Reticulated python feeding

[Xanortik]

So, I've been doing a lot of research on reticulated pythons, and I see everywhere people saying how much they feed their pythons, but what method does everyone use to determine what size meal they should be eating? Like, when do I change him to bigger prey, or more than one prey item at a time? Right now he's really young, he's eating a single medium mouse every 5-6 days.

[dave himself]

Feed him something that's leaving a lump in him, and I would get him onto the appropriate sized rats asap. You really don't want a retic that's stuck on mice and I know most are eating machines but it does happen

[trailblazer295]

This is the schedule I'm personally following. This was made by Tsubaki and I'm copying her wording as I had it saved on my computer. I take no credit for this information.

I feed them: 0-6 months once a week.
Then: 6-12 months once every 10 days.
12/15 months and up - once every 14 days if they forage- less if they do not.
After 12/15 months, it all depends on the animal, I slowly increase the time in between their meals all the way into adulthood (6 years+) to a couple of weeks, each of them having their own pace/rhythm. I barely ever weighed anything i feed to them, eyeing it is enough for me, Retics are quite forgiving when it comes to size and a little variance isn't bad. As soon as i see a yearling or older foraging, and it has been long enough since it had eaten last (Whichever minimum they have at that time, animal specific), i will defrost a fitting prey and feed them the day after. (With Foraging i mean Actively hunt around their enclosure for prey, not feeding response once bothered or exploring behaviour, there is quite a difference but it might take a while to see the difference) If i do not catch them foraging, i have a maximum amount of time before i will feed them (18 days for well established yearlings,). If the animal eats at the quickest intervals, they get a prey about the size of their girth, if they forage slower i feed 1,5x or thicker. This way the snake would get whatever way of feeding they preferred. Many of them rather ate rather often as babies, but some ate slowly.. My observing was that mainly animals over the age of 3 picked the wider spacing between meals. I never had a fat or skinny retic. In my personal opinion this is a pretty natural way of feeding, in the wild they go foraging when hungry unless food happens to walk into range They do not eat on a 100% fixed schedule, so i won't feed them on a 100% fixed schedule.. I have a few things i keep in mind with this schedule:
- I always feed at night, on feeding night any foraging behaviours of the ones that did not actively search earlier is ignored for that night (They smell food)
-Males get a bigger maximum amount of time in between feeding, and are fed slightly less in general after reaching 12months.
-In wintertime I let them space the minimum amount of time as well.
-Females i plan to breed get 1,5x sized prey at the quickest interval for a while.
-Fussy eaters i always offer at the minimum amount of time regardless of age until i consider them well established.

[dave himself]

Sorry to the OP I thought you ment what to feed him, my meds have kicked in early tonight :eek:. I also follow the above feeding schedule, thanks TB ;)

[Scubadiver59]

BTW...welcome to sSNAKESs!! :D

[regi375]

I welcome thee to the forum, and I do suggest following the feeding schedule provided. Tsubaki is the queen when it comes to giants.