Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 3700 gram Female, and she is MASSIVE!!! What should she be eating now?! XXL Rats, XXXL Rats, or G-Pigs?!

I personally feed my snakes an item that is a size where it does not leave an obnoxious buldge. I do not velieve in seeing how big a rat, mouse, g-pig I can get my snake to eat. Everyone has a different idea of what to call a LG, XL, XXL, etc. Use your judgemment......By the way, that is a big Ball!
Best of luck with it.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

Yes I know huh, It was someones pet for 5-6 years. He sold it to me for only 50 dollars. Needless to say I jumped on it, especially because it was a Female. I order all my rodents from RodentPro. So I was just curious as to what I should feed. They have sizes on their site.

see if, on their site, they speak to how wide or thick the rats are and compare it to your girl. Get one that is the same size as she is thick. That is what I would do.

$50? Not a bad deal.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

She is 14 inches in gurth. Thats empty BTW

Sorry, I should have said diameter....and get a rat the same size or close to it.
Big girl though!
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

can i please see a pic of your ball. i want my new born pie to be a big breeder but i dont know about that big.can the pic be of u holding it so i can see its actual size?

Im on a Mac how do I post pics on here?! If you give me your e-mail I can send it to you

jkearney3806@yahoo.com thank you

same way you post pictures here on a IBM Compatible PC.

Just convert the file to .gif or .jpg and upload to the photo gallery here at kingsnake or use another photo hosting site and insert the image link in your post enclosed in the img tags (in [] brackets with a / on the closing tag)
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PHLdyPayne

"I personally feed my snakes an item that is a size where it does not leave an obnoxious buldge."

this caught me as rather funny...not sure if you meant a rather disgusting bulge in the snake or if you really were looking for 'obvious' but the spell checker didn't catch the right word and replaced it with one that was close.

No insult or criticism meant, and I do apologize in advance if my comment did offend. I am more pointing out the one big weakness of spell checkers. They don't always realize the correct spelling of a word doesn't mean it is the right word for the context of the sentence it is used in.
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PHLdyPayne

No, I wrote what I meant. I guess what I am trying to say is that I do not feed my snakes so that is has a very large buldge in it AKA (in my mind) obnoxious, overwhhelming, huge, etc. It does not have to be obvious that it just ate. I do not want it to have to sit for days to digest, it should still be able to move about.
I just like to feed a nicely sized item and I feed more often (I feed every 5-7 days). Some feed every two weeks.
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Brian Oakley
Phoenix, Arizona
BrianOakley@qwest.net

I'd go with a large rat a week for starters, but then my version of larges is probably bigger than most. Large, to me, is somewhere between 280 and 350 grams . I've got a seven foot twenty pound boa that does well on this. I believe rodentpros weights go smaller than mine though. Just order a few to begin with and go up a size next time if necessary.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

yes I am the same way. I was going to do a couple Larges twice a week or so. But then he told me she has been on G-pigs for a couple of months. So thats why I ask.

If that's what he's been feeding her then I'd stick with those, unless guinee pigs would be hard for you to get.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

is it good for it?! You dont hear about too many Ball Pythons taking G-pigs

I don't see the harm, they are rodents, but I've not heard of any taking them either . Besides, if she's used to the pigs she may not take a rat now. Just a thought.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Have you ever seen other snakes fed solely on guinea pigs? They are grossly obese and very unhealthy. Guinea Pigs contain high levels of fat and aren't a proper prey item to feed on a regular basis.

Your female Ball only needs a small rat or two once per week. Find rats that are just weaned(55-60g in weight), and those will be fine for her. Adult Ball Pythons have very slow metabolisms and do not need much food at all to grow and maintain their weight.

Are you sure this is a Ball Python??
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-Becky Brown, RVT-
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