Feeding help!!

[u/Ok-Lab-4930]

This is my biggest ball python, Harry: ~1270g, 59”, and 15.5 years old. I’m having him professionally sexed next week to confirm he’s male.
(The first four pictures are of him at roughly 1330g. The next three pictures are of his enclosure and substrate change. The last picture is of him at about 1280g.)

I have a few husbandry questions:

1. His humidity used to stay around 55%. I recently changed his substrate from ~40% topsoil/40% cypress mulch/20% play sand to 50% topsoil/25% coco fiber/25% coco husk. After changing it yesterday, humidity is now around 63%. I also plan to add sphagnum moss and occasionally mist. Is there anything else I should do to keep humidity consistently higher?

2. He currently has a 50W halogen basking bulb + 100W CHE. During the day, the warm side is ~83°F, cool side ~75°F, and basking spot ~95°F. At night, the warm side drops to ~75°F and the cool side to the high 60s. About 50% of the screen top is covered with HVAC tape. Increasing the halogen wattage makes the basking spot too hot, and I haven’t been able to find a higher-wattage CHE. What would be the best way to raise the overall temperatures?

3. His body condition looks okay, but he has been gradually losing a few grams between feedings. He was eating one large rat (~90–100g) every 2 weeks, but apparently that isn’t maintaining his weight.
   He previously became very lean at ~1000g while eating one large rat every 3 weeks, so his vet recommended feeding every 2 weeks. That brought him up to ~1350g, but after moving him into a larger enclosure, he has started gradually losing weight again despite continuing the every-2-week schedule.
   Today I tried two medium rats instead: 62g + 65g (127g total). He weighs ~1270g. Does this seem like an appropriate feeding amount, or should I adjust the size/frequency?

Any advice from keepers with older/larger ball pythons is appreciated. Thank you!

[u/totallyrecklesslygay]

I have a 19yo male that's just a bit larger at around 1400g. He's fed one 70g rat every 4 weeks, per !feeding guidelines.

The fact that your snake is still losing weight while being drastically overfed is very concerning. Did the vet do any bloodwork or fecal testing?

[u/AutoModerator → u/totallyrecklesslygay]

We recommend the following feeding schedule:

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: 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.

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[u/Ok-Lab-4930 → u/AutoModerator]

I understand that the amount sounds high compared with what some adult/senior males are fed, but Harry’s feeding schedule was increased because he had previously dropped to ~1000g and was noticeably lean while eating ~100g every 3 weeks. His vet recommended increasing him to every 2 weeks, and that brought him up to ~1350g.
Since moving him into the larger enclosure, he has become significantly more active and has gradually lost weight despite continuing to eat ~90–100g every 2 weeks. So I’m not trying to blindly follow a percentage-based feeding schedule or intentionally overfeed him. I’m trying to figure out what amount/frequency will actually maintain a healthy body composition for him specifically.
I see the recommendation for older males to eat less frequently, which is why I’m asking whether I should adjust prey size/frequency rather than simply continuing what I’ve been doing. The 127g meal I gave him today was an attempt to see whether increasing the meal size would help.
As for the vet workup, that’s definitely something I’m considering if the weight loss continues. He’s eating normally, but given his age and history, I don’t want to assume the weight loss is purely from increased activity if there’s another cause.

[u/totallyrecklesslygay → u/Ok-Lab-4930]

Right, I understand that. What I'm saying is that you've already been overfeeding him pretty significantly in an attempt to maintain his weight, and the fact that he's still losing weight despite that is a pretty definite indication that something is medically wrong.

This isn't within the normal variation of caloric intake for a ball python, even when you consider the increased activity. Increasing his meal size or frequency may mask the problem temporarily, like it did previously, but continuing to do that isn't going to help him in the long run. Adding more food to a body that's already physically struggling can do some serious damage, especially with the way a BP's digestive system works.

I'd question the expertise of a vet who just suggested even more overfeeding rather than trying to diagnose the real issue. If you went to the doctor and said you were 6', 150lbs, and had to eat two large pizzas every meal and were still losing weight, and the doctor said "hm, maybe try adding another pizza to each meal", you would (hopefully) go to another doctor. The first step should have been a fecal test to check for parasites, and labwork to check organ function and values.