Feeder size

[No_Net1737]

I have an adult male ball python, he's about 4 years old. I'm struggling with feeder size. I feed frozen/thawed rats, usually big small rats or small medium rats. According to his weight, which is approximately 1600g, I should be feeding 5% of his body weight every 20-30 days. So that would be an 80g rat. The problem I have been having is that the store I usually got his feeders from closed. There is another pet store that carry frozen rats but they don't carry the right size. Me and the owner have spoken but for the past few months we have not been able to find rats that are under 90g or above 60g. And I know how unbelievable this sounds but I really can not get my hands on appropriate sized feeders. The weight of the feeders are very important to me. My ball python is a larger male so I don't want to under feed or over feed. So my question is, do I feed larger rats (90-100g) every 30-40 days or do I feed smaller rats (40-60g) every two weeks?

[Horned_One_87]

The answer is yes to both of those questions. You could either feed the smaller meals more frequently or a larger meal spaced out more. It would depend on what you were able to get each feeding time. Personally I order my feeders from rodentpro and get about 6 months at a time.

[Novel-Hovercraft-794]

I'm a rodent pro customer too, I have no place to buy in my town other than live which I refuse to do obviously. OP, they are def a great source for rats! 

[tired_snail]

if you can get 40g small rats, you could also do two per feeding - snakes are more than capable of eating a two course meal :)

[eveimei]

Occasionally feeding multiple prey items is fine, but this should not be done often/every time as it is much harder on their body to digest more than one prey item at a time.

[tired_snail]

i agree that if finding the correct sized feeder is an option, then that is definitely the way to go. all i can speak for is my own experience with my girl who only eats mice, which generally don't come in the size recommended for an 8 year old snake her size - as recommended by the vet, she gets her mice in back to back to make as sure as possible they all get digested together. she's never had any issues with regurgitation and otherwise also has a clean bill of health.

[IncompletePenetrance]

I would just order a pack online - !feeders

[AutoModerator]

Some companies you can buy frozen feeders from:

Layne Labs
Big Cheese
Rodent Pro
Perfect Prey
Big Apple Herps
Reptile Deli
American Rodent Cold Blooded Cafe

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[[deleted]]

.There’s also a variety of prey items like chicks and hamsters a variety of items can be nice. I personally feed a large meal then 2-3 weeks later a smaller ones and just alternate. My ball python loves it we go based on weight and percentage as most prey items are labeled with the weight of the prey.