. I've been feeding him every five days and I took him to the vet to get him properly sexed (which turned out to be unsuccessful since he's too small) and the vet gave me some basic care info. One of which surprised me a lot. She said to feed him every other day since he's small.

Everyone I have talked to said only feed once every five days or once every week but never twice in one week and certainly not every other day. She seems like a nice vet and knowledgeable but I have my doubts. Does this seem right? Should I feed him every other day? Don't they need time to digest?? I'm just so confused.

I actually tried it and he did in fact eat one and then another after the next day but I read snakes will just keep eating and some can get overweight. What should I do? I don't want to underfeed him but I also don't want a fat obese snake that isn't enjoying life.

Btw when I was at the vet he weighed 81 grams. He's about 2-3 months old currently and he's 17 inches long (I tried my best to measure him so give or take an inch). Any information would be great please! Thanks!!

[Bogertophis]

I think your vet is mistaken too, keep feeding every 5-7 days while he's young, & transition to longer intervals when he's eating larger prey items.

Exactly what are you feeding him now? A young BP of his or her size is big enough to eat small mouse hoppers (preferably f/t- that's "frozen-thawed"), which would NOT be digested every other day. The only thing your snake might digest that quickly would be mouse or rat pinkies (hairless, eyes closed) BUT neither of those would be enough food, nor a proper meal for a hatchling BP.

Also, a 17" BP is not too small to determine the gender; it sounds to me like your vet is just unfamiliar with snakes & doesn't want to say that.

To find a more experienced herp vet, this site might help, & you might check to see if the vet you just saw is listed there too- I'm betting "not".

https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

By the way:

A quick afterthought: don't be in a rush to determine the snake's gender- vet visits tend to be stressful for the snake, & it's FAR more important that yours is eating well & growing now. I wouldn't take him or her to ANY vet unless something seems wrong that general husbandry (care) won't fix. That's what we do here- help you sort out issues so snakes don't become sick in the first place. Honestly, unless you have a real reason to determine the gender (breeding), it's not even important.

[Neko_snake]

Hello, I am new to owning ball pythons and I got my first one about two months ago. I've been feeding him every five days and I took him to the vet to get him properly sexed (which turned out to be unsuccessful since he's too small) and the vet gave me some basic care info. One of which surprised me a lot. She said to feed him every other day since he's small.

Everyone I have talked to said only feed once every five days or once every week but never twice in one week and certainly not every other day. She seems like a nice vet and knowledgeable but I have my doubts. Does this seem right? Should I feed him every other day? Don't they need time to digest?? I'm just so confused.

I actually tried it and he did in fact eat one and then another after the next day but I read snakes will just keep eating and some can get overweight. What should I do? I don't want to underfeed him but I also don't want a fat obese snake that isn't enjoying life.

Btw when I was at the vet he weighed 81 grams. He's about 2-3 months old currently and he's 17 inches long (I tried my best to measure him so give or take an inch). Any information would be great please! Thanks!!

I'm fairly new to BP's too but every other day sounds like too much. They definitely need time to digest. My BP was around that size when he was 4 months old. I've only fed him every 5 days or so. He's healthy as can be even if he's a slow grower. I feel like it would be better to feed bigger prey items than feeding every other day.

How big of prey are you feeding him? Also I've never heard of a snake being too small to sex before. I'm not saying it isn't possible and some snakes are harder to probe while young but how would breeders know the gender of the snakes they have. Big price difference between a male or female of certain morphs of BPs.

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[Bogertophis]

Can you post a picture of your BP? The only reason I can think of that your vet would have told you to feed him/her so often (& I'm assuming they meant smaller than normal prey) is IF your snake is very thin (starving- in poor condition). And without seeing, we don't know. Also, IF that's the case, that would give a vet reason to delay trying to sex yours. I'm hoping that's not the case, but I also don't want to assume & give you bad advice. OK?

[BPEnthusiast]

Can you post a picture of your BP? The only reason I can think of that your vet would have told you to feed him/her so often (& I'm assuming they meant smaller than normal prey) is IF your snake is very thin (starving- in poor condition). And without seeing, we don't know. Also, IF that's the case, that would give a vet reason to delay trying to sex yours. I'm hoping that's not the case, but I also don't want to assume & give you bad advice. OK?

Here's some pics I have of him (or her idk, I just assume he's male like all my pets when I don't know lol). It's on a Google drive link cause I don't know how else to post pics sorry.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?...MN4u2qKX1irFCU

[BPEnthusiast]

I'm feeding him frozen/thawed fuzzies (mice fuzzies not rat fuzzies if there is such a thing). I wanted to move to hoppers but he doesn't look quite big enough. The vet said he wasn't anyway but then again what the vet has said might be wrong so far so idk...

[KMG]

Find a new vet.

The snake looks fine to me.

When I have small snakes, like my two Kings right now, I feed twice a week, Wed and Sat. I prefer to have a set schedule than a rotating 5 days. But that's the closest I'll feed.

If the food source is about the same or slightly bigger than the snakes thickest part it can eat it..... It can actually eat larger but that's not recommended. People often underestimate what their snake can eat.

[Bogertophis]

Find a new vet.

The snake looks fine to me.

When I have small snakes, like my two Kings right now, I feed twice a week, Wed and Sat. I prefer to have a set schedule than a rotating 5 days. But that's the closest I'll feed.

If the food source is about the same or slightly bigger than the snakes thickest part it can eat it..... It can actually eat larger but that's not recommended. People often underestimate what their snake can eat.

Except that 'baby' kings are eating pinkies, which are VERY digestible. Fuzzies or hoppers (mice) take longer to digest because they have hair & slightly bigger bones, & I wouldn't want any snake to regurgitate if fed too close together. I'd stick with no meals closer than 5-7 days, & yes, find a more experienced vet.

Also, it's better not to generalize about the size of prey versus the widest part of the snake's body, since it very much depends on what KIND of snake you're talking about. It's fine for many commonly kept snakes, like BPs, but when feeding a snake with a narrow face (for example, a TX longnose snake or a desert glossy snake) this does not apply- their narrow face DOES limit the size prey they can handle.

While many/most snakes "can" eat prey that's a little wider than their body, & in the wild, no doubt they may have to for survival, it's something I avoid doing.
I feed prey that is narrower than a snake's mid-body to avoid problems digesting & also to avoid over-feeding.

[Neko_snake]

You'd be surprised with how much a snake can handle. I got my BP at 49 grams and he was already taking hopper mice. I switched him over to rat pups soon after. They can handle a decent meal. If you have a scale a decent rule of thumb is somewhere between 10-15% of their body weight. From your pictures he looks healthy. I feel like you might need a different vet but as long as he's eating well and looks healthy otherwise, I wouldn't even take him to a vet. As others said it is a stressful event for snakes.

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[Erie_herps]

Feeding a BP every other day is not a good idea. I would be cautious of other things the vet said too. Is the vet a specialist in herps? If they aren't (and maybe if they are too) I would recommend finding a new vet (Bogertophis' link in post #2 is great). The snake looks fine to me and should also be able to be sexed. The enclosure looks a little bare to me though (unless there's more cover not visible in the picture). If it isn't broken don't fix it but if your BP seems stressed or doesn't eat covering the sides/adding cover might help.