Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not sure how much Damien weighs, since I don't have a scale yet, but I know he ate 3 adult mice the other day, and he is getting bigger.

I was thinking of moving him up to small rats.
My only concern is him being able to swallow them.
He has a thick stomach and body, but I don't want to strain his "neck" too much. I know snakes are elastic in that area, but HOW elastic.

Am I worrying too much?
Just looking out for his well being. I love that snake!

thanks,
KOS

A snakes jaws can stretch to about three times their normal size as a general rule, but are capable of stretching to about five times their normal size. Doesn't mean you should make a habit of feeding jumbo rats to a Ball, but an adult can take them with very little trouble. Hope this helps.

Quig

As long as you feed him a rat/mouse that has the same or smaller girth (thickness) as him you shouldn't have any problems!
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Tosha

8.10.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

3 to 5 times as large and as large or a little over the size of neck.....

I will say.people feed balls too large a prey item alot of times.....

they can live on mice forever..

rats are nicer.......less numbers........

ok..don't know the size of your snake.........

feeding 3 mice.....don't know mouse size either..could be 40 gram mouse..could be 100 gram mouse.....

so....try up to double neck thickness........

balls are slow digesters ........remember..,,,,,,,,,they don't need a full sized rat every week.........

they can take a fair meal a week and even more......bt not a huge meal too often.......

......baby ball fuzz rat a week......year old balls smal rat a week.........4 foot balls a medium and smaller rat a week.......5 1/2 foot balls..........males.small rat a week....half the year.......female balls at 5 1/2 foot can take medium rats a week for half the year and be ok......

.....as long as it eats it will live.......even small meals..........and yes they can be stunted and stay too small.......
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