Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently learned that a regular customer of ours who buys one mouse every week has a ball python. He swear his four year old, four foot snake looks perfectly healthy on its diet of one mouse every seven to ten days. He does come in regularly, I see him just about every week, but I am having a hard time believing his snake (if it is a ball) is doing well on just one of our mice a week (our mice are not large).

So, since he swears it's fine and I have my doubts, I decided to ask you folks who have the most experience and have seen many more balls than I have.

Is it possible for an adult, four foot ball python to be healthy and well fed on just one mouse a week?

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"The problem with America is stupidity. Now, I'm not saying we use capital punishment, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"

Having had an adult ball that would only eat one mouse a week I can tell you that yes that is possible that his snake is doing fine. Domestic feeders provide more protein and nutrients than our snakes actually need and use - if I remember correctly it's in the neighborhood of 30% or more. This being the case - one mouse a week should provide ample nutrition for an adult ball. Just like people - snakes don't need to be huge to be healthy and it's likely that he has a nice lean healthy snake. Also if his snake is a pet it's not going to be needing the extra fat stores necessary for breeding and it sounds like since you see him every week the snake doesn't go off feed often and that he actually takes the time to stop in and pick up a mouse every week is commendable - all too many people would try to bypass the hassle. But yes it's also possible that he has a picky ball that doesn't eat every mouse that he brings home and the animal could be under nourished - but it's not a judgment that can be made without seeing the snake and/or knowing it's history.
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Tosha

Ahhh, alright. It was just hard for me to believe a snake would be alright with just a mouse a week; my little girl started pounding two mice a week right after I got her in October and she's already up to eating small rats.
Thanks for the input, I feel a little silly but hey, y'learn something new every day

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"The problem with America is stupidity. Now, I'm not saying we use capital punishment, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"

I have an adult male that would be happy most of the time with a large adult mouse. But he eats anything all year long! So I give him a medium rat each week and he still would take more if I let him...greedy bastard...

Happy New Year!
-John

I have a girl that works for me at my regular job (not reptile related) who had a female Ball for over 5 years. She purchased this female as a hatchling and only fed her a mouse a week for the first 4.5 years and then only a small rat once a month. When I picked the female up from her she was over 5 feet long and in great health. Of course she did not weigh as much as I would have liked (she weighed about 1300 grams) but very healthy. Once I picked her up and started feeding her appropriate sized meals (1 large or jumbo rat weekly) she put on weight like there was no tomorrow and within 2-3 months was well over 2000 grams and now (after 8 months) is close to 2600 grams and has been breeding with my Pastel 66% pos het ghost (sire of my SUnburst Pastel crosses) as can be seen in the picture.

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Rob Trenor
RK Reptiles
www.rkreptiles.com
www.rkreptiles.net
www.ballpythonmorphs.net

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why are we hobbyists so adamant about females being 1500 grams to breed? If snakes in the wild do not have food that is nutritious enough or if a ball python does ok with such little food than are we not over fattening them? I'm not trying to be difficult I just want to know.
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"yeah, eagles have feathers hanging off of them too and I don't smoke --- out of them!" PS it was a dream catcher!

Remember that captivity is not a natural state, so as hobbyists (in the case of ball pythons, anyway) our goal is to get our snakes as plump as possible for a couple reasons:
1) In case the snake decides to go on a diet. If your snake suddenly goes off feed for no reason that you can fathom, it's much less of a worry if you have a hefty snake to begin with. Skinny snakes refusing to eat = scary, but a plump snake refusing to eat is just being picky.
2) Breeding. Females we like to plump up much more than males due to the toll that breeding takes on the ladies. Notice most males aren't really that pudgy at all. The girls, though, get the weight packed on. They will lay more eggs and be in better condition after laying eggs if they are pleasantly plump - not fat, not lean, but plump. It's kind of like how models and actresses look good when they're skinny and fit, but the women you see with tons of kids are the ones that have a few extra pounds but not much more than that.

Make sense?

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
2.0 horses (Buddy and Sam)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
1.25 chickens (Ugly the rooster and his harem)

"The problem with America is stupidity. Now, I'm not saying we use capital punishment, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"