Ball pythons are great pets, especially for beginners, because they are non-aggressive and relatively easy to take care of. However, like every other type of pet, they have particular needs that must be addressed to be healthy. Food is an essential aspect of python care.
Ball pythons eat primarily rats, but they can also eat mice, hamsters, gerbils, or crickets. You should not feed your pet snake live rats or other animals since the animal may attack your snake in self-defense. You should feed your snake once every 7 to 14 days.
If you want to know more, read the rest of this article. I will show you what ball pythons eat and expand on their feeding habits. This article will also answer any additional questions about feeding ball pythons.
What To Feed Ball Pythons
Ball pythons are carnivores. In the wild, they eat various animals, including birds, rodents, and fish. Naturally, their diet depends on their surrounding environment, as well as their size and sex. Typically, rodents are a preferred prey of wild ball pythons.
As pets, the diet of ball pythons is understandably more limited. The best food you can feed your pet snake is frozen rats. Of course, you need to thaw the rats out entirely before letting your snake eat them. Ball pythons will have no problem only having rats in their diet, but you may want to change it occasionally.
Mice are also acceptable to feed to ball pythons. You can also feed them frozen gerbils or hamsters. In any case, the food should be frozen and not alive. Feeding live creatures to your snake is unnecessary and cruel for the prey, but it could also result in your pet snake being bitten or attacked by the prey in self-defense.
How Often Should I Feed My Ball Python?
An adult ball python snake should eat once a week, more or less. Younger snakes need to eat more often because they need sustenance as they grow; you must feed young ball pythons once every five days.
When your snake is getting old or is overweight, you may feed it more rarely, every two weeks or so. If you feel like you’re not feeding your snake often or rarely enough, keep track of when they poop; if they poop once in less than five days, you should feed them more rarely.
How Long Can a Ball Python Go Without Eating?
Ball pythons can go up to 8 months without eating, even more in rare cases. However, such a long time without food can affect their health. More often, they can go around 2 to 6 months without eating with no problem. Baby pythons sometimes stop eating for a month or so.
What To Feed Baby Ball Python
Baby ball pythons up to 4 months should eat baby mice, but you may also feed them crickets. As they grow, you may start to feed them small adult mice or young rats until they reach 2 years old. After 2, you may begin feeding them adult rats, starting with smaller ones.
Can Ball Pythons Eat Eggs
Ball pythons are carnivores, so they are not likely to want to eat eggs in the first place. Additionally, it’s physically impossible for them to do so even if they want to because they swallow their prey whole, and the outer shell of the egg cannot be digested by the stomach.
Conclusion
Ball pythons have a varied diet in the wild, but as pets, they’ll be happy with rats only. They can also be fed mice, especially when they are babies, as well as hamsters or gerbils. However, rats are the best and most nutritious option.
