Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I have just recently been switching my 3 year old female ball python from mice to rats. I fed her 3 small rats the past two weeks, and now this week I fed her a medium rat.

The problem is, the small rats were ALOT smaller than the medium rat. The guy at the pet store said that she should be able to pound the medium rat right down. I've never known any one else with a snake and I've never seen any other snakes feed. I'm scared that this rat is too big for my snake to eat. She's been trying to get it down for about 10 minutes now, and normally she will swallow a mouse or small rat in about 2 minutes. Can eating a rat thats too big cause problems or hurt her?!?

Here's a picture of her trying to get it down, does the rat look too big? What can I do if she can't swallow it? Can I help her at all?

What's the problem? She's a rat eater

Thanks for the response! I left the room for 5 minutes to get a drink and whn I came back....no more rat! Man, I guess I got myself all worked up over nothing. I've just never fed her a rat and it seemed outrageous that she could swallow something that big! Once again, I'm shown just how utterly amazing snakes are.

That size looks fine. I would only feed one that size every 7 - 14 days. If you go a little smaller you could feed more often, say every 4 - 5 days. If you order f/t in bulk you will spend less in the long run and have more variety or feeder sizes. Hope this helps.
Kevin

Once again, y'all worry too much. WAY too much.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Don't worry. She'll get it down.
I have a bunch of balls and it might take her a few more minutes to eat it but trust me she'll do it.

Ghost? Burgundy? Looks great whatever it is. I am always amazed at how large a prey my ball pythons can swallow. I think they know if they can handle it or not. It wouldn't commence swallowing if it couldn't do it.

Mark

No, not a morph just normal. But thanks! I thinks she's great too. Here's another picture of her.

You guys worry too much...I've got an adult female who takes forever to eat. Doesn't matter how big or small the rat is I give her...first she has to "kill" the thing (it's f/t or pk just don't tell her) this usually takes her a good fifteen minutes. After another ten minutes of smelling the thing she will finally decide it's kosher enough for her. Once she starts to actually swallow it'll be 30-45 minutes before she gets it down. Small rat, med rat, even when she'd only eat mice...same thing. Takes forever.