Weight and meal size

[Tim Christian]

I’ve had my BP for about 6 weeks now, and I finally bought a scale. He’s (no idea on gender but “he” sounds better than “it”) is about 21 inches long and 157g. Petco couldn’t tell me when he was hatched, so I don’t know his exact age, but does that sound about right for a young BP? He seems a little thin to me, which brings me to my next question.

When I bought him the salesman told to feed him fuzzy mice. Fuzzies didn’t seem big enough, so I went back and talked to the guy who actually does the feeding. He told me to feed hoppers, probably until the end of summer, so I switched. I just weighed a hopper before I fed it to him, and it was only 12g. I’ve been feeding every 5 days, but that seems to fall short of the 10-15% guideline I’ve seen mentioned here several times. Am I feeding enough, or should I move up to a bigger mouse?

I’ve been buying frozen mice at Petco, but they seem a lot more expensive than the online prices. Any recommendations on a good online source?

Tim

[llovelace]

He could easily take a 25g mouse

[shorty54]

My BP's are in the 130g range and are eating adult mice. Rule of thumb I've been taught is as long as the mouse is not bigger than the biggest part of your BP that he should be able to eat it. Mine eat one mouse every Thursday and Sunday.

[Tim Christian]

Thought I'd post a quick follow up. He had his first shed (since I got him) on Saturday. Perfect shed, all one piece. Then today he took a 22g adult mouse. Didn't really want anything to do with it for a while. After 10 minutes or so I got a bit frustrated and laid the mouse about 6 inches from the hide he was in and walked away. After a few minutes of looking at it there, he decided to "kill" and eat it. Now he's resting comfortably back in his hot side hide.

Thanks for your advice. I think he'll be much happier with this meal size.