feeding 2 days in a row, just how bad?

[FrankieCarbone]

my 900g+ mouser, after a year has finally gotten his appetite back, the last 4 weeks he has been eating a small 25-30g mouse (which is all he eats) consistent and quickly every 3-4 days, as opposed to eating one every month or two, and yesterday he was the most aggressive ever, he took the mouse down quick and then kept his head out of his hide looking towards the front of the enclosure (his usuall sign that hes hungry) for hours after that. Right now he is in his hide, but my question is the following.

1. I want to take full advantage of this, i feel he is underweight, and how bad would it be if i fed him again today? (just this once, next time, in 5 days i will try 2 mouses)

or

2. should i try and throw in a rat? i feel like i should, but then again i remember trying this a year ago in a time when i knew he was hungry and i threw a rat in there and it made it worse, instead of eating (if it was a mouse he surely would have), he got more turned off to the fact of eating and made his hunger strike last longer than if i would have just gave him a mouse.

[bx718]

I read that some members here try to get the mouse scent on a rat. Have you tried that yet? Not sure how they get that done but hopefully someone with more expirence can answer that.

I saw in your last post that it was hard for you to get rats that's why you switched over to a mouse. What part of the Bronx are you from? I know there's a pet shop on grand concourse and Fordham that use to sell rats. Not sure if they still do, haven't been back home in 2 years. It's right across the street from the pizza shop on the corner. Check it out man good luck.

[FrankieCarbone]

I read that some members here try to get the mouse scent on a rat. Have you tried that yet? Not sure how they get that done but hopefully someone with more expirence can answer that.

been there done that


as far as the pet shop you are talking about, dont think so, there is no pet shop there no more, atleast that i would have noticed, and i would cuz i live just blocks away, im at kingsbridge and sedgwick infront of the VA hospital. The pet shop i go to is the one on kingsbridge, between university and aqueduct, they sell mostly parakeets, and dogs and what not, but he keeps a good supply of rodents, he even has ASF's, but thats about it, ASF's, mouses, and right now i only seen HUGE rats, like 200g + breeders. Back in the days when my BP ate rats, i went to a pet shop in tremont and southern blvd, and he used to keep "3 dollar rats" as he called them, which was basically the perfect size, 60-80g rats, but after a while he stopped carrying them, so now its either this local guy, or petland. But regardless, the thing is he DOSENT eat rats, and hasent for over a year. And i tried eveyrthing, scenting, all that, this guy even refused ASF rat.

[FrankieCarbone]

wait i take that back, i know what u are talking about, its on right on a corner right? that u go inside and its reeaaal small in there that u can barely move and they have all there reptiles and rodents to the right when u walk in, and to your left the cashier? that its a one way street and if u make a left it takes you into grand concourse? thats a petland bro

[BCBallPythons]

Its no problem. I'm currently feeding a few snakes 2 days in a row. And they are eating small rats.

Most are eating bi-weekly so they get lots of time to digest fully. This is a new feeding schedule i have JUST started a few months ago, still ironing out all the wrinkles so to speak. But seems to be doing the job

Also you have to remember, a snake, especially one that has eaten before, is rarely going to starve itself to death. You have to consider many factors but chances are he is just not hungry. It seems crazy to us that they can go so long without food but thats just the way their bodys and metabolism works.

Since your feeding mice i dont see why you couldnt try again today. Id maybe give it maybe one more day, just to build up his feeding response a little more. But either way i say go for it!

An example of what i was talking about with the snakes not starving themselves;
I know a few people that feed F/T rats. Thats it. When they acquire new snakes that are eating live, or god forbid, MICEor ASFs , their way of switching it over is to offer it nothing but F/T...
If it doesnt eat for a couple weeks thats fine to them, "they WILL eat sooner or later". If it doesnt eat for a couple months.. "Should be gettin hungry now"
They will keep offering it nothing but F/T rats until eventually it eats it. And they always switch over.

NOW, this is NOT the way i do it. Nor would i suggest that as being the best way. But the fact is, none of them have had a snake starve itself to death. And once they do switch over after not eating for however long, apparently the feeding response goes through the roof!

Sorry for the long response. I hope you get your boy back on a steady diet as soon as possible! Goodluck

-Ross


Http://www.BCBallPythons.com
Http://www.facebook.com/bcballpythons

[bx718]

wait i take that back, i know what u are talking about, its on right on a corner right? that u go inside and its reeaaal small in there that u can barely move and they have all there reptiles and rodents to the right when u walk in, and to your left the cashier? that its a one way street and if u make a left it takes you into grand concourse? thats a petland bro

Yea it is Petland I forgot the name. And yes it extremely small in there. Well maybe I should've said its not directly on grand concourse lol. That pizza shop across the street used to be my spot! I gotta get back up there soon.

[toyota89]

If I don't have a rat big enough I will feed multiple smaller rats one after another. If he will take them I would try to feed him 3 30 gram rats on the same day.

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[barbie.dragon]

If you feed 10-15% of your snake's body weight in one sitting you should not have to feed more than every 7-10 days.

[LLLReptile]

For a snake eating prey items that small relative to its size, you could easily feed multiple prey items in a single sitting, or just for a couple days in a row. The nice thing about ball pythons is that they honestly don't overeat, especially not when it comes to eating just mice. I have a 1,000 g adult male that prefers mice, and I'll feed him 3 to 5 adult mice in a single sitting when he's in the mood to eat, sometimes every 4 to 5 days. He never really gets any fatter than 1,100 grams at his heaviest, and never below 950 when he's fasting.

So let yours eat as many mice as it wants - it's not going to over eat

-Jen

[FrankieCarbone]

Yea it is Petland I forgot the name. And yes it extremely small in there. Well maybe I should've said its not directly on grand concourse lol. That pizza shop across the street used to be my spot! I gotta get back up there soon.

i havent had pizza there before, but its always packed. But yeh, petland pretty much has only has 3 options, 20g (or less) mice, 150g medium rats, and freakin huge dog size rats. so petland is out, very rarely can u find a small 80-100g rat in the medium rat tub. Plus that petland sucks, the one on broadway and 231st is better.

well i did it, a while ago he was in his hide and i opened up his tank to spray it down to bring up the humidity a bit, and 10 minutes later half his head was out, this guy is hungry! so i trooped it to the petstore before it closed, and he just swallowed down his 30g (i think was pregnant) mouse, and he is still looking for more! man where did this appetite come from, its like that last months his stomach woke up, and in the middle of winter! Anyways my next endevour is should i try and offer a rat or not, being as he is sooooo hungry nowadays and eating so much will he take it? or will it turn his appetitie off like it has done before? I dont want to mess up a good thing, hes pounding down mouses like crazy now, the last thing i want to do is throw a rat in there and have him go off feed. Because history has taught me, he gets put off by the presence of a rat in his enclosure. That what has happened before.