New owner here. Is this normal behavior?

[Noodlez]

Hi there. My BP is about 4-5 months old. She is quite tiny and is fed on frozen baby mice. She is fed on Thursdays, so naturally around that time she becomes a bit more antsy. She is more active during this time. The day after she's fed, we don't touch her because we're worried she'll bite, even though she is completely docile. But I've noticed when I peek in on her to check up, typically she will pop her head out of her hide and look at me rather fast. I am wondering if this is a sign she should be fed more? She didn't eat last week, but we assumed that was because she was shedding. Her shed was clean and 1 piece, and she is completely fine now, and she ate, but perhaps not enough this time? Is she still in hunting mode? Should I feed her again or wait until next week and feed her two mice?

[treaux]

Welcome! When you say baby mice, do you mean the tiny pinky ones with no fur? Or the fuzzy ones with their eyes closed?

If it's either of those then you are feeding too small. Have you weighed your snake in grams?

Most BPs can eat bigger than pinky or fuzzy mice as soon as they hatch. I'd try gradually upping the food size until you're using mice roughly the same width as the widest part of your snake. Then I'd recommend switching to rats as they provide more bang for the buck as far as food goes.

[Noodlez]

Thank you for your response! Yes, she is eating the ones with fur + eyes closed. And now that you mention it, they are a bit smaller than her width. I have not yet weighed her, do you know what weight she should be for when I do? And would you say she is hungry because we are underfeeding her on the small mice? Unfortunately I went with a lot of blind trust on choosing her food, as we were consulted by an employee at PetSmart.

[BCS]

If you are truly worried you can feed her once every 5 days until she is between 500-700 grams in weight. Kitchen/food scales works perfectly for this purpose.

So when it comes to prey size in mice there are pinkies, fuzzies, hoppers, small adult, medium adult, large adult and jumbo. I have never had a BP eat anything smaller then a hopper. If you are feeding F/T, most mice will have their eyes closed as they are put to sleep before they are killed. So eyes closed is not a good way to go by it. Same thing with rats. Sizes in rats are pinkies, fuzzies, pup rats, weened rats, smalls, mediums, large and jumbos. (Honestly depending on where you go, sizes and names for those sizes are different so make sure you know what size you need).

Feeding prey roughly the size of her girth is best. A bit smaller or a bit (tiny bit) bigger is okay. Not all rats are perfect and bound to have some a few millimeters different in size.

[SmoothScales]

Personally, I wouldn't trust PetSmart with a dead goldfish. Not saying all of them are uninformed when it comes to animals, but the majority of the employees I've met have had no real training in animal care. The ones that do have a good head on their shoulders when it comes to information are usually self educated because they are passionate about the animals before working there.

As far as food size, the two general rules of thumb I've heard the most are about as big around as your snake at its widest point, and 10-15% of your snake's body weight. Here's where having a scale would come into play.

[Crowfingers]

Personally, I wouldn't trust PetSmart with a dead goldfish. Not saying all of them are uninformed when it comes to animals, but the majority of the employees I've met have had no real training in animal care. The ones that do have a good head on their shoulders when it comes to information are usually self educated because they are passionate about the animals before working there.

As far as food size, the two general rules of thumb I've heard the most are about as big around as your snake at its widest point, and 10-15% of your snake's body weight. Here's where having a scale would come into play.

Just for clarification (this same chart confused the heck out of me when I first looked at it, then I had a duh moment ...) this is the weight of the prey item compared to what they are called in the U.S. Once you know your snakes weight, you can calculate what size food item you need to feed based on the chart. I also found that rodent suppliers have slightly different weights. I went with big cheese for my ball since their rat pups were smaller than rodent pros by about 10 grams and he is a small snake, so you should always double check your suppliers prey weight as well

[PitOnTheProwl]

I went with big cheese for my ball since their rat pups were smaller than rodent pros by about 10 grams and he is a small snake, so you should always double check your suppliers prey weight as well

10g difference? Then you are not buying rat pups.
Rodent pro lists at 20-29.99g
Big Cheese lists at 20-34g

This is why I post the same chart as posted above.
There is a weight range per size.

[Crowfingers]

10g difference? Then you are not buying rat pups.
Rodent pro lists at 20-29.99g
Big Cheese lists at 20-34g

This is why I post the same chart as posted above.
There is a weight range per size.

Sorry, that was a mis-quote, just checked my bookmarks; I have been looking at rodent pro fuzzies vs big cheese pups the whole time sorry about the confusion. I bought pups, and weigh each one at feeding time, they are between 22g and 29g.

[Doggtyred]

So get a food scale and a large bowl and weigh your critter..

We brought home a new juvenile from the pet store about 2 months ago.. she weighed 60 grams and she was able to take a pinky rat (8-13 grams live weight by my scale).. Previously she'd been on 5 gram live hopper mice. As of yesterday she is 100 grams and just graduated to the smallest fuzzy rat in the feeder bin.. about 20 grams.. might have been a little oversize by weight for her, but she took it like a champ (and girth wise was appropriately sized).

Im not posting as an expert, just sharing whats working with our juvenile.