Another Feed Question

[Adam_Wysocki]

most offer medium rats to large ball pythons

I strongly disagree. I am on the phone all day long with the largest ball python breeders in the world, medium and small scale breeders, hobbyists, and pet owners ... I spend my days (7 days a week) discussing every aspect of ball python husbandry (including feeding) with tons of people ... I've also spent 4 years as a highly active member of this message board and much much longer than that as a casual member and lurker on every other message board involving ball pythons on the internet studying how people care for their animals ... while "some" do, it's obvious that most people in the ball python community do not offer medium rats to large ball pythons.

-adam

[juddb]

boo yah!

[Dr_Gonz0]

I strongly disagree. I am on the phone all day long with the largest ball python breeders in the world, medium and small scale breeders, hobbyists, and pet owners ... I spend my days (7 days a week) discussing every aspect of ball python husbandry (including feeding) with tons of people ... I've also spent 4 years as a highly active member of this message board and much much longer than that as a casual member and lurker on every other message board involving ball pythons on the internet studying how people care for their animals ... while "some" do, it's obvious that most people in the ball python community do not offer medium rats to large ball pythons.

-adam

What do you feed your adult breeders Adam?

Robin

[Adam_Wysocki]

What do you feed your adult breeders Adam?

Robin

Never anything larger than a "small small" rat ... I call "small smalls" rats that would either be considered a little too large to be a wean or a little too small to be a "good small" ... 40 - 50 grams I'd guess? ... A few hundred adult boys and girls get them once every week here and I gotta tell ya ... it's working great for them!

-adam

[Dr_Gonz0]

Never anything larger than a "small small" rat ... I call "small smalls" rats that would either be considered a little too large to be a wean or a little too small to be a "good small" ... 40 - 50 grams I'd guess? ... A few hundred adult boys and girls get them once every week here and I gotta tell ya ... it's working great for them!

-adam

Kewl, i just bought 6 balls that are currently all on mice, but i want to switch them over to rats. Do you find rats are better to feed than mice?

Robin

[JoshJP7]

Yea Im with Adam on this one... I weigh out my rats every week and the small rats from rodent Pro usually clock in right between 45-55gs. Getting fed every week is SO much more food then they would get in the wild... I wish I could find the picture but someone had a disection photo of a BP that was over fed and you could see the fat buildups all down the side of the snake and it was NASTY!

Rats/Mice... no difference... Only difference between the two is Rats youll only have to feed them 1 and mice youll have to feed em 2. Nutrition wise theres no difference... All what works for you and your snake.

[Dr_Gonz0]

Yea Im with Adam on this one... I weigh out my rats every week and the small rats from rodent Pro usually clock in right between 45-55gs. Getting fed every week is SO much more food then they would get in the wild... I wish I could find the picture but someone had a disection photo of a BP that was over fed and you could see the fat buildups all down the side of the snake and it was NASTY!

Rats/Mice... no difference... Only difference between the two is Rats youll only have to feed them 1 and mice youll have to feed em 2. Nutrition wise theres no difference... All what works for you and your snake.

Thanks guys. I have kept Boas for a while now, but am new to the ball python game.

Robin

[Adam_Wysocki]

Do you find rats are better to feed than mice?

No, I do not. Over the last 10 years I can't tell you how many siblings that I've raised where one or more would be a mouser and one or more would be a rat eater and when fed gram for gram similar amounts each week they grow at the exact same rate.

Some ball pythons prefer mice to rats and vice versa ... either one is convenient for me to feed, so I go with what my snakes tell me they want. In the end, it's their best interest and health that I'm most concerned with and not how much food I can pump into them to get them "up to size".

Listen to your snakes, they'll guide you.

-adam

[Stewart_Reptiles]

My largest BP eat nothing larger than a small rats 4 weeks old which are about 45/65 grams, or 2 to 3 mice depending on what work for them.

[MeMe]

My largest BP eat nothing larger than a small rats 4 weeks old which are about 45/65 grams.

ditto that.