Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok lets just say I am taking care of a black headed python that was eating 2 mice. I fully think it is big enough to eat a medium rat. I am wondering if you think a black headed python that is big enough around to handle a medium rat, should be eating a medium rat?
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1.1 Motley het butter corns
0.1 Snow corn
0.1 Okeetee corn
1.0 Anery mutt corn
0.1 Stripe Ghost corn
0.1 Amelanistic corn het carmel
2.1 Colombian Redtails
1.0 Hypo Colombian redtail
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Anery Kenyan sand boa
0.1 Normal Kenyan sand boa

Here's the deal with BHP's, at least my opinion. They are designed to eat goannas, long not girthy but large meals. This is something not commonly found out there in the Outback. My BHP's are full grown and I feed mine a jumbo rat and a jumbo turkey neck as a meal about 6-7 times per year.

If the snake isn't yours, just feed it the smaller meals and let the snake's owner deal with the bigger meals.

Doug T

>>>I am wondering if you think a black headed python that is big enough around to handle a medium rat, should be eating a medium rat?
Doug Taylor Reptiles

A good rule of thumb here is...
Judge by the "head" size...NOT the "body" size.
BHP's are structurely different than most other pythons. A bhp that is 8 feet should eat smaller meals than a burm at 8 feet.
I know many keepers that make the mistake of feeding meals that are too large and not often enough.
They also have trouble getting their animals to "cycle" as normal. Some also run into problems with consistant breeding.
(Like breeding one year and then nothing for another 5.)
Now, there are alot of factors that will play into this as well, but in my experience BHP's do better with smaller / more frequent meals.
My adults get NOTHING bigger than med rats, every 7 days.
If you're wanting to add size... then try a couple of meds.
This is just my experience but, I've had great success with my group with this method.
Hope it helps.
Cheers.
Derek.