Excitement can sometimes be a detriment

[Chardonneret]

We purchased our het albino, Sylvanas, in September on the 29th at the last minute (due to my indecisiveness) and in my newbie excitement I forgot to ask how old she was.

I was more concerned about what she was eating and my brain was only thinking about that, they told she was eating F/T hoppers.

Now I noticed her out of her hide nearly all day for a few days about a week after we got her home and figured she must be looking for food (as my cornsnake that I had a few years back would do the same a a day or two before his scheduled feed) but she wouldn't take her meal. So I thought I would try again a week later and again she just would not take it!
I looked online for various methods you can use to entice them, even getting my bf to expose the brain( ) that some sites suggested and nothing! She was just not interested.
So finally we went to the pet store that day and got 2 live hopper mice and when we came home my bf dangled one of the hoppers near her and she immediately took it.
So now we've been feeding her live hoppers roughly every week. I don't mind feeding live and always monitor her feeding.

Now the breeder says she was hatched in the months of May-July, she's not sure which clutch she came from as she doesn't remember me.
I just weighed her today and she is 136 grams. I also measured her and she is roughly 18-20 inches. Now I am wondering if May-July would be an accurate date? And if that is an okay weight for her? And I'm also wondering if the hopper mice are too small for her?
I just found this website a few days ago and after reading some threads I am getting really paranoid that I'm not doing things right.
She just went through a shed (which went very smoothly) and I was planning on going to get some mice today and before I go wanted to make sure hoppers were fine or switch her to the next size.





This is probably roughly the size of what she is eating:

[PorcelainxDoll]

You can go up to small or medium adult mice probably, or rat fuzzies.

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[Chardonneret]

The problem with where I live is I can't get live rats without special permits but I am looking into get the ASF rats which are not illegal here and eventually breeding those.
But thank you very much for your reply!

I'll definitely get her a small adult and see how she does with that.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Yeah hoppers are really on the small side.

[mercerasian]

My cinny was born in September and he's currently at 139.5 grams (not empty) and 19.5" long so you don't really have anything to worry about. He also took a 25 gram rat about 2 weeks ago without a problem so you can probably start moving your BP up in prey sizes too.

[PorcelainxDoll]

My july hatchling is about 250g and taking weanling rats, but all snakes grow at different rates. But he also eats like a piggy, and I found out my husband liked to give him snacks lol.

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[DooLittle]

Hoppers are on the small size. I would bump up. Think of it as she can eat anything that is as big around as her biggest part.

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[Chardonneret]

Thanks so much everyone!
I'm setting up a container to keep the mice in right now and as soon as the stores open here I'll be heading down to get them.

The mice I had been getting seemed an okay size but I'm glad I posted here.

I'm thinking maybe she was born in August or early September based on mercerasian's snake size and DrDooLittle's snake size.
It's a pretty big weight difference. I've also looked on their site and the weights of the availables are a big difference as well from what I was told and what her weight is.
Who knows maybe they made a mistake.

[TROYG]

Get a food scale from wal mart and feed your snake 10% to 16% of it's body weight. And if your looking for ASF let me know I get down to Edmonton regulaurly.

[OsirisRa32]

My pinstripe male gets fed every 5 days and he was born the first half of august....hes 237 grams and 23 inches long....