Food vs. weight

[cowbully]

1st off.. Happy mothers day.. good morning everyone.

I recently got a digital scale so i can feed my baby appropriate... Ziggy is my male pastel... he weighs 170 grams. he is always looking for food after i feed him one mouse so i have been giving him 2 and that seems to satisfy his hunger... so i have been reading that im suppose to feed him 10-15% of his body weight per feeding.

Ok my dillema is.. he rarely ever denies his food. i feed him on a 5 day schedule. i just weighed the mice and they are usually between 35 and 40 grams.. thats 70-80 grams every feeding for a 170 gram snake.

so everyone probably has a problem with this correct.. he is very healthy and active and defenitely a great appetite.. what do i do????

[sho220]

what do i do????

Keep the scale for weighing your snake, not his food. That's just making things complicated and confusing for you. Personally, I would try switching him to rats. He's big enough for pups or small weaned rats. If you want to stick with mice, just keep feeding him the way you have. If he'll take two at a time, feed him two at a time. If not, just give him one, but you'll eventually need to feed multiple mice per feeding once he gets bigger. That's one of the reasons it's easier to feed rats.

[MrLang]

Yes, don't stress the weight of the prey. That 10-15% thing has been largely disputed. Feed him something that's roughly as thick around as he is. Even at 170g, that could be a 50 gram rat. I found my snakes responding well to 20-25% weight prey during the 150-300g growth, especially on a 5 day cycle. Remember, some people feed on a 3 day 4 day schedule. Sometimes my bee will eat a 70 gram rat and have his head out of his hide in 24 hours waiting for his next meal (he's roughly 450g, so that's 15%). I don't feed him at that time, but obviously it didn't fill him up. If it's hungry, let it eat. Offering 2 mice would be a great way to see. If it's hungry enough after the first mouse to hit and eat the other, it's ready for something bigger.

[Slim]

The 10-15% rule of thumb is just a guideline. For the most part, a ball python won't eat if it's not hungry.

Personally, I prefer to feed smaller prey more often, but that's not a rule written in stone.

[sho220]

Personally, I prefer to feed smaller prey more often, but that's not a rule written in stone.

I prefer that as well. Sometimes feeding a prey item that's too big will cause the snake to go off feed for a while...

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I never fed based on weight I feed a prey a little smaller than the snake's girth size that applies to hatchlings and juvies, adults get fed rats that are 4 to 6 weeks old which would be considered small to medium 55 to 125 grams which means we are far from 10% or 15% when it comes to adults.

[oskyle1567]

I have a spinner like that and my theory is if they want to eat feed them! She gets fed every monday and thursday and growing like crazy!!! Im sure she will hit a wall but im going to keep feeding her this way until she decides to slow down. She was 200g last month and 435g as of now. My best feeder!

[Mike41793]

I have a spinner like that and my theory is if they want to eat feed them! She gets fed every monday and thursday and growing like crazy!!! Im sure she will hit a wall but im going to keep feeding her this way until she decides to slow down. She was 200g last month and 435g as of now. My best feeder!

Sounds like my cinny boy!
3 months hes put on about 300 grams! Gotta love the piggies!
I feed all my snakes every 7 days no matter hat size they are. They get a rat thats about the same size as the thickest part of them.