feeding more than one rat at a time?

[vkahri]

I'm sure if I spent enough time searching I'd find an answer to this in the forum but I don't have that kind of time.

I just want to know what people's thoughts are on feeding more than one small rat to a snake at a time. My ball python is about 5 years old, I feed frozen medium rats but could not get any that size recently. I fed him a small rat last night and he is acting like he still hasn't had a bite to eat. Very aggressive. He's normally extremely docile.

does it matter if he's already got food in him, to feed him again a day later? I don't want any digestion complications to occur.

[izoid]

I do it often and have no problem. I think it is sometimes better to feed 2 smaller prey items than 1 large. Last night my female boa ate 2 large rats without any problem, she is regaining her weight after giving birth.

[vkahri]

ah, well that is awesome congratulations! and thanks for the info.

[maverickgtr]

We feed our male ball python two adult mice [as large as the pet store has] every week. He refuses rats [we think he got attacked once because he used to only eat rats] so we have to feed him multiple mice. He does just fine.

[tomfromtheshade]

I breed rats and have bred boas in the past. A lot of my larger female boas would be rabbit eaters under ideal situations, but they did just fine eating half a dozen rats every week.

Long story short, feeding multiple prey items is perfectly safe and works just fine.