Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Will a ball take a prey item that is too large and what would the ill effects be? Does anyone have an experience with this?

thanks,
Rob
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0.2 Normal Adult ball pythons
0.2 Normal Adult ball pythons (on breeding loan)
0.1 Sub-adult
1.0 Normal ball python
1.1 Bell Line Pastel Ball pythons
1.0 Adult Het Albino Ball Python
1.0 Het Pied Ball Python
1.0 Het Carmel Ball Python
1.0 66% Het pied Ball python
0.2 50% Het albino Ball Pythons

I've had some take huge rats and I haven't experienced any problems with this as long as you have proper heat gradients in the tank. The masses say that they require belly heat to properly digest their food.

In the early stages of my collection, I have offered too large of a food item to a snake and it did try to consume it. However, it just could not get the rat down so it left it there. You could tell from the wetness of the fur around the rats face how far the snake was able swallow to.

A word of wisdom would be to offer a smaller prey item, let it consume it and they offer another smaller prey item. It will utlimately have the same affect as offering the larger prey item.

Good luck with your feedings!

Ya'll worry too much. If the animal can't eat it, it'll spit it back out. If it swallows it (which they manage to do just about all the time) it'll be ok. If not, it'll spit it out. Animals have a pretty good sense of taking care of things like that all by themselves.
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