one more question on feeding

[avriette]

Since I took your advice last time (thank you very much, folks), I went from feeding him once a week on a schedule to feeding him when he seemed hungry. This works out to maybe every four days, he gets a small mouse. He's now twenty inches, but I don't have a scale to mass him yet. He's a fat sucker, but that's because he's usually got 2-3 mouses in him. Yesterday he surprised me and took a mouse after just a day. That is, two in three days.

This is still healthy? He seems very healthy, he's very active (usually around 10pm, he wakes up and goes prowling for who knows what), and he's very friendly. He gets handled at least every other day, but usually every day.

Again, I ask because I've never had a juve before, just adults, and they could go a couple months between feedings and it was no big deal. This guy eats like a pig, and I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

[llovelace]

He should be on a 5 day feed schedule of the appropriate sized prey item. His digestive system needs time to rest between feedings. He's out raoming at night because that's what they do, they are nocturnal.

[avriette]

He should be on a 5 day feed schedule of the appropriate sized prey item. His digestive system needs time to rest between feedings. He's out raoming at night because that's what they do, they are nocturnal.

Why five days? Why not six or four?

[avriette]

I think I know what's going on here. It's been so hot here lately and our A/C unit has mostly given up the ghost so the tank is running close to 95/90. I can't cool it any more than that. So his metabolism has to be through the roof right now. Would that explain why he's eating so voraciously? I mean, he's making all the signs again, on the third day, of looking for another mouse.

edit: he has copious water in which he can submerge himself entirely and he does go swimming a couple times a day.

[piper]

Not sure why the snake is soaking. You can feed him as much as you want or what he'll take, I did that for my first snake I got and now I'm lucky if she'll eat once a month. It sucks, keep them on a schedule, which I use the word "schedule" loosely since sometimes mine goes passed the 5-7 day mark. These snakes can go months without eating, you do not need to feed that much unless the mice are really small.

[sho220]

That's very typical of a young ball. They eat a lot and grow fast. They usually slow down after their first winter...that's when I usually go to a once a week schedule.

[avriette]

The mice are pretty small. They're no bigger than his head and he has no trouble at all sucking em down. I think the snake likes to soak. He gets in the water and (it's a circular bowl) and swims in circles and then gets out, looks at us like nothing happened, and then goes prowling again. Again, it's the hot weather here. He drinks a ton, too. Some of it's got to be evaporation, but it can't be as much as I'm seeing in the bowl. He always hits the water bowl for a long drink after he gets a mouse, so maybe that's got something to do with it.

I am seriously inclined to put him on a 3-day feed schedule at this point with small mice ("arctic mice", which are smaller than marshmallows, guys) as he is taking them, and feeding aggressively. It's not noncommittal strikes, it's full, I'm-gonna-rip-your-face-off-mousey kind of eating. The other reason is when we see him through the lights on the tank (he does this thing where he hangs off the hygrometer and the thermometer), he's pink -- empty -- for most of his body. He's digesting these mice really, really fast.

[WingedWolfPsion]

You can keep feeding him the way you are, if the mice are that small. You should look into getter larger prey items ASAP. He should be eating prey items as big around as the widest part of his body--not his head. The recommendation for a 5 day schedule is based on prey items that are appropriately sized. 5 to 7 days is fine for juveniles eating the right sized prey.

He's soaking in his water bowl because the cage is dangerously hot. The warmest part of the cage can be 90-95, but there must be a cooler area at 80F. Try cold water bottles if you cannot cool the air temperature any other way.