Ordering food online..

[Jeo123]

So to the (rare) people out there who only own one snake, how do you deal with ordering food online?

It seems like I have to order food that's too big for my snake so that it's not way to small by the time she gets to the end of the bag. It's probably going to get a little better once the bags start coming with 25 instead of 50, but I'm just curious, do you order a bigger size and let them grow into it, or do you order the right size to start and feed like 3 at the back end of the bag?

[fire-eyes]

It's sort of a guessing job, either you will end up with too many of the smaller items and have to feed two (do NOT feed three!) or not have enough of the bigger items and so on -- Being that shipping is the vast majority of the cost, I'd get whatever you can afford and lean towards the larger sizes... Snakes can pound down things far larger than you'd expect, within reason of course.

[RichsBallPythons]

Order what the snake is eating now for 3 months at a time.

By the time they need next size you can either feed 2 of the small meals till the next size is ordered.

[cinderbird]

When this happened to me I'd just feed multiple items if the animal would take them. If it wouldn't id make sure that animal got the "right" size and give someone else a few at a time. A snake doesn't care if it eats 5 rodents or 1 as long as its full.

With ball pythons, for the most part, if they are eating, I'm feeding. If a snake wants 2-3 hoppers, it gets 2 or 3 hoppers. If it wants 1, it gets one. As they grow to adults they get a lot more consistent in their eating.

[mommanessy247]

wouldn't feeding multiple prey like that be too hard on the snake's digestive system and cause a regurgitation? just curious...

[cinderbird]

wouldn't feeding multiple prey like that be too hard on the snake's digestive system and cause a regurgitation? just curious...

I have never experienced a regurge for any reason in my collection.

I'm not saying I'm feeding 2-3 appropriately sized items, I'm feeding multiple smaller items that equal one regular sized rodent for that snake.

I wouldn't feed an adult 2-3 small or medium rats every sitting (but if i had an excess of weaned rats I'd feed 2-3 of those). But if a 300 or 400 gram baby wants a few hoppers they can have them.

As long as the animal has access to appropriate temperatures to digest I can't see a problem occurring.

[TheWinWizard]

i get mine once a month from my herp club, so I get what I need for the month then increase the size accordingly.

[JayCee]

If only feeding one (or even a few) it doesn't make sense to me to order on-line and pay the shipping costs. There has to be a local reptile show, rodent breeder, local pet shop that can provide you with the quantity that you need and save you money.

[RichsBallPythons]

If only feeding one (or even a few) it doesn't make sense to me to order on-line and pay the shipping costs. There has to be a local reptile show, rodent breeder, local pet shop that can provide you with the quantity that you need and save you money.

Does driving burning gas not factor into the shipping cost. Not everyone lives close to shows or breeders. pet shops prices will have overhead on them.

No matter how it adds up bulk ordering online is cheapest route unless you local to a breeder and can buy frozen in bulk.

[wax32]

With only one bp I wouldn't order online until they got to where they can eat small rats (I.e. the snake weighs 400 - 500 grams or more). Then I'd order a whole bunch. (Fill that box from RodentPro!) I guess if I just bought a baby I'd order a bag of 50 adult mice and then fill the rest of the box with small rats.

You never really NEED to feed bigger than small rats, so the snake won't really outgrow the rats. My 2000ish gram girl just started eating medium rats, but she doesn't NEED them.

PS. I guess if you have one of those 4000 gram females I've been reading about you could/should feed large or bigger rats...