Question about feeding.

[sorakitty]

So I fed the first f/t rat to my snake today(she's been on f/t mice), and even though it's considered a small, I was beginning to get worried it might of been to big for her and she might choke on it or something. Well I'm just saying I was glad to see it made it down... well most of the way. ^^ I looked in and all I saw was the tail hanging out and her looking at me like "What the hell!?" haha. So sorry for the blurb of nothingness but I'm just so excited to see it turned out to be okay. I just think that due to it being a bigger meal (and the others are the same size) would it be okay to wait two weeks before feeding her again? Or should I still feed her in a week? I don't want to offer her food and her not be hungry so I either a. Refreeze the rat or b. throw it out. I'd rather wait and know she's hungry so when I thaw out the rat she will eat it. I also have a small mouse left over. Should I feed her the mouse after a week and then go back to the rat and then wait two weeks before the next rat? Any advice on this would be helpful. Because I don't want to feel like I'm starving her, but I also don't want my money thrown down the drain on her food.

[snakesRkewl]

How fast they digest is partly determined by how much belly heat they have.
A snake sitting in a tank with no belly heat will digest at a slower rate than a snake sitting on a 90 degree hot spot.

That said if the snake isn't bulging then I'd say offer the following week so you don't throw it off schedule.
Just try to feed prey that makes a small lump in the belly and you'll find it more likely to eat weekly.

[sorakitty]

Yeah. She's got about a 90 degree hotspot via belly heat. And I was shocked when I opened the box to check on her when she was done, and saw a lump, I wouldn't say small but it wasn't huge. It appeared to be a decent size. I was shocked. But she clearly was no longer hungry when she was done eating seeing how she started looking for her hide right away. Thanks for the info though. I'll see how she looks in a week.