Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if balls will overeat. Someone told me that they won't eat unless they are hungry, but mine seems that she is always starving and will accept food every 3 days, so I was just wondering if they can get too fat or overeat?

I have a pastel that has been eating 3 to 4 mice ever 3 days for the most part. He is almost 800g and is only 6 months old. I was told by most to take advantage of when they do eat because they do go off feed. I have a couple that have gone off feed and one that hasn't eaten, just out of the blue for 3 1/2 months now. I would give it to him if he wants it.

Yes, snakes can over eat. One of my guidelines to tell when to feed my snake is generally when they start becoming more active usually about 4-5 days after I've fed them I'll see them out "hunting". Small balls will eat more frequently than large ones because they are growing, but you want to be sure you don't end up with an obese snake, it's just not healthy. Also a rats provide better nutrition than mice so they'll need less to eat.

A snake that is too heavy will sometimes have trouble making a tight "S" with its body (or ball up), or the skin in between the scales will be constantly visible because the scales are being spread apart from each other by the excess fat stores. Think about how the skin looks around the food animal inside a snake's stomach just after a snake consumes a large meal, and you've got some idea what I mean. Very often this gives a characteristic "striping" look to the skin that can extend along most of the body length.

Hope this helps.
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Tosha

1.1.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy)
0.1.0 Siberian Husky (Kita)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
5.4.2 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer