Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am enjoying reading the myriad of controversial advice regarding feeding schedules, growth etc. (except a slightly inappropriate thread w/ some flaming, which makes this place a little less friendly and fun). Anyway I was wondering, does anybody just feed thier P. regius when it's hungry? Would a snake over eat if it were allowed to have food whenever it were hungry? Opinions are interesting but is there any scientific evidence on the subject (this means quantifiable data, papers in peer reviewed journals, veterinary records etc.)? Looking foward to these responses.

my snake WILL eat everything you show him. the most ive gone with juvenile mice is 6!! this was just after i bought him from the pet store. after that i spaced it out 1 adult every 3 days, or 2 fuzzies on day, and wait a day, and then give him another 2 fuzzies. I dont think they will over eat themselves, i would think they will throw whatever went in last up. kind of like a little kid at a buffet! lol

How do you tell when your snake is hungry. personally I just feed my snakes once a week, and I have never had an obese or skinny snake. I think that as long as the weight of the snake is right in relation to the length, then you should be fine.

The easiest way to tell if you ball python is hungry is this:

Get a Sharpie marker, draw two eyes, ears and a mouth on your thumb, scent your thumb with a live mouse or rat, and stick your thumb into the entrance of the hidebox where your "possibly hungry" Ball is snoozing. Make some mouse noises, and move your thumb around in a "mouse" like manner Count to 30 and pull your hand out of the cage. If there is a Ball hanging onto your thumb, it is hungry, if not, you may want to wait another day.

Dave

To all the little kids, DO NOT REALLY try this!!!

Actually mine prowls incessantly (5pm-4am!!!!!) if not fed as usual and makes me feel guilty (I was sick, really).

Gretchen does that as well and I actually feed her when she's hungry to a point. She was very underweight and malnourished when I got her so it was difficult to know how much to feed her without stressing out an already-weakened system but if she started prowling about sooner than expected feed day or wasn't settling after a meal then I fed her the next size mouse up. Similarily if she is contented longer inbetween meals then I might leave her an extra day or 2 before feeding. She is about 5 months old now but still on the skinny side so she is fed 5 times a week for now and it seems to be working judging by her feeding response and her weight gain.

Snakes do this when they are not hungry. Could be your husbandry.

I've been keeping and breeding snakes for 12 plus years and not one snake has EVER told me it was hungry.
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By prowling I mean out and about cruising and looking like she's actively searching for food. She settles down after she's been fed, altho she does sometimes do it when she wants out. She'll come out her hide if she sees people come into her room. What husbandary problems would cause her to prowl about? As far as I can tell everything's acceptable - she has a temperature gradient of 75 cool side to 90 hot side, a hide at each end, newspaper substrate and humidity is 60% with a water bowl in the middle. Anything I'm doing wrong? Please tell me coz she's been through so much I really hope I'm not causing her any more problems.

Snakes move around sometimes. Its not huge deal. It doesn't mean they are actively searching for food (odd thought, seeing as they are AMBUSH predators) and it doesn't mean they need any additional care by the keeper. Snakes move. No big deal. Its when they are ALWAYS moving (day and night) is when I worry.
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Never thought of that, the ambush predator bit. Methinks I'm anthropomorphising a little here! But is it possible balls could learn to associate their keepers with being fed? Would she get up and cruise when she saw me to ask for dinner? Wouldn't they go wandering from burrow to burrow in the wild to try and find a rodent or would they just wait for one to come along? I'm not trying to challenge you here, I'm just asking coz I know I've got lots to learn.

Is my husbandary OK tho?

It isn't the husbandry, that sounds fine. But the question don't snakes move from burrow to burrow looking for a rodent? No they do not. A ball python will actually sit and wait for a rodent, only moving slightly to get to it. Have you ever watched yours eat??? you should actually think your snake wants food if it is sitting with it's head poking out of the hide box looking around. If I were you I would just find a feeding schedule that works for you and feed him one rat(of w/e size he needs) every 4-6 days.

Hope that helped.
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1.1 Ball Pythons

The smallest rats I can find for her are still too big, she's just gone on to I think you call them hopper mice? Next size up from fuzzy. When I fed her tonight she was sitting with her nose poking out the hide but when she saw me she came right out and slammed her meal with no hesitation.

Your Ball is eating regularly (albeit, a little small on the food items though) and your temps are ok. I wouldn't stress. Watching and observing what your Ball does at certain times and certain months will tell you 100x more than anyone here ever will. Observe your own animals in your own setups. Its the best information you will ever get.
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Thanks for the reassurance Jeff. She is really stunted still, she wasn't fed for 3 months after she came out the egg (a CF) and was 18ins long and down to 50g when I got her, she's about 20ins now but still only 100g, weights going on but she's still small, small head, small neck, everything. Vet thinks she'll probably always be that way, stunted. Think she must have been the runt of the clutch and then left to starve which compounded her problems. She really still is only as big as a small mouse so you can see why I want to get things right for her.

>>But the question don't snakes move from burrow to burrow looking for a rodent? No they do not. A ball python will actually sit and wait for a rodent, only moving slightly to get to it.

Hi - You sound quite positive on this point. Where did you read this? I am not aware of any field studies done regarding prey capture by ball pythons. Can you provide a citation?

My reaction was the same to Jeff Favelle's comment above that these are "ambush predators." I'm aware that this is a common view passed along in the popular press and on personal websites, but I just don't think anyone has actually proved this to be the case. Indigo snakes live in tortoise burrows, but it doesn't follow that they are sit-and-wait predators.

Thanks for any information.
-Joan

I agree, I don't beleive much of anything unless I see it for myself or read the same thing in 3 or 4 international peer reviewed journals. Maybe if I ever retire from aquatic things I'll go to Africa and terrorize the wild P. regius by doing an agressive study of thier natural behavior. Watching my snake eat a mouse that I dropped into the pail he's in doesn't tell me much about what a wild snake might do on it's own volition.

My animals let me know they are ready to eat by "begging" at the front of thier tank when I walk into the room.

I too have been at it for at least 12 years and I caught on by the 2nd or 3rd year.

It may be my animals though....

Mine lick their lips.
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and when they want to be breed to they masturbate?

mine spell out "eat" for me.

You must have four snakes then. Three make letters and the fourth crosses the "t" right?

Honestly, I have one normal boy, and 3 imaginary red axanthic to complete the collection. (they are the only morphs I can afford!)

I just had to contribute to the fun!

Muggle

The one thing I don't like about this place, other than reading other peoples inapproriate personal arguments, is having to qualify every statement I make and then catching negative feedback for being overly scientific, too antropomorphic etc. It is my personal observation of my personal Python regius that if I don't feed him when he is scheduled to be fed he prowls more. I have tried a few different feeding schedules and found one that works ok and if I don't stick to it he is more active than normal. Normal indicating that he is an observant inquisitive animal, by my personal observation, and will come out of hiding and watch what I am doing or look around the room, maybe climb his trees, or investigate something new that I may have added to his cage.

sorry, I just got in on this one, and couldn't resist a little fun post. helps lighten the mood. please don't take as a personal attack. I needed to giggle, and my post may help someone in the same situation.

giggles don't bother me, in fact the stuff that's annoying is usually overly serious

I personally, feed my snakes whenever I think they may be hungry, it varies from snake to snake. I have 19 BP's so each of them has their own schedule. I pretty much know when they are hungry, so I offer them food appropriately. I have a couple balls that will eat every 4 days or so for a month, and then not eat again for a month or two, so it tends to even itself out. I also have some BP's that eat once every two months consistently.......... IF you pay attention to them , they'll guide you along. It was s wise man who once said "Let a snake be a snake".

I agree with everyone else. Every ball has their own schedule. Right now i'm feedin my boy a rat every 5 days. The only reason for that is #1 when i got him about 6 months ago, he weighed about 650g at 3' long...way too skinny in my opinion...so i started this schedule to try to fatten him up. He's quite healthy now and is well over 1000g, so i'll be cutting down this schedule to between 10-12 days between feedings. #2 he has had no problems with this schedule, and he seems like a perfectly happy snake. I know some people are gonna come on here with comments about "powerfeeding" and whatnot, but you just have to base it on your individual ball. Nobody knows them better than themselves.

Here is my opinion on how much to feed (and any other topic of having a pet)
1 - Common sense.
2 - Read and take the advice of about 50 actual breeders and then implament the average of what they all advise. Here is what I mean by implamenting the average. If one person says to feed every ten days and another person says to feed every day then the average would to be to feed every five days. This is just an example of figuring out the average.

Good luck, Chris

The Animalman's Website

I love the pic of your food. We are considering breeding our food, too.... any recommendations? I'm new to this.

I think we will do mice, not rats. Rats just gross me out.... can't quite stomach them... sorry...

no nutrition debates, please??? We've been through them a million times....

thanks, group!

Muggle