Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all I'm new here and I just bought my first snake in late December. She's a 2003 Beatiful female ball and at the petstore i bought her at they fed her 2 hopper mice a week and it looks like she has a bit of a bulge in her. Ever since ive got her I've been feeding her 1 hopper every sunday and she has a regular appetite. So my question is if i keep feeding her 1 a week will she be snappy because of less food then she normally gets or will she just lose the bulge and have a normal temperament. Sorry if i sound like an idiot but im new to the whole snake scene and i really dont want to mess anything up at all for my little girl. I'll post pix later

oh an sorry about bad spelling. >

Just what size is this snake? A 2003 should be big enough to eat something much larger than a hopper. My 2004's eat weanling rats and a couple are about big enough to eat small rats.

Pet stores tend to feed a "maintenance" diet, meaning just enough to keep the snake alive till they sell it.

You should feed it either a rat or mouse (or multiple mice) that is about as big around as the largest part of the snake. Once a week is ok.

Get yourself a book on ball pythons and do a search on care sheets on the net. It will save you alot of trouble with your new pet.

Cheryl