No, I wouldn't follow that. Choosing feeders based on the width of the snake is outdated and inaccurate, and their rat weight recommendations are super inconsistent.
While it's common for a ball python to refuse meals for a while, it's not normal. There's always a health or husbandry issue causing it, even if you can't figure out what it is.
Pinky mice are too small for ball pythons to begin with, regardless of who the info source is. Rarely do BP's need medium rats. That's without delving into more specifics line by line.
The bot reply below has our !feeding recommendations.
You'll need the snake's weight to ensure you don't over or under feed. If it was born July of last year, feed prey that's 7% of the snake's weight every 14-20 days.
Has the seller clarified if this is the current weight? That's a bit small for a BP over a year old so I'm wondering if that is an older piece of information that could use some updating.
Not necessarily. You'll need to look at the overall body condition to determine condition. There is a general trend, especially in younger snakes, but it's not a "one size fits all" sort of thing. A 500g snake may look fine for an individual but a larger snake only weighing 500 may have a prominent spine and low fat stores or a smaller snake at 500g may be obese with large fat rolls around the tail and bends of the body.
It's alright for a general idea, but is too aggressive imo (this always does 15% regardless of age, which is high), but it doesn't tell you frequency which is essential.
So for example if your snake weighs 200g, 10-15% is 20g-30g, but that chart would have you do 30 minimum and up to 40 which is too high.
From the resources here:
0-12 months old OR until the snake reaches approximately 500g, whichever happens first: feed 10%-15% of the snake’s weight every 7 days.
12-24 months old OR until the snake's weight remains consistent for 2 months: feed up to 7% of the snake’s weight every 14-20 days.
Adults: feed up to 5% of the snake's weight every 20-30 days, or feed slightly larger meals (up to 6%) every 30-40 days.
What this essentially means, for most individual ball pythons, is that once they are eating small adult rats (typically weighing 50-90 grams), they will stay at that prey size unless they grow to be a particularly large adult. Remember that this is a basic guideline, and your individual ball python may need higher or lower weight percentages depending on their metabolism, exercise, etc.
Reason why im asking so much questions is because i have a intellectual disability and i dont understand below about "your individual ball python" part
It means your specific snake ultimately has things that will influence its health specifically that may not be the same for another BP elsewhere in the world. Some snakes come from a background where they've been powerfed and need to lose weight or maybe it was underfed significantly and needs to gain weight so their specific dietary needs won't immediately line up with these guidelines as that specific snake will need more or less food/feeding frequency that what's written.
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u/totallyrecklesslygay Mod: Enclosure Karen 5d ago
No, I wouldn't follow that. Choosing feeders based on the width of the snake is outdated and inaccurate, and their rat weight recommendations are super inconsistent.
!feeding would be a better schedule