Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Err......just fed a small hopper to my new 2 mths old ball, his first feeding...he still sorta looks unsatisfied, so I popped in a sub adult mouse to try it out...and he also ate the fella....

I hope I didn't overfeed......erm......but glad he's a hearty eater.....so I guess I should probably wait for a big turd before I feed again..

How often do you feed your baby ball? I only had him about 3 days..

You asked before! You were told to let it acclimate for about a week or so, then, feed a small adult mouse! You did neither! If you're going to do what you want, why ask on the forum?

Babies should be fed one appropriately-sized item every 5-7 days. It you wait for a poop, you'll be waiting 3-5 weeks because they do not poop that often.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Mine "poop" Every 4-5 days.. If they aint poopen they aint growin!
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http://www.jasballpythons.com./

Thanks! err...that's great to know. As for advices, there were quite a few, including one that said just drop one in to see how it goes, so I followed that one with close monitoring. I also decided to feed earlier cos the mice I bought was getting bigger day by day and I am concerned that waiting one more week....I might get 1) attached to the mice...(I keep rats as pets) and 2) it gets too big for the ball.

I fed 2 because the first I fed was a small hopper, and I realize it was simply just a snack, it was my first time feeding a ball. I decided then to follow thru with the bigger one, as I realize my ball can probably handle it after all, and he did with surprising ease.

As for acclimating, I think some babies acclimate faster, from what I can tell from my ball's behaviour, he's curious and confident since day one.....so I decided to go ahead with an earlier feeding.

I think as a free forum, one can ask advice, gets loads of advice and just choose one...I cannot choose to follow all advice since some might be contradictory, so hope that didn't offend anyone's sensibilities. I am grateful for all the feedback.

Do you feed them every day or something? My 3 babies get 1 large rat pup every 5 days, my subadults get 1 weaned rat every week, yet they all only crap every 2-3 weeks. The adults eat 2-4 weaned rats every 10 days and they crap every 3-5 weeks. It's a big load when they do, but they're pretty regular -- I can almost predict when they'll do it. They pee and let loose urates more often than that, at least weekly. That isn't poop though. They're growing just fine, my late '06 babies that I raised up are 800-900g each, and all of my adult animals that are older than 2 years are 1800g (male) to 3000g.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

How many of your snakes DIE from RI's?? And you sell snakes to people with out telling them they could be a problem.. Your Terrific!!
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http://www.jasballpythons.com./

I had ONE snake die from an RI -- she was treated by 2 different medications that the bacteria/virus was obviously resistant to. That is the first of any kind of illness I've had in my collection in almost 4 years. The rest of my animals are just fine, and I never sell a snake that shows any kind of illness nor has had an illness in the past.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Hey,

If he's not hungry, he won't eat! New ones- I give 'em a rat pink every 5-6 days. If you wait for a poop he's gonna starve!

Steve Harrison
J-ville

Thanks for that! I shall be keeping him on a feed schedule of once a week )and also adult mice since he can handle that size quite easily....I will be feeding live with close monitoring..and follow advice on not allowing live feed to be with snake overnight as well as if snake not feeding after 5 minutes to remove it. Correct me if I am wrong.

If I can make a suggestion....I agree, you can't overfeed him. He won't eat if he doesn't want to, but I would be careful what size of mouse you feed him. even if he can handle bigger prey, it is often safer to feed two smaller items. The bigger the mouse, the harder to digest. remember hes not in the wild, so why not make it easier on him? I always feed max size of about 3/4 the snakes girth at its widest point.

Yeah-

More and smaller prey is the way! A big 'gut bomb' is harder to digest. Plus, a larger prey item can bite the side of a baby and kill it almost instantly- this just happened to a baby I sold! Bummer! A bite to an adult is an annoyance, to a baby it's sometimes fatal. Of course, that's for the people who feed live (ME!)

STevoOOO

it's toooo late....

Usually if they aren't hungry, they won't eat...but there are some that get into such a high prey drive that they will kill and eat things that are far too large or too much without realizing they shouldn't. I feed only weaned rats to my collection, I just allow the adults to eat more than one and I let them choose how many they want since they have always stopped whenever they are full (usually after 2, 3, or 4 -- 4 going to the big 3000 g females). However, I found that my het g-stripe female really has no clue when she's full or may not be hungry. She killed and ate 3 weaned rats one feeding day, then promptly regurgitated them 48 hours later because it was just too much for her to digest. She didn't know when to stop. Now, I only let her eat 1 -- maybe 2 if they're on the small side. I have to choose for her because she has no sense of what she can handle.

I have also seen snakes that will kill and eat anything and everything that their owner throws in with them -- often times becoming way overfed and obese (white showing between the scales, having a very noticable end to the fat body at the vent, followed by a skinny, stubby tail). Usually these are the animals that end up power-fed by greedy owners that take advantage of the animal's high prey drive. The ones that get their year-old females to 1800g by feeding them a big rat every 3 days. They are very obviously overfed, so it can happen...
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Thanks all for the suggestions and advice! really appreciate it very much. The small hopper and the sub adult mice are both much smaller than my baby ball's maximum girth, and she had no problems with them.

I am sticking to a strict schedule of one sub adult mice every week. Was asked to powerfeed twice a week by the person who sold him to me, but I dun really want to do that to him.

Might be getting a baby girl spider next month, have seen her, she's a bit bigger and very pretty....but by the time, spiders reach my side in Asia...price is around USD700

Kiro,

Powerfeeding is not feeding often, it is placing food items into the snake's mouth as it is swallowing one it took naturally- it will swallow whatever goes in as a reflex, thus un-naturally giving more prey items than the animal intended.

StevO

Hey Cuz,

Yeah, I think other species of snake can gorge themselves, but I've usually found balls to regulate themselves pretty well. In the major growth stages (1st 2 yrs), most all food goes toward growth. However, I've got one female that is now 2 yrs and eats everything you throw at her, and now she looks slightly like a blood python...kinda gross! I'm gonna lay off feeding her and regulate my older ones...

Babies and juvies pretty much put it all toward growth, but I wouldn't give gross amounts at one feeding. Just feeding more often time wise- say for hatchlings a rat pup every 5 days instead of 3 rat pups at one sitting every 10 days.

Jen, I want some 100% het clown females next year!

Steve Harrison
J-ville!

That's what the babies already get. One pup every 5 days. The adults are the only ones that get multiples.

I should have plenty, so you'll be first on the list! Along with one of Dash's daughters -- he's a busy boy!
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors