Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey,my new ball python is currently 20inches long,and one and a half months old, she is is currently having a fuzzy per week, should i step her up?if not,when should i? is it ok to feed two defrost mice per meal? also, my pet shop have never heard of hopper mice :s (i just thaught id share that hehe)

Are you sure your Ball python is only 1.5 months old??? and 20 inches?? isnt that too big? mine is 25 inches and a yearling. anyways,for 20 inches,try feeding a hopper( a fuzzy that just opened its eyes) or a rat pup.

nevermind my last post, i got caught up in the age and size thing befor ei realised i didnt read your post all the way

She can probably eat full sized mice
You can start with small ones if you'd like.
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GratefulFred

at 20 inches a ball python can easily take a full grown adult mouse. my hatchling is about 15 inches long, approx 2-3 months, and she could quite easily take a full adult mouse. i currently have her on defrosted small mice because i havent picked any more mice up yet. but id definitely go larger, pythons in general prefer larger prey than youd expect...so at 20 inches id say try adult mice or even fuzzy rats, rats might be preferable, just because some snakes dont switch over very easily, so the younger you get them started the better off you are. id also avoid pet shops for feeders, sometimes theyre low quality, but mostly, theyre way more expensive than they should be. you can get a bag of frozen rodents at most reptile shows, or check out rodentpro.com, i got some collosal rats from them for a large pair of coastal carpet pythons...very nice prices, fast shipping, and quality feeders.

J
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Jaymz
"got a bowlin ball in my stomache, got a desert in my mouth. figures that my courage would choose to sell out now..."

Id just liek to make a point about petstore feeders. I work in one and take care of all the feeders,they eare trated just the same as the hamsters and facies, but we sort of gutload them i guess you could say. We feed them dog food, usually the kind that expired and we cant put on the shelves anymore. Theyre taken good car eof, we get them from a Feeder farm,obviously so who knows,theyre probly all icky and inbred, but we try to take care of them as we would with any other animal, but they get knocked out sometimes...whoops!

oh i agree, not all pet shops have low quality feeders, but this also isnt the norm. i was in charge of the feeders at the last pet shop i worked in, i can tell you first hand, its not just the pet shops fault! wed get 100 mice in and at times half would be dead! but again, the norm for pet shop feeders is low quality. it does happen that there are good pet store feeders, again from first hand expierience. the first pet shop i worked in bred their our own mice, we fed them rodent blocks, veggies, fruits, and some seed mix for a treat. great feeders, but, we could only pull so many a week that it wasnt always cost effective. in the end it boils down to, most pet shops dont make alot of money on feeders,so the care can sometimes be lacking. if i had the room id breed my own, its one way to assure only the highest quality....tho, ive been buying all my feeders from dave prada at komodo reptiles (komodoreptiles.com) and not only are the prices decent, the feeders are great. im a very satisfied customer, and anxiously awaiting the next show to get more feeders...sigh only 7 more days...time for work

J
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Jaymz
"got a bowlin ball in my stomache, got a desert in my mouth. figures that my courage would choose to sell out now..."

Thats awesome. I would love to get my feeders from a good breeder,and assure good quality. But i work everyday and the convenience and price factor are too good to beat(i dont have to pay for feeders). My snakes arent complaining so all is well.

To relate my experience. I was feeding pet shop feeders for a while. They looked fine most of the time. Had a clutch of baby balls with all kinds of health problems. They were dying off. What I eventually did was fire my vet (he pissed me off) and started buying quality frozen feeders, and they have been healthy and happy ever since. I don't know if it had anything to do with the quality of feeders or not, but I decided that its just not worth it to buy anything but the best.

Just my 2 cents worth
GratefulFred
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GratefulFred