Quote Originally Posted by Flagg
I own corn snakes and just recently got my first ball python, a female hatchling from a local reptile/animal show.

I asked the breeder about what he fed her and whether she was eating, but didn't get enough details about when she was hatched, how often she was fed, etc.

On further reading here it seems that she is excessively small. When I got her 3 weeks ago she was 74g, now after 2 feedings she weighed in today at 91g, 72 hrs after her last feeding.

So I guess my question is, is this size normal for hatchlings? How much do they generally weigh when newly hatched? How late in the year can BPs still hatch?

She doesn't appear malnourished to me, just very small but seems healthy. Of course I am not experienced with Ball Pythons either.

What size prey should I be feeding her? I raise ASF rats so I've fed her live young ASFRs, 15g and 18g. I didn't notice much of a lump later so next week I was going to up it to 20g or so.
I always feed a prey slightly smaller then the girth size once a week and last year when I bought a male that was 70 grams and I was feeding him small mice (weanling) that were about 15 - 19 grams.

Hope this help.