Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is a 206 gram rat too big for a 1112 gram ball? (1/5 of her weight aprox.) she ate it with no problem, i was just wonderin if that is about the max size she can eat now. she had no problems eating it, just wonderin

Deal

p.s. she is the most docile "pet" untill the rat enters the room....she often hits the f/k rat BEFORE it hits the ground.

That is a big damn rat. I personally would not feed a rat that large to my balls for fear of regurgitation. Once they regurgitate, it can really play havoc on thier insides and may never eat well again. Better safe then sorry, in my opinion. Mostly I feed medium size (80 grams) but sometimes I'll feed a large (120 grams).

I like to see a lump in my snakes belly for at least a full day. If a few hours after your snake eats and you can't tell, then I would bump up the size. But like I said normally I want a nice bulge in the belly for a day or two!

Jason

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Smalls here are 60 - 90g, medium is up to 174g and large is 175 to about 300g. I feed all my balls smalls or mediums. I have fed some 300g when they are weighing 2000g and never had a problem, no regurge ever. Only time I had a regurge was with a sick CH hatchling.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons

all my rats are bought from a very clean pet store. they also sell feeder mice/rats. i buy live because i can get a very good deal. ($2 for ANY size rat is a great deal here). normal price for others at the store is $4 for large, $8 for jumbo. i guess they have some big rats then. this was the biggest she ever ate.

Deal

that's a good price for rats. I am lucky to get that at local stores for a pinky mouse. Which is why I breed my own rats.
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PHLdyPayne

i wonder if in the wild, the ball pulls out his scale and asks the prey item to step on to make sure it is of acceptable size....i imagine that if they can catch it and kill it, they can eat it. just a thought....

Deal

Mine are a bit larger than yours, between 1800 and 2000 grams, but they will eat anything from 150-250 grams. They both have, on ocasion, taken rats closer to 300 grams with no ill effects. But that's the extreme.

Quig

I was under the impression if they could get it down it was fine as long as it was within reason. Perhaps I made a mistake feeding my girl a leftove f/t rat weighing 52g while frozen and the snake weighs 171g? She definately has a lump for the past 14 hours which is the first time I have ever had a lump in any of my BPs. Trying to gauge if I am under or over feeding. She is the only one to take a rat so far. The others will are taking only mice to date.

I think the 'right' answer to all this is the old standard.........The prey animal should be the same size, or a touch larger, in girth as the snake. Except, of course, the ones that only eat mice. As to the statement 'if they can kill it, they can eat it.' Not necessarily. An adult ball is fully capable of killing something the size of a rabbit, but I doubt it could swallow it.JMHO

Quig

A ball can safely consume food items that are 15-20% of it's body weight. So 206 gram rat should be fine - those are about the same size as what I feed my adult balls give or take. Aside from whether or not there is an issue with her getting it down and keeping it down she needs to be able to digest it before it starts to rot in her belly - ideally you shouldn't see a lump after 24-36 hours. Make sure she has some good belly heat to help her digest and she should be fine.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

I had a male ball for 11 years(he was my first snake, R.I.P. Mr. P) that I doubt weighed in at anything over 1500 grams. He would fast for close to 7 months of the year every year and when he was eating he would take Jumbo rats. I never actually bought him food, I just gave him leftovers from my boas and retics. I can think of more than a dozen occasions when he ate two or more jumbos that must have been at least 300 grams and he never gurged, not even once.

I feed hatchling balls regular sized mice 15-25 grams and I've never had any problems.

Cole Maas