Does your BP eat like a pig too ?!?! How much is too much ?

[Monty Python]

Hello all!

Well, recently we started upping the feeds for our BP, Monty. Since we bought her, she had been eating 1 mouse/week. But we noticed that her feeding response was instant...she would sometimes strike the feeder before we had even set her down in the feedbox. And it has NEVER taken her more than 30 seconds, not even once.

She is now almost 9 months old. Over the past few weeks, we tested her appetite. She will readily eat 3 average (medium) sized mice per week, without hesitating! Just this evening, she ate 2 in one sitting, only a few minutes apart.

So I'm wondering...how much is too much? Do yours have the same appetite? This is my first and only BP so I have nothing to refer to for what's "normal."

I don't have a weight, but she is close to 30" in length...I think I measured her at 28" last week. Thanks!

[mykee]

Firstly, for a 9 month old ball, she should be eating small rats, possibly even medium rats. My female ball who is 9 months old is 38" and is 1040 grams. I have been feeding her rats since I got her. I feel, and I'm sure you'll all correct me if I'm wrong, but balls seem to get bigger if they are fed rats as opposed to mice . Back to your question on how much is too much, as long as she is not obese (you can see her skin through her scales) than you are one of the lucky ones.

[Tim_Cranwill]

As for feeding size, Mykee is dead on. My two 'o2 females are both about 36" and packing back one medium rat per week.

Frequency is where you could go wrong. I'd lean towards saying that once a week, give or take a day, is about as frequently as you'd want to be feeding your snake. Not saying that you are feeding more frequently, just thought I mention it in case it helped you out. :)

[Monty Python]

Yeah, she usually eats rat pups but they have been out where we buy her feeders lately. She certainly isn't obese, so hopefully this feed reflex will continue for a while!

[HetForHuman]

damn i cant get my ball on rats.
ive tried scenting with a mouse and everything.
he will only eat 1 large mouse at a time.
i try to feed him 2 but he acts scared of the second one.

but he is still growing like a weed

[Pixie]

Both my BP's are stuck on mice, my first a CB female that I acquired at the age of 8 months was used to live mice only. I now have her on p/k mice but have tried to switch her to rats with no success. My other BP I acquired a few months ago and I have much less info about him, he was purchased as an adult so could very possibly be a WC and I have no clue what age he is, definitely full grown boy. He also only take live mice so far, I'm just starting to get him switched over to p/k.

I would love to have both of these snakes switch to rats and I will keep trying to do so but in the meantime they still mostly get mice. Usually 3-4 big one a meal which is every 10 days, sometimes even 5.

Mykee: Do you offer 1 mouse at a time? My snakes usually go nuts after the first mouse but I always wait till it's good and swallowed before I offer another. Sometime I make em wait a few minutes and really get their juices going!

Pixie

[marisa]

Same here. My BP likes mice and only mice. And only ONE item per feeding. He refuses to eat two items at a time. But he is growing and doing well.

And besides there *are* people who feed their BP mice their whole lives. Not that I agree or disagree with this but many people do it, including some breeders. I myself will try to get mine on rats as its hard to get a good meal into him since he only eats one item at a time.

Marisa

[unknownclown]

Yeah my larger one seems to be stuck on the mice as well, its very frustrating! :( I think today I'm gonna give up and go out and buy some gerbils and start breeding them as well since Ive heard they like them better and they are larger than mice. It seems to be a huge waste of money buying rats just so the snake can watch them go bad.

[Monty Python]

I've heard different opinions on what is better for feeding. Obviously, it's the snake that ultimately decides what s/he wants to eat...but why do some poeple prefer mice, or rats, or gerbils over the others?

I've noticed most people think rats = less fuzz = more meat = more nutritional value. But I have also read that mice offer more of certain nutrients than rats (ie, Calcium).

Is there a good source for nutritional value info on feeders and which breeds of snake benfit from those values?

[tHeGiNo]

My female ball, born in september, feeds on two fat pups weekly.

[mykee]

Pixie, I have one ball python that would only eat mice and mice exclusively if it were up to him. He is the brother of my 1040 gram female. He only weighs 464 grams. If I throw a rat in with him, he will not even sniff it, he'll ignore it completely. If I throw in a mouse, he snags it immediately. What I have been doing recently, is holding a f/t small rat, butt 2 head of the mouse, and he will usually just keep on eating until the mouse, and the rat are both gone. He has been packing on the lbs. this way.