Can I help him get up to size and weight?

[Bogertophis]

I tried to offer to him on a once-a-week schedule the first year--which was what the breeder said. But he was snippy, and would hiss every time I put my hand in his enclosure and then ignore the prey item. As in full body hiss. Got to the point I thought he would never eat when I got him, because it was over a week of settling down (He took over a month and still was acting insecure by hissing and trying to strike at me--I didn't try to take him out for a while to see if he'd settle down.) and he wouldn't eat. I tried live prey, but if the prey item was too big, he wouldn't eat it. I tried much smaller prey items, but he wouldn't take them and ignored them, so I ended up trying to convert him to frozen-thawed, but he was much more stubborn than the other snakes about frozen-thawed. I had to go back and get him live rats (like the breeder gave him) a few times. It had to be exactly to the size he wanted it--not too big, not too small. The other ball pythons I bought that year didn't care.

I own other BPs and never had this issue before. It's only him. My oldest snake never cared about prey size that much, if it's a rat pup she'll eat it.

This meant a few months of him not eating sometimes as I struggled to try to get the right size and get him to eat ('cause only eats live and the pet store didn't always have the size he wanted which had to be exact.). I named him Adonis because of how picky he is. I tried to change the size of his hides too. Basically psychological issues led him to feeling stressed all the time and not eating, even though I didn't do anything to further that.

So in all of that time, he's only about double his baby size. The other snakes I bought in the same time frame are now taking small rats easily. He's only up to about weaned (3.5" - 4.5"). He refuses small rats (4.5" - 6.0"). It's his way or nothing. When he switched from rat pups to weaned, he stopped taking rat pups completely. --;; And it took me a while to figure out I had to size up to get him to eat again rather than him hunger striking. He half the size of the male that wasn't so insecure and pissy I bought at the same time.

I also bought a female at the same time period, after him, and she's 3 times his size. She also begs for food and I have to ignore her. She's only refused twice.

So should I keep him to a once a week schedule, or switch him to every two weeks like the other adult ball pythons? He's back to eating regularly and isn't showing the signs of stress he had in his first year. (I don't handle him that often since he's really sensitive).

I'm not taking him out to weigh him because he ate yesterday and he needs time to digest.

My thoughts- in order of your comments above:

Feeding young BPs once a week is typical- but you should be using long feeding tongs -not putting your warm & wiggling hand in there- because to a snake with heat sensing pits, your hand & arm registers as a potential predator nearby. So no wonder he reacted as he did- many snakes don't, or some will chase you instead, but that's how your snake sees things, so you'll have to take that into account. Also BPs usually respond best when fed at night- keeping the room light low, with minimal activity from you.

Not feeding a new snake for the first week or two is normal, to allow them to de-stress. We also HIGHLY recommend not handling a snake until after it's feeding easily for you, at least 3 times for best results. That's because handling instinctively scares a snake- in nature, the only thing that picks them up is a predator, about to eat them. This particular snake is on the sensitive side- you've perhaps gotten lucky with others in the past.

New snakes should always be fed the same way & with same kind & size of prey as they were previously- when you kept trying new things that added stress he didn't need. Try to imagine being in your snake's place- his whole world changed when you got him- that alone freaks snakes out, because in the wild, they survive by learning their way around. How would you feel if you woke up one day & recognized nothing? By the way, I've had about 10 BPs in the past- I know some are much more fussy than others, & most female snakes just eat more anyway- they have to, for breeding.

I wouldn't keep weighing this snake, either, since you know he's easily stressed. By now you must certainly know a healthy BP when you see one? But since we're not seeing him, I have no idea if he's eating enough or not- so I can't answer whether you should feed him weekly or every other week. Personally, I'd probably lean towards feeding him every 10 days, from the size of rat you said he's eating- and based on the fact that from your description, he's hardly "adult" size.

One other IMPORTANT thing might be going on to keep him from gaining weight: he could be sharing his meals with intestinal parasites- "worms"- Have you had your vet check his stools, ever? Since you're feeding live rodents, he can easily get worms from them- and that can also affect his personality & attitude too.

I also agree with Armiyana's post- that his housing might need some improvements to suit his personality. Again, we're not seeing your set-up, so?