Feeding prey items to small???

[connie]

I have been going thru the archives reading some this morning. Remember I am a new snake mom..I have had my BP's since December.... One is 9 months old and the other is 7 months. At the last shed the smaller one was almost 25" long. I am always afraid to feed them something that may be to big. I have been feeding a rat pup ( it has hair and tiny teeth) once a week. It does not leave a lump once it gets to the middle of the snake. I think I am feeding prey items that may be to small. What is the next size up for rats? Is it a just weaned one? It is sometimes hard to judge when I go to the reptile store what is the size of the rat compared to the girth of my snake. The store is about 1 1/2 drive for me.. so I only go every few weeks to buy food for them. They both are healthy, happy and active...just maybe hungry??? I know this same question has been talked about LOTS of time, but thanks anyways for your advice. OH...we are getting a new addition to our family. A baby red foot tortoise. Here is a picture of him peeking out of his egg. Isn't it cute?

	Ball Python The Ball Python (Python regius), also known as the Royal Python, is a ground dwelling snake native to the savannahs and rain forests in western Africa, predominatly the countries of Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

	1.1 One Male and One Female

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Like they say, 1 prey item 1-1.5 the girth of the snake at its largest part. Do you order from rodentpro or one of those companies? Also, do you belong to cornsnakes.com or is that someone else?

	1.1 One Male and One Female

[Heidi]

Weaned would be the next size up. Balls are so hard to judge because IMO their bodys are plump compared to their cute little heads. Not like a RTB where their body isn't as plump. To me weaned sounds big for a 7-9 month old ball but if the pups are too small that would be the way to go.

	In My Opinon IMO = In My Opinion and IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

[WeissChoice]

I have found that if the prey is too large, the snake won't take it. Specially Ball pythons. But yes, like stated above, strive for 1.5x the size of the girth of the snake. When I first started keeping snakes waay back when, I always thought that I would hurt their little mouths by stretching them with the prey items. That didn't last very long when I saw my buddy feeding one of his Boas a rabbit. Hope this helps a little Good luck~!

[connie]

I buy my rats frozen from the reptile store where I purchased my BP's.I plan on going to a reptile swap next month and will stock up on feeders there. Yes, I am a memember on cornsnakes.com. I will pick out the biggest rat pups they have at the store and compare them in size to just weaned ones. Thanks for your help. Connie

	Ball Python The Ball Python (Python regius), also known as the Royal Python, is a ground dwelling snake native to the savannahs and rain forests in western Africa, predominatly the countries of Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

[wreckwriter]

The general rule is that the prey should be the same girth as the thickest part of the snake. 1.5 might be pushing it in some cases.

As far as rat sizing, you just have to look at them. One man's jumbo is another man's large.

[JMesser]

Same here, about the same as the girth.

[Sponger05]

www.rodentpro.com gives good size comparisons between all the different ones. They also give you the weight for each group.

[Adrya]

My baby female ball is currently 27 inches and I feed her weaned rats from RodentPro, and she takes them just fine. Soon she'll be moving up to small rats.

[jshrad]

Hello,

I posted this in another thread but oh well. My 8 month male (26" about) takes down small live rats weekly with no problem. He only eats live so thats why I feed live if you were wondering.

[bcfos1]

Originally Posted by jshrad

Hello,

I posted this in another thread but oh well. My 8 month male (26" about) takes down small live rats weekly with no problem. He only eats live so thats why I feed live if you were wondering.

Oh I see a Louise post in our future.