Congratulations on you new Ball Python (or future Ball Python), I'm sure you have several questions at this point. Lets go over one of the most important topics... FOOD!!!!!
Most people know Ball Pythons eat rodents, but which rodents should we be feeding? A lot of sites will tell you mice of all different sizes based on the size of your ball python. You also see that for rats and ASF's (African Soft Fur rats). You can feed live, F/T (frozen thawed) and freshly killed. There are many pro's and cons to all of these. Let's dive right in and go over these options.
Lets start with food type. Hatchlings are usually fed hopper mice or pinky rats, then graduate to small mice or fuzzy rats to adult mice or rat pups. Usually the next level is adult mice to small rats, then medium rats. Although a full grown ball python can eat a live large rat, usually its not the best idea. Rats have powerful jaws and sharp teeth and any size rat can bite your ball python. A large rat can do a lot more damage. If you're going to feed large rats its best to feed them off as fresh killed or frozen thawed. Personally I think its better to feed smaller prey more frequently then 1 big meal 1-2 times a week.
What's better, rats, mice or ASF's? A baby mouse is about 64% protein and 17% fat. While an adult mouse is 55% protein and 23% fat. A baby rat is about 58% protein 23% fat. While an adult rat is 61% protein and 32% fat. There is not a lot of nutritional facts on ASF's, but an adult ASF has about 21% protein. Another thing to consider with ASF's they can sometimes be harder to obtain. In California and some other states, they are illegal to have.
My personal preference is to feed strictly a rat diet. I'll feed hatchlings "crawler rats", then graduate to weened rats. Then go to small rats and cap out at medium rats. My reasoning for this is because when you go the mice or ASF rout in the beginning, sometimes your ball python will only want mice or ASF's. While that's not a huge deal, rats pack more protein and fat, so you can grow you ball pythons out more efficiently.
Live vs Frozen Thawed vs Fresh killed... what do I do? I personally do all three. I prefer to do live then work towards F/T. I breed my own rats, so its convenient to do frozen because I can store them easier. F/T is also usually cheaper for people who are purchasing rats to feed. Also, the biggest perk in my opinion, they can't bite back! F/T is much safer alternative feeding method and can be cheaper as well. Fresh killed is also a great option in terms of safety to your ball python. There are different ways to humanely neutralize your rodent, but my preferred method is CO2 gas. Sometimes I'll do fresh killed and if the ball python doesn't take the prey, I'll freeze it for later use. The main reason I like to do live feedings is because I like to keep things as natural as possible. When I do live feedings, I watch to make sure the rat is not biting my ball python. If I see it happen then I'll put the feeding tongs in its mouth so it cant bite keep biting down on the ball python.
What's your preferred method and prey type and why? Let me know in the comments!
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