Looking to see how other folks feed there ball pythons

I would just like to see how many of ya"ll are feeding your baby balls?

Do you think it is better to feed smaller meals twice weekly?
or larger meals twice weekly or just one good sized meal once a week?I am really just curious as to how others are feeding them and which ways brings on a little faster growth without power feeding and shorting there life.


Thanks

Up until about 1 month of age I fed mine every 3-4 days. I would feed them prey that was about 1/5 - 1/6 of thier body weight.

They now weigh from 400-600 grams and are fed small rats that are about 60-80 grams every 5-6 days.

This girl is 3 months old.

Nice...

Very Nice looking ball there!
I aggree with realvenum,once a week sounds to me like the best plan,but all snakes a different,some might want to eat constantly,exspecsily when there young!
Mine is around 2 feet or so and I bet if I let it it would eat atleast ever 3-4 days,but I think once a week is better because it gives him time to digest his other meals.

I had been feeding the baby balls every 5 days, but they are larger now, and I am busier! Now I feed everybody every Wednesday. It's just easier at this point. But when I had fewer snakes I fed every 5 days.

I've got a couple that really plumped up into little Snasauges on this feeding schedule, and some that are amazingly small in comparison. Hard to beleive, but #1-5 (yeah, I have enough now I have resorted to numbering rather than naming) Anyway~ Number 1-5 came in the same day, from the same supplier. Prehistoric Times~5-17-03. They have been offered feed every 5 days until a little over a month ago (Just Wednesday's now) They were all approx the same size on 5-17-03 (50-70 grams) Current wieghts:
#1~ 723 grams (Pig! She never refuses a meal!)
#2~ 265 grams
#3~404 grams
#4~151 grams (Has never voluntarilly fed. I have been assist feeding every couple weeks, hoping to jump start her, but I am not optimistic)
#5~529 grams

So, I really think it has to do with the snakes more than how often you offer food. #1 gained 128 grams between 10-15 and 11-16 even though she was only offered food every Wednesday. #2 only gained 2 grams in that time period. (He refused a lot last month).

Hope you can make sence of that, and that some of it helps!

I almost forgot, pretty Pastel Al!! Mine is not as nice as that one, but I'm think he is pretty anyway!

Thanks for the replys!!!!!

I have been feeding every 3 to 5 days and some seem to be growing alot faster than others.I dont feed very large meals I feel bad to see a snake laying there with a big bulge.lol..I know I fell like crap myself if I have a big bulge in my belly from eating.The meals I feed are just about the same size as the biggest part of there body or a little smaller.I want to give my collection the best life they can have and the longest they can since they rely on me to care for them.And yes it would be nice if they grow faster so they can breed but I dont want to push them just for that all mighty dollar.

Cheryl I have had to start numbering mine also..I have 38 snakes and I have all but about 14 named..lol..But again thanks folks for the info.

Cheryl and Al those are awesome looking snakes ya"ll have .I guess I need to break down and get me a digi cam so I can show off some of my snakes..lol.



Thanks,

The digi cam is fun.........but I already want a BETTER one! I probably took about 50-60 shots trying to get that picture of him with his tongue out! The great thing about a digi cam is you don't pay to print the "Missed it AGAIN!" shots! But my camera is older (Yeah, older.....as in 2 years old) and it doesn't like to do closeups. So if I want a close picture I need what ever I photoing to sit still long enough for me to manually adjust the focus!

Last count I had 76 now. But 20 of those are baby corns I keep intending to sell (yeah, I do INTEND to, but I haven't even advertised them yet!)

I may be in a bit over my head. My husband calls this the "Hobby from Hell"...........I'm maybe just a LITTLE obsessive..............just a LITTLE.

Too many nah...lol

My motto is if you have time to care for all the animals you can never have to many.My goal is a 100 and who knows maybe more.the way I have been buying here lately a 100 wont be anything.But oh well nothing more fun than to raise and care for my collection.Plus my kids love snakes and they help me out alot!!!

How do you keep track of a the snakes?
I can imagine keeping 100 snakes or more,imagine all the money in heating pads,cages and everything!
I think one snake is fine foe me right now,I still want to get a bigger cage and a nice log or branch to climb on.
Right now I only have a 10 gallon tank for me 2 footer but I want to get a 20-30 gallon like this Tuesaday.

index cards!!!!

I use index cards for all the info on the snakes.Plus I label the racks or tubs in the racks.And i keep all my snakes in one room which I can keep the whole room warm and not use as much electricity(SP?) on heat pads and so forth .Plus I use haet tape alot cheaper to run.But dont get me wrong I do have a few dollars tied up in housing,heat supplies,thermostats,racks and cages but thats part of it.

And I also have some computer software that i can keep track of all the snakes but it is faster to use index cards.I am fixing to get all my hets and so forth microchipped for my own peace of mind just in case they was to get mixed up by some freak accident.That would suck to have some het pieds,het albinos mixed in with all the normal ball pythins..I think I would just break down and cry ..lol..

You can save yourself some money and still be able to ID those hets Dusty, and maybe justify buying that digi cam you want at the same time.

I use index cards as well. I file all the full cards in a small file box behind a reference card on the snake. The reference card has a photo of the snake. One taken from above to document as many distinguishing patterns as possible. (justifying the NEED for a digi cam, to take all those pics to ID them) as well as other pertenint info ~purchase date, where purchased, genetic info. On the back of each reference card I put the current weight of all the snakes (I weigh everyone about mid month every month and up date their card)

I live in Southern California, so I had to consider what I would do in case I had to evacuate do to the fires. Likely some of the snakes would get mixed up. If any did, I could just go to my cards, find the most current wieght of the snake I am looking for. Then compare the photo to the backs of each snake. Their dorsal saddles and side aliens are kind of like fingerprints.....no two are exactly a like.

So~ there is a much cheaper ID method, if you were looking for one!

Good luck

Cheryl,

Thanks for the heads up on doing that sounds like a great Idea and a dang good excuse to get that Digi Cam.But we have abuddy here that will microchip all the snakes we want and all we have to do is buy the microchips..He works for the Arkansas State University so he has all the stuff to do it and he also has lots of his own herps.And he is only gonna charge us cost on the chips.But I still would like to setup my index cards like you have yours.Thanks again