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Old 12-26-03, 09:47 PM   #16
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Here he is eating, I'll pick up the fuzzies tommorow. I'd perfer to keep him on rats cause every thing I've heard is that they are better in the long run as a source of food. Since he is already taking rats every 5 days, no reason to switch im to mice.
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Old 12-26-03, 10:21 PM   #17
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I would definitely move that little guy up to large rat pups
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Old 12-26-03, 10:23 PM   #18
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My 8 month old male is eating rats about 60g or so every 7 days lately. I started him out on 20 - 30g rats when I got him as a 5 month old. I don't bother with the pinkie/hopper/weanling stuff, I can never remember which is which, I just go by weight. That may be a good reference, food to body weight ratio. I never really thought about it before but it seems I'm feeding him about 20% of his body weight once a week, since he's now roughly 300g. Not sure if this is more or less food than the experts but my guy seems to be putting on weight and growing well...
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Old 12-26-03, 10:39 PM   #19
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I weighed him the other day he was 205 Grams, that underweight? I've had him about 3 weeks and he has fed 3 times and shed once.
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Old 12-26-03, 11:16 PM   #20
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My 6 month old ball is eating 65-70g rats every week....he's about 31" long and I don't have a scale so I can't tell you his weight, but he is thick, that's for sure....

I switched him from adult mice to small rats about 2 months ago and he's never looked back (or refused a meal, no matter how large).

Anyway...I also use tongs and do the dead rat boogie in front of him.
Only once did he not strike and that time I put the rat outside his hide, only to see it slowly dragged inside about a half hour later (it was like a slasher movie where the body disappears off screen by an unseen killer!)

Good luck to all when it comes to just keeping your ball fed!
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Old 12-26-03, 11:55 PM   #21
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I agree that he can almost certainly take something larger. My youngest that are on rats are both 4/5 months old and they are on weaned rats ranging from 40 to 50 grams a piece. He should be able to take a large pup fairly easily.

As far as feeding, my snakes all differ. One of the ones mentioned above will eat if I just drop it in her enclosure and leave her alone - the other won't, I have to dangle it in front of him or his hide. He is usually much more quick to strike if he is still in his hide when I introduce the food item, and even refuses sometimes when he is not in there. My other ball pythons differ as well, but for the most part dangling with tongs in front of the hide is what does the trick.
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Old 12-27-03, 01:25 AM   #22
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Wow! My two-month old hatchlings were 200 grams. I've got a few 6 month old balls and they range in weight from 470-735g, the largest of which are eating rats in the 100-140g size.
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Old 12-27-03, 01:28 AM   #23
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MousKilla got me thinking. How do you guys determine what size to feed your BPs? Do you go by percentage of body weight, do you go by the 'as big as the thickest part of the snakes body' rule, etc? If you feed your BP and it doesn't come out 'hunting' for another week do you assume you're feeding it the proper sized meals, etc.
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Old 12-27-03, 01:40 AM   #24
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I feed both the BPs I have something that's roughly 1.5 times their girth. Sometimes a bit smaller, sometimes a bit larger but roughly that size. I feed them whatever will give a lump for a couple days. I know lots of people go by weight though too! Lots of ways to do it.

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Old 12-27-03, 01:47 AM   #25
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Marisa's right, everyone does it different. I just eyeball it, I don't use the 'food item as wide as the snakes girth' rule, I feel it's outdated. Each of my balls has their own preferences of what, how large, live, dead, colour... and I listen to them; they're the ones eating.
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Old 12-27-03, 02:46 PM   #26
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Yeah, each snake is different in what it likes. I also think that the equal-to-girth rule is out dated unless you want to feed them every 4-5 days. Like Marisa I usually go with something bigger, like 1.5 times girth, which coincidently works out to about 20% of body weight I've found. You would be amazed at how big an item they are capable of getting down, up to equal to their body weight but just remember that they are more likely to refuse a prey item that is intimidatingly large.

Mykee,

A six month old that is 700g +!!! That must be a beast of a female I'm guessing? That's impressive, at that rate she'll be breeding size before her first birthday (as long as she doesn't just decide to stop eating on ya, God forbid).
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Old 12-28-03, 02:25 AM   #27
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Killa, I picked up a few het albinos from Don Patterson and a pair of pastels from Mark Mandic and 3 of the 4 females are eating machines. The females all range from 540-760g as of tonight, and the two males are also nothing to scoff at at between 420-510g. They want to eat, I want to feed them. It's a wonderful understanding we've come to really..
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Old 12-28-03, 05:52 AM   #28
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Hatchling balls should take sub-adult to adult mice from right out of the egg. They can really take large meals.
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Old 01-02-04, 01:42 AM   #29
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all my snakes get f\t or fresh killed
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Old 01-02-04, 12:00 PM   #30
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My girl is 8-9 months old and she weigh almost 600 grams already. The largest rat she's taken was a 115 gram rat. She likes the large ones much better than the small and I've found that she like me to cover her warmed prey with a small peice of newspaper so that she can go in and privately smell it and then take it. She's refused a couple of meals in the last month but she nearly always takes the medium rats.
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