Quick Question!

[kittievr4]

Hey everyone and thanks in advance for any help. A good friend of mine just picked up his first ball python yesterday and the pet shop he picked it up from said he is eating live. They sexed him at the shop for him so we know it's a boy.

My friend wants to get him on to F/T since I explained the pros and cons of both, but I'm not a ball python girl, so I'm not sure what he should be eating. I'm not sure how old he is, but still young and not full grown, we put him on the scale at my house quick and he's 511 grams. What size mouse should he be eating right now? And are rats or mice better nutritionally for him?

[Jenn_06]

move him to rats they are better for him and he can eat a large weaned or small rat. first give him a week or 2 to get use to his new home then try to feed him a f/t rat if he does not eat it leave in the the cage/tub overnight if he still does not eat it wait a week and try it again. the snake will eat it when he gets hungry.

[kittievr4]

Yep, the switch to F/T I've done with one of my boas. I'm just not familiar with what ball pythons eat. I know they can take a little longer to switch, but I'm hoping since he's young we can switch him. Thanks!

[Jenn_06]

some BP will not switch for nothing but it does not hurt to try

[kittievr4]

exactly what I told him! So he is prepared for the possibility that Milo (the ball) may not want to switch and he'll have to feed live. We're hoping for the best though. :)

[jeff25]

Feed him a rat the size of the bigest part of the snkaes body. But do not do what jenn said by leavin the rat with ur snake over night. when snakes arent hungry they wont eat, in sosme cases people left the rat with the snake overnight and woke up to a half eatin snake. And be sure to feed ur snake in a seperate tank or enclosure.

[Swany]

I heat mine up with a hairdryer before offering her and she's never refused a meal yet. Having said that she was on f/t when I got her. Beas of luck ;-)

[Jenn_06]

\ But do not do what jenn said by leavin the rat with ur snake over night. when snakes arent hungry they wont eat, in sosme cases people left the rat with the snake overnight and woke up to a half eatin snake. And be sure to feed ur snake in a seperate tank or enclosure.


i said a f/t rat not a live one, i have one BP the only way he will eat if i leave the f/t rat in the tub overnight and in the morning its gone.

[kittievr4]

i said a f/t rat not a live one, i have one BP the only way he will eat if i leave the f/t rat in the tub overnight and in the morning its gone.

Agreed. If we end up having to resort back to live eventually I will go over proper live feeding procedure with him (ie - supervising the entire time, not leaving it in there, etc)

One of our rat snakes will NOT eat unless she's left alone in the dark for at least a few hours, on F/T of course.

[jeff25]

Oh im sorry jenn i didnt see u said frozen i was just trien to keep him from wakin up to a dead snake.

[infernalis]

Glad that got resolved.. I thought I was going to have to step in here and clear things up.

I'm lucky, My BP is such a chow hound, he never refuses anything. He always hits hard and fast.

[kittievr4]

Just thought I would update everyone since I finally heard back from my friend. Milo took F/T like a champ and has been eating them since! So either the store lied to us and he was eating F/T before or he was exceptionally easy to switch over! Thanks for all the advice :)

[alessia55]

On my ball python feeding page (http://pythonregiuscare.com/Feeding.html) I have a good description of what size to feed, how to switch over to frozen/thawed, and how to entice a ball python to eat an f/t rat. :)

[mykee]

Also, rats are no more nutritious than mice.

[Norm66]

Also, rats are no more nutritious than mice.


What about when a snake needs a larger prey item and the appropriately sized mice are then retired breeders. Are they then higher in fat content than a similar sized rat? And would this be bad?

The high fat content of retired breeder rats was why I was advised to switch my burm to rabbits but I didn't know if it applied to mice as well. FWIW, my balls all eat rats.

[mykee]

Bingo Norm!

[kittievr4]

Good to know, I will let him know to switch to rats, he picked up mice for now.

[Jenn_06]

great to see he is taking f/t