How often do I need to feed my snake now? Please read details?

I finally just got my ball python to eat a small rat, he hadn't eaten since November (he was hibernating)
He's 5 years old, an adult.

I don't remember how often I used to feed him, lol, it's been so long.

Once a week? Twice a week?

If it's twice a week, would that be okay? Considering he just ate for the first time in 5 months, his stomach has to have shrunk it would seem.

Thanks

I have been keeping ball pythons for 14 years. My full grown adults eat every 10 to 14 days. I can tell when they are hungry and it usually falls in that time frame. I feed them 1 item of the appropriate size. I have an adult female that can handle 2 jumbo rats every 14 days. She prefers to eat that way. Once in a while she will wait 21 days to eat again, but really only like 3 or 4 times a year. I have an adult male that will only eat medium rats, which are too small, so I feed him every 10 days. At adult age, growth is not an issue. Think of it like a human. A child needs much more nutrients and vitamins for growth and development than say a 25 year old does. Also, if an adult goes all day with no food, we are usually fine. When you try to make a kid go all day with out food, they tend to get quite grumpy. Adult pythons are fine with 2 or 3 feedings a month. A juvenile needs to eat as often as they want, but I wouldn't try any more than once a week. If he is eating items that are not large enough you can get him to eat 2 at a time. Just as the butt end of his first rat is going in his mouth, gently introduce another pre-killed rat head first to your snakes still open mouth. If you do it just right, he will just keep swallowing and take both rats no problem. Do not try to feed him 2 separate meals in one week. 2 at once or 1 every 7 to 10 days. If he isn't hungry, he probably wont eat. I have seen pythons kill a live rat and then leave it there without eating it. It is instinct for them to strike and constrict, but actual feeding may not happen if they don't really need it.

14 years of keeping ball pythons

I would say that feeding a ball python twice a week is too much. At five years old in the wild, a ball python would eat maybe once every 2 weeks- 3 weeks. You've got to remember that snakes are not very active and so do not need a lot of food.

My corn snake is 2 years old and I feed her about 4 mice every 3 weeks.

So my answer is to feed him at most one small rat a week, but you should probably be feeding him once every 2-3 weeks. Also if you do decide to carry on feeding him twice a week, just remember to let him do a poo, before his next meal. Otherwise he may not have digested it yet and so eating again could give him cramp.

But my main answer is this: THE SNAKE WILL TELL YOU WHEN HE IS HUNGRY. He'll eat ravenously and may even strike if he is really hungry, or if he is almost full, he'll look at the rat for ages before deciding to eat it.

hope this helps.

owner of 2 corn snakes

Unless you plan to breed the snake then you would be absolutely fine feeding every 10-14 days. At four years old, your ball has reached his adult size and should be fed a maintenance diet, not a growth one.

Usually you feed your snakes once a week at that age, but once they get older you can get by with twice a week

Every 7-10 days is okay for an adult ball python.

Python Keeper

If your snake is between 1-3 years feed it an appropriately sized* item every 10 days

once a week would be fine

snake owner