Reptile & Amphibian Forums

like many of you, I’ve kept so many species before I settled mainly on ball pythons. in 37 years, I’ve never seen a snake that takes control over its own stomach / feeding habits more. to debate what is “too much” is to completely negate the fact that they will simply never eat too much, or too many multiple days in a row, so its not even up to you, the keeper / feeder.

ball pythons go off feed for intervals, so when you note that they are in a feeding period, feed them. feed them two days in a row if they want more. if they eat the second day, it just meant they could have eaten a larger food item the day before. no ball python in all of history ever accepted food “every day”.

when it comes to how much to feed, or when to breed, I think some people think the keeper has more control than the kept, and in the case of ball pythons, that’s just not the case.

feed them feed them feed them. they will stop eating on their own – when they want, and long before a health problem occurs. if they get 1500 grams in one year, fantastic. I’ve never seen that though, but I bet it happens. I’ve never seen an obese ball python.

listen to your snakes, not some other person's formula.

THAT sir, is sound advise

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

I agree with you 100 percent.

Some of my very best eating snakes will fast for a period of time followed by wanting to eat. I will feed them, not everyday, but every 2-4 days during this period of "consumtion" and they will gain weight and then they will stop eating on their own after a period of time. I will offer food, but less often for a time until they show signs of wanting to eat again, at which time I will increase the amount and frequency of the food I offer.

This ebb and flow dictates the amount of food my snakes take in, I do not decide, I let the snake decide. This cyclical pattern is one I have developed over time and my snakes gain weight at about the same percentage relative to body mass month after month. They are not fat either, they are very healthy.

The poor eaters do not gain weught nearly as fast, however, even their picky feeding habits seem to follow this cyclical pattern of consumtiom and then fast, it is just on a smaller intake scale.

This is what I have noticed and method of feeding my Ball Pythons that has worked for me best.

I currently have a couple balls that have never gone on the "regular seasonal fast" (the winter months). Instead, they seem to eat voraciously for 4-6 weeks at a time, during this binge cycle I feel like I can't keep up with their stomachs.

These two snakes will each turn into my "garbage bins" happily eating anything anyone else refuses. For that reason I always make it a point to offer them food last.

After 4-6 weeks of this each snake proceeds to fast for roughly another 4-6 weeks.

From my observances these two have grown at approximately the same rate as the rest of my more "typical" pythons. Strangely both females are from the same clutch so perhaps this is some type of genetic behavior? Maybe something akin to the observances keepers have made about Spiders being great feeders and Piebalds being more picky? Just a guess... we will have to wait until each has a clutch hatch out to see if any of their young exhibit this same behavior.

Besides for the various visual morph plans I have for these two, I consider this feeding behavior to be a desirable trait and one of my "dinking" projects. Hopefully it is genetic... I'll be a BILLIONAIRE!!!! LOL Just kidding.

I have a female that follows the same sort of pattern...it doesn't seem to slow her growth down, either. She's an 05 and she was 1200g by Dec. 06 and she's closing in on 1800g now (and pounding rats). She's actually growing faster than some of my snakes that eat once a week like clockwork.

I slightly disagree, although that is probably the general rule for most ball pythons. As I posted a week or so ago, there are snakes that are the exception to the rule, and not all of them fit the general stereotype that we've given them. Out of the snakes that I have had for more than a year, only one fasts -- and he's been doing it every winter of his 9 year life like clockwork. November - April, every year. The rest of them eat year-round (except the females after they've ovulated and are gravid), never fasting. Not even skipping a feeding day. I have one picky CBB female that turns her nose up at food -- not because she's not hungry, but because she doesn't want what I'm offering. When I offer what she likes, she eats like no tomorrow.

My het g-stripe female has no idea when she's full and she will keep eating until she pukes. I feed only weaned rats to my collection -- the adults just get multiples. I prefer this method because it lets them choose how much they want to eat per feeding day and the weaned rats pose much less of a threat of injury. Usually the snakes will stop when they are full. But this het female seems to get too addicted to being in prey mode and will keep eating even if she has no room left. One day she ate 3 weaned rats -- and the next morning I found them all regurgitated. She isn't sick, she doesn't have any parasites, her temps are fine. She simply ate too much. Since then, I only let her eat one -- maybe 2 if they are on the small side. No more regurging. But I bet if I offered her more than that, she'd eat them all and then promptly throw them up. Her eyes are bigger than her stomach.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Jen are your temps low or maybe where they when you had a Ball Python regurge on you ,I've never seen this in ball pythons Unless they were handled to much after a meal or kepted to cool or no bellie heat......... I agree with what most have said feed if there eating and if they are eating that good I'll feed them extra even. I don't think your ball regurged because of the meal size. But thats JMO.

Greg VanZweden

http://www.vanzwedenreptiles.com/

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Forever Trust in what we are,and nothing else Matters

They're kept in Animal Plastics racks -- Helix controlled heat cable set at 92 and cool side is at 80. Temps are double-checked by ACU-RITE thermometers set up on the middle tub in each rack. My animals are never removed from tubs or touched during feeding. The rodents are just dropped in and eaten.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

I have one girl that doesn't know when to quit too. When I first got her, I fed her every time she was in feeding mode. She chucked the new rat, a mostly intact rat from the day before, and two half-digested rats. It smelled much worse than the smell of decay, and I knew something was up as soon as I walked into my snake room.

Now I feed based on how full she looks rather than how she's behaving and haven't had a problem since.

Most snakes self-regulate fine, some do not.

I definitely agree on that one -- that smell is FOUL, far worse than the biggest load of crap they've ever left me. I started yanking out tubs thinking someone had died and then I found the regurged rats. YUCK. Now that I regulate her, there is no problem. Too bad she can't eat a lot and monitor herself, she'd be a big girl in no time.
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

I have been nervous about feeding too much, mainly because of what I had read online. I received a 115g pastel female on Sept 18 and she has already eaten 315g as of 4 days ago. Of course I knew she would be a good eater because she ate the day I got her after being shipped overnight from florida to missouri. Well she is getting fed tomorrow...

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1.1 Normal Ball Pythons (Snakerton and Mathilda)
1.0 Het Albino Ball Python (Walter)
0.1 Albino Ball Python (Perrie)
1.1 Pastel Ball Python (Jasper and Trudy)
3.4 Breeder Rats
1.0 Red Ear Slider (Rufus)
1.0 English Bulldog[Red Brindle] (Jones)