Which mouse size is appropriate to feed a 4-5 month old male Ball Python weekly?

[nybaby]

My local Petco told me a pinkie mouse a week would be sufficient. Which I did for the last two feeds but now my Ball Python is looking a little underweight. I attached a picture if that helps at all.

[Kingsnakechris]

try a hopper/fuzzie. a little bigger but not TOO big. i dont trust anything anyone at petco trys to tell me. they have been wrong over and over and over again and IMO, they dont care WHAT happens to your pet as long as they keep you happy enough to come back and spend more money.

[Kingsnakechris]

def. more than ONE pinkie a week though.

[snake man12]

I would say a large hopper or small adult would be nice and large and get your snake full.

[Gungirl]

Feed it a rat pup ...the food item should be as large around as the snakes widest point

[mykee]

Is this a trick question? NO mice. Rat pups.
Also, a picture for size reference is entirely useless without something in the picture for reference.

[snake man12]

Is this a trick question? NO mice. Rat pups.
Also, a picture for size reference is entirely useless without something in the picture for reference.

Rat pups are harder to come by than you'd think.

[exwizard]

Feed it a rat pup ...the food item should be as large around as the snakes widest point

agreed

Is this a trick question? NO mice. Rat pups.
Also, a picture for size reference is entirely useless without something in the picture for reference.

agreed

Rat pups are harder to come by than you'd think.

At some point in time, mice will no longer be able to sustain this Ball and the longer you wait until you have to get it switched to rats, the harder it will be to do so unless you're willing to feed it multiple mice per feeding.

[nybaby]

Why choose rats over mice? Is there much of a difference other than size?

[mykee]

No harder than mice. I know of a dozen big rodent breeders that won't touch mice and only breed rats because mice are nippy little SOBs and they smell like popcorn and pi$$.

[exwizard]

Why choose rats over mice? Is there much of a difference other than size?
Size is the biggest thing but gram for gram, there's just more to rats than mice.

Until recently Ive been heavily involved in breeding hundreds of rats and mice. I am very familiar with both and Im telling you rats are much better for your snake than mice.

[mykee]

"At some point in time, mice will no longer be able to sustain this Ball and the longer you wait until you have to get it switched to rats, the harder it will be to do so unless you're willing to feed it multiple mice per feeding."
Words of wisdom.

[Aaron_S]

Rat pups are harder to come by than you'd think.
Rodentpro.com

Pretty easy to get rats dude...

[Nobodyspecial]

Defiantly get that poor guy on some rat pups, there's tons of places that will deliver frozen rats right to your house. Personally I use Layne labs, but I've heard amazing things about Rodent pro as well. Layne labs just happens to end up being cheaper for me because of shipping cost, and they have some really good quality rodents.

Petsmart/petco really don't feed their snakes appropriately sized food. They pretty much just feed them enough to keep them alive until they go home with someone. For spacing and cost issues they just don't want them to grow. Sad right?

But he'll fatten right up once he starts eating good sized food. If he has issues switching to rats like my girl did, keep say 3-4 mice in the same freezer bag with 1 rat pup, it should mix their scent up just enough that your snake will eat the rat once you've fed him all of the mice. You can try scenting with bedding from a mouse cage too, but for some reason that didn't work for my girl lol.

[MoreliAddict]

That snake can handle an adult mouse.

It's best to get it feeding on rats though, or it'll go through a few mice every feeding as an adult.

[rmfsnakes32]

I agree the sooner you switch to rats the better ball pythons are known to be picky eaters anyway!