I’ve seen a lot of people say to feed based off of “x amount of the thickest part of the body” but have also seen feeding based on weight when it comes to young BP’s.
My BP is a little over 3 months old and weights around 98g. Which should I feed based off of? I’m wanting to try to offer him a fuzzy rat tomorrow but I also don’t want to over feed him or have him hurt himself during the feeding process.
A 95 gram animal will be able to handle a fuzzy with no issue. I start hatchlings on live mouse hoppers until they have taken 2. Then I start switching to fuzzies. I have had babies taking fuzzies under 80 grams. If you are feeding FT and buy a bag of 10 or 25, just start with the visually smallest one and then work your way through the bag to the largest.
Sounds good! I’m just a bit paranoid lol
Tysm for your input!
A lot of the meal size is just a good guideline, not a hard set rule. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right 100% of the time.
10% of the body weight or the thickest part of the body are pretty easy to judge and feed by. Easy to remember too. But remember that unless you are conditioning to breed, many BPs in captivity can become overweight. At that young of an age, you won’t have to worry as much. But as they get older you may notice they start refusing meals more or may start getting folds of fat when they coil.
But for non-breeder adults I probably tend to feed more by the 10% rule than the body thickness rule. And even then sometimes it’s every 14-20 days instead of 7-10 that you would on a baby and juvie. By that point, you’ll know the feeding pattern of your noodle and how a good body weight should look. And it’s pretty easy to adjust as needed or eyeball the size you want.
Just an opinion, not saying its best or i am right.
98g seems small for 3 months of feeding unless it was way smaller when hatched. So it does not seem like your over feeding.
Regarding the size, its frequency too. (bigger food less often)
I might feed a decent sized hatchling with a fuzzy rat a week or longer to start. My hatchlings tend to be about your ones size from the egg though.
I would sometimes do a a smaller hatchling one pink rat for the first few meals.
I have never needed anything smaller for ball pythons personally.
I try to avoid mice just because I am worried about them getting hoked on mice and I cant be bothered to by both mice and rats all the time.
I know he seems a bit under weight for his age but I’ve only had him for a few weeks. I’ve been feeding every 5 days and the seller never said anything about him hatching small. I was told when I got him that he was taking hopper mice and that’d be when he was nearly 3 months old.
I’m trying to get him on rats so he will get the extra protein and what nots. Every feeding so far he has taken well and has gained around 7g each time, so I’m not sure if it’s something I or the seller am/was doing.
Great pictures! He is really nice! I love his name too! 
. Thank you for the pictures!!
Sorry, I wasn’t suggesting anyone did anything wrong, just that it seemed small for 3 months.
Looks like what your doing will get some weight on it
