Quote Originally Posted by pumba
but at the same time I want to feed enough.
Ray,

Not to worry ... 1 or 2 hoppers a week is fine ... these are animals that have evolved to eat a handful of times a year in the wild ... captive feeding schedules are like heaven to a ball python.

Many years ago I used to stuff my ball pythons full with as much food as I could each week. I like you, never wanted them to be "hungry" .... at the same time I was having problems with snakes "going off feed" and frequently refusing meals after many consecutive weeks of aggressively eating large and jumbo rats until they looked like blimps.

Then, one day, a very wise ball python breeder that had been working with these animals for almost as long as I had been alive showed me the light .... They explained to me that ball pythons have a very slow metabolism and don't need a whole lot of food to thrive .... but, that in their native environment, the food is plentiful for only a portion of the year due to wet/dry cycles, so they are instinctively able to "binge" feed and "fill up" on food when it's available in order to survive the many months of the year when it is not. After that conversation I began to feed my ball pythons much much smaller meals ... even my largest adult females that measure 5+ ft are only offered small rats .... the result is a large collection of ball pythons that feed much more consistently and in my vets opinion are overall healthier. I will be forever grateful for the advice.

-adam