RCReptiles.com

[redzrat]

I know most people feed there baby's 1-2 times a week, but mine is wanting food about every other day. Is this normal? And should i indulge the snake? Or keep it to 1-2 a week?

Just alittle info on my snake.

Ive had him about 7 weeks and he has already eaten 8 hoppers, and in the first 2 weeks he had 4-5 pinkies. He hits anything that moves. White, brown, and gray mice. He has had 1 shed since being in my care, and was just recently moved from his beginners 10gal tank to a 30gal. He also wants nothing to do with a hide... Instead he just curls up at the tail end of stick i have placed in the tank. Could the reason he is so hungary have to do with the Temp being warm? During the day one side of the tank is about 91* and the other is a 85*. And at night it doesnt go below 80*

[deborahbroadus]

Wow, and you're worried? Most of us worry if they don't eat.

Ron is this situation cause for concern? I have never come across this topic regarding Balls before. :P

[Jordan700]

I feed my all of my young snakes every three days. Ron does the same.

[mleaster]

ok now I am confused. Mine is 4 months old and seems very happy eating once a week. Am I going wrong somewhere? This is info from the pet store I got him from. Please let me know.

[deborahbroadus]

There's (IMO) actually no feeding formula..but we need to remember that the more they eat, the faster they grow..(I am not advocating power feeding)...but that's the normal progression of Ball's lives.

That said, as long as your pet is growing steadily and eating appropriate sized meals for his girth, you have nothing to worry about. :wink:

You can offer him a second feeder after the first and see if he goes after it, if not..your feeding schedule is correct, (for YOUR Ball), if he does go after it, you might want to feed more often. When he starts refusing food, you can cut back as appropriate.

[RonCrawford]

You can feed once a week or more if you'd like. Some people argue that feeding too much can result in your snake regurgitating a few days later. Reguritation is not good due to the acid that's brought back up. If your snake does regurgitate, feed it 7-14 days later because a good bit of necessary stomach acids are reduced. Feeding too soon after could cause a cycle of regurgitations to occur, worsening the situation.

I offer food every three days, sometimes sooner. I've learned to read the behaviour of my animals whereas some will "tell me" they're hungry even after they've eaten a meal. If they're not hungry they won't eat so feeding 2x a week isn't bad in and of itself.

In your case, I would recommend feeding a decent sized meal once a week.

Hope this helps.

[mleaster]

Ok everyone!!!!!!
Captain Jack had a very decent meal tonight. 2 very nice fuzzies for dinner tonight. Fed him one let him get that one down and put another in the cage and he went after that one too. Now we will wait and see if he keeps them down. I think we are gettin the hang of this. He is now back in a clean cage ( cleaned it while he ate) and very happy. Thanks all for your help and comments.

[lindsey_marshall00]

Ok--now with all that said about how you can not feed a snake too much will someone explain to me why my vet said that my ball had a blockage because he ate too much and could not digest all of it??

[RonCrawford]

[Moshi]

Blockage? like constipation? because... thats treated with a nice long bath/soak, right?

(by the way, I'm new too, so, ^.^; you might not want to trust my opinion so much)

[lindsey_marshall00]

He said that we "over-fed" him or he over ate. He does not know when to stop eating I guess. He was used to eating only 7 mice(or small rat) and that feeding he ate a small rat and 3 mice. I have soaked him for hours on end and some has come out-we are working on the rest.

[deborahbroadus]

[RonCrawford]

I keep well over 300 ball pythons now and I've never had this experience to date. I feed them as much as they want, sometimes several rats during the day. When they don't want to eat anymore, they'll ignore the prey.

What type of substrate do you have in your tank? When was the last time your ball python defecated?

[lindsey_marshall00]

Well when I first started feeding him he would stop at 4 then a little later he would start hissing and I offered him another and he ate it so the next feeding I went ahead and gave him five and he was happy- The way he got ahold of the others was I was out of town a few days (business) and the snake sitter gave him 7- and she said that the first 6 he was "interested" in but the 7th took him a while to finally get around to..needless to say she will no longer be here around feeding time. The last time he went on his own was about a month ago..before the last overfeeding..never had this kind of problem and I have had bps for 20 years now. We are still soaking him and I am now massaging where the blockage is and we have worked a bunch of it down but there is still some in there--I am not going to feed him untill all is better.

[RonCrawford]

It's not uncommon for a ball python to defecate a month later. I'm looking at a random chart now and he last defecated on the 26th of June. No worries here...He'll go when it's time.

Just sharing this with you to ease your mind a bit. :wink: