How often does your adult Ball eat?

[Wrath]

I'm wondering.

[HetForHuman]

My male has only been eating once, sometimes twice a month at best lately.

It is the season ;)

[Bartman]

My female sub adults are being fed every week, and my male I TRY and feed at least once a month. Tis been the season since ive owned him :p

[mykee]

I attempt feeding every 5-7 days, whether they eat or not is not up to me. So to answer your question; once a week-once every 6 months.

[Herpsrus]

Babies eat twice a week and my adults eat every Saturday!
Mike

[bailey]

I'm not exactly sure at what age a ball is classified as adult but my girl is a year and 8 months and it really depends on how much exercise she gets as to how much she eats. If we have lots of time to play she eats once a week but mostly every 2.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Depends on...

Time of year...
Each snake...
Breeding habbits...
My schedule...
Age...
Sex...
But most importantly... it's up to the snake.

I would say I offer most babies and females food 4-6 times per month for the most part. Sometimes they take all 6, others they take the big ZIPPO. :)

[smeagel]

I offer my females food once a week, and my male eats once every 3 to 4 weeks, since i started breeding my females have eaten once a week no problems.

[BOAS_N_PYTHONS]

TIM:

I agree with that :)

Cya...

Tony

[Wrath]

If you offer a rat, and he/she doesnt eat it, do you refreeze the rat or toss it?

[Vengeance]

Depends on how long you leave it with them. If I leave the rat overnight, I toss it. If I offer and he doesn't take and I take the rat out right after, it goes back in the freezer, but if the same rat when I thaw it a second time doesn't get eaten I toss it.

[mykee]

I don't like to refreeze a rat, tha's kinda sick. Ever defrost a steak, leave it out on the counter for a few hours, realize you don't want a steak, refreeze it and eat it again? Would you even consider it? Sound gross? Unhealthy? Exactly my point.

[jglass38]

My youngest male will eat every week (he is a huge pig). Out of the breeding pair, the female has eaten nearly every week I have had her andthe male has refused for the last 6 weeks. Oh well.

I dont refreeze most of the time but have been known to keep the rat in the fridge for a week.

As long as it isnt rotten, the snake could care less. A lot of people refreeze one time. Some have even recommended it as a way to get a picky snake to eat.

[zero&stich]

Mine eat when they feel like it, LOL. They live on their own feeding schedual :)

But in the summer every 7-10 days in most cases.

[robitza]

My adult was eating once a week but has been taking food only every 3 or 4 weeks for the past few months.

[nita]

My big guys usually only take every 2 weeks, those being my guys over 2000g. I offer every week though but only thaw out enough for half, females are offered first along with the pickiest eaters then the usual eating machines are offered last. My three largest males are totally refusing to eat right now, one has been off since Oct! All my smaller girls right now are eating every week except in shed. My largest female, currently with Jamie for breeding usually would only eat every 2 weeks, every so often though she would take two weeks in a row.

[varanus69]

my adult male eats a rabbit every 7 days with no hesatations. Maybe if there was a female in the snake room he would smell her and go off food hoping for a little snake booty but with out that "problem" :( he eats like a champ.

[Linds]

I'm down to one lone male these days, and he is without a doubt, the biggest money-saver in my collection :p Ate like mad in his first year to year and a half, at which point he turned in to a sporadic feeder. At one point he stopped for a year and 6 days, ate four rats over the course of 2 weeks, then didn't eat again for another 7 months. I generally offer him food once a month now, sometimes he takes it, sometimes he doesn't. Although when he takes it, I may offer him food sooner if he is acting hungry :flick:

I don't refreeze prey. I usually feed freshly killed prey, and if they don't eat it then I just toss it in the feezer. If it is a thawed item I don't want to waste, I will put it in the fridge for a day or two and try again. If that fails, it gets tossed.

[sidewinder]

Wrath I never refreeze if the snake dosen't eat it within a half hour I just eat it myself. In nature nothing goes to waste! yum

[HumphreyBoagart]

Hey Linds, I think I must have your males' long lost brother or something. He ate every week without hestitation for the first year, then he went off of food for about a year. Then he ate 4 rats in three weeks with aggression, and then he quit eating again. It's been about 5 months now. I offer once every week or two, or if they look like they're looking for food I'll throw one in.
I also have a banded male and a black back male that are about 2 1/2-3 years old and they haven't eaten in half a year or more without any weight loss. I have a 6 month old male too that ate like crazy. He was 400grams at 4 months old and as soon as oct-nov. came he seased eating as well. All of my females eat every 5-7 days except for ones in hibernation.
Sorry to ramble on forever but one more thing I want to mention. I tried this stuff called "Herpcare" by Mardel. It is Electrolytes And Appetite Stimulant. I tried it a long time ago how it said to on the box, but it didn't really work because you were supposed to just keep putting drops at the end of the snakes mouth and allow the snake to lap it up. The only problem is, the snake won't lap it up and I don't blame them. This stuff doesn't smell very appetizing. It is impossible to get it to lap up one drop let alone 100, one at a time. So I was reading the Ball Python Manual and saw a little rig thingy that you could make to force feed them a liquid diet of chicken and stuff like that. It was a big syringe with a small soft rubber tube attached. The "Herpcare" just happened to come with the appropiately-sized syringe. All I had to do was attach a rubber hose. I got the idea to try the "herpcare" with this contraption instead of the liquid chicken despite how appetizing it sounds. But anyways gently put the tube in the snakes mouth then very gently put the hose down down its throat. The snake will automatically start swallowing the tube. Slowly and gently feed the tube in as it swallows. Try to keep the snakes neck as straight as possible. It will probably try and twist around just try and hold it firm but not tight. You might wanna get somebody to hold it for you if you don't have much experience doing this sorta stuff. The tube must be 1/4 of the snakes length so the liquid cant go in the snakes lungs causing possible death or sickness. Slowly administer the liquid (says on box how much). If you have any questions anout how to do this proberly go buy the Ball Python Manual (you should already have it, if you have a ball python anyways) or feel free to ask me. If all this typing can help just one person, like this product has helped me, it will all be worth it. So I highly recommend going to buy some and no I'm not a spokesperson for Mardel! : ) The very next day after using herpcare I offered food to the male I mention above that haden't eaten in a year and he snatched it up with the quickness. I couldn't believe it. He ate several more rats over a few weeks. This stuff really works go buy some it was 10 bucks. Well sorry to go on forever, hope this was some help to someone.

Hump.

[jfmoore]

Hi -

Sounds like everyone has supplied you with a piece of the puzzle. I’d like to add here a plug for keeping good records. If I see that year after year, a certain male has rarely, if ever, eaten November through March, then I’m not going to expend much effort trying to entice him to feed during that period. Or maybe I find that another male eats like gangbusters one summer, but slacks way off in mass consumed the following season, only to bounce back the next season with a big appetite. I have an extremely timid female who never feeds this time of year unless she copulates with a male. Then, whether or not she produces eggs, she becomes a very aggressive feeder for a couple of weeks. So watch and record and let their behaviors guide you.

One other thing. When you say “adult,” that could mean a sexually mature 8 month old male, I suppose. A ball python that young might breed successfully, then eagerly feed, then go back to breeding, then feed, etc. Whereas an older male may easily go 6 to 9 months without any interest in feeding, especially if exposed to females. Finally, if a snake I’ve been cooling does chance to feed, I make sure it has access to a hot spot to ensure easy digestion.

-Joan

[jfmoore]

Sidewinder - LOL!

[Wrath]

I should keep a long-term journal of her feeding habits, that's a very good point Joan. Danke to all for your replies.

[paulsreef]

My baby eats every 5 days, If she doesn't take it then Mikey eats it. Mikeys my Corn.

Paul.