Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just got my first ball python today. the pet store told me that they feed there pythons on thursday, and they have been feeding them pinkies. no, i dont know much about feeding them pinkies or anything, so i was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice on this subject. i`ve done all the reading and i didnt really find anything about feeding pinkies so any advice would be helpful.
thank you very much.

I have never seen a Ball Python small enough to need to be fed pinkies. I start all mine on week old fuzzy rats, or hopper mice. Your BP will not grow as fast on pinkies as on older prey items. Pet stores usually do that because pinkies are cheap.
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Randy
www.ball-pythons.net

okay, then how about any advice on feeding fuzzies or hoppers?

Joan makes a good point. I'm sure there are some BP babies that need pinkies. I have always seen normal sized ones. By normal sized I mean around 70-90grams. These are the size I was referring to about taking hoppers or fuzzies.
I am unsure what kind of advice you are needing. I feed all my snakes a prey item as large or slightly larger than the thickest part of the snake. The hatchlings I have had I started on live rat fuzzies, then gradually switched them over to prekilled over the course of a few months.
Make sure you don't handle your BP for a day or two after it eats, so it doesn't get stressed and regurgitate its meal. (YUCK!)
Hope I answered your question......if not, let me know!

>>okay, then how about any advice on feeding fuzzies or hoppers?

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Randy
www.ball-pythons.net

In 2000 I hatched twins that weighed in the low to mid 30's and both started fine on hoppers. Now the 15 gram one ... I suppose that one probably really needed pinkies.

In my experience your best bet for getting a baby ball started is usually a live furry hopper mouse. Of course if that doesn't work then you can start experimenting with other things like pinky rats.

Hi Randy –

You are right. I think dragged my soapbox onto the wrong thread!

I believe I’ve always managed to keep my big mouth shut when one of the “experts” (here or elsewhere) insist that ALL ball pythons can eat ADULT (25-35 gram) mice, or rats of equivalent size, right out of the egg, usually conveyed with thinly disguised amusement regarding the inexperienced person asking the question. It's always made me wonder how many 35 gram and smaller ball python hatchlings these people have seen. And I’ve noticed this “truism” repeated with increasing frequency. That really wasn’t the issue here, but the topic sparked my memory of rather small hatchlings.

For sure, no one in THIS thread was behaving that way. The message I meant to convey was that nature manages to produces a real range of hatchling weights, and that the one-size-fits-all feeding plan can be ill-advised when we don’t know all the details. And unfortunately, the people who need a bit of help in their first efforts in caring for their new ball pythons often can’t tell us the weight of their snakes, much less know the weight of various prey items.

I’m dismantling my soapbox and carrying it off now, and leaving this discussion to you clearly knowledgeable folks.

-Joan

Joan,

You have good points on the variation in size and also the self perpetuation "facts" that get latched onto by us newer "experts". I appreciate your experience on this or any subject.

I just wanted to pipe in my one experience with balls this size.

Also, I seem the hear a lot of cases of people trying and having trouble getting their first baby balls to eat pinkies. My average 70 - 80 gram babies don't seem much interested in pinkies or even fuzzies usually. I'm thinking people tend to underestimate ball python’s first meal size and this may be making it harder for them to get the babies eating than if they started with the live hopper mice. I'm sure there are plenty of other ways to get baby ball pythons eating that I've never thought of or tried.

Keep your soapbox out please!

My last clutch averaged 60 grams each. They were started on rat pups which they did fine with. I would not have started them with mature adult mice. Currently, they are eating mature adult mice. But now they are in the 250-300 gram range.
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Jay A. Martin

I didn't take your post as coming from a soapbox, just pointing out a valid exception to my initial response. I am certainly no expert in the field, so I appreciate your addendum to my response. I try to respond to as many of the newbie questions as I can, even though I have limited experience myself. Otherwise, some people feel the need to ridicule them. I hate to see newbies turned off to the hobby because someone flamed them.
Please feel free to add to any of my posts, anytime. I appreciate the input!
Regards,
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Randy
www.ball-pythons.net

>>I have never seen a Ball Python small enough to need to be fed pinkies

Hi Randy –

Weird things can happen. I’ve hatched out ball pythons as small as 34.8 grams. If my memory is working correctly, Rich Crowley said he had a tiny 15 gram one hatch out one time. But I think that animal might have gotten somehow detached from its yolk. At any rate it went on to survive and prosper.

Ball pythons are notorious for occasionally producing “half-sized” eggs which result in animals that are roughly half the size of their clutch mates. Who knows why?

I always think of those tiny ones when I see some folks on these and other forums adamantly insist that ALL ball pythons can eat ADULT (25-35 gram?) mice right of the egg! This advice is usually given in response to someone relatively inexperienced looking for feeding guidance.

For normal-sized ball pythons, I definitely agree with your advice.

-Joan