My ball python eats two mice weekly. Should I feed larger mice?

You can certainly feed Nagini 2 or even 3 pinky mice if she will eat them and depending on their size. However, you would likely be better off feeding her one fuzzy to ensure she is getting enough nutrition from a single prey item.

All pythons vary in eating. Most eat weekly but based on shedding and weather they can eat less often. Most pythons grow based on their enclosure. If you want to have it grow bigger try a bigger enclosure and good husbandry (substrate,lighting,water) are super important.

An adult corn snake should only eat once every 7-10 days. Here’s a helpful rule of thumb that applies to most snake-feeding situations. It relates to the size of the prey items. You should offer your snake feeder mice or rats that are roughly the size of the snake at the snake’s widest part (the mid-body area). In other words, the feeder rodent should be 1 to 1-1/2 times the diameter of your snake’s middle. You can go slightly larger than this, but not much.

Consider bumping him up to a juvenile rat (or small adult) once a week. An exam with an experienced herp veterinarian would also be recommended to diagnose illness or injury. Frequently, either may result in behavioral changes or sudden aggression.

It depends on who you ask, but I would consider Strangle to be a juvenile python. When he reaches about a year old, he would them be considered an adult python. Since he is still growing, consider feedin him every 5-7 days. When he is older/bigger, you can stretch out that time between feedings.

Hello! Snake feeding requirements are more based on size and weight than on chronological age. So generally, yes a corn snake under 1 year should be eating pinkies and older corn snakes will typically start eating small mice, then larger mice, it can depend on the individual. I would recommend taking Franklin to a reptile vet for a wellness/new pet exam and they can give a much more specific feeding recommendation based on their exam findings. Since I can’t see Franklin, it’s hard for me to give you a specific instruction about size and number of mice or rats to feed, though I suspect that he should be eating more than just a pinkie every 2 weeks. Good luck!

Hello, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. There are lots of reasons why a snake might go on a hunger strike, but it sounds like you've narrowed it down to a food preference. Rats are a bit more nutritious and ideally preferable over mice, but mice are also a perfectly acceptable option. Some snakes simply prefer them, in which case you are welcome to keep feeding Luminescence mice, and depending on her size she may simply need multiple mice per feeding as she grows. If you want to encourage her to switch to rats, you can try rubbing a dead mouse or mouse bedding on the rat prior to offering it, to give the rat a more familiar scent. Keep trying - but don't stress if the end result is she ends up staying on mice. Hope this helps!