Food fell in water bowl, is this ok.

[blue roses]

Last night while i was feeding nugget his warm rat pup fell off my tongs and into his water bowl. I had just warmed and dried it. As i was going to lift it out too dry it off again, he struck and grabbed it, constricted , then ate it. I was in panic mode and since my vision is very bad i made my husband stand there and watch him eat , to make sure no substrate stuck to the wet food. I will not stop being concerned till he has a couple of poops. I am also concerned that i may not be feeding him a large enough pup. He is an aggresive eater. I am not worried about that, because rather that then a picky eater. My only concern is the wet pup he swallowed. What should i be looking for,. I bumped him to a medium FT rat pup every 6 days in stead of 7. He is now about 5 - 6 mos. old. I will get an exact weight after he digests, but he is about 15 - 18 inches long.

[Fireproof]

Happens all the time - that's not an issue. And don't worry about a couple pieces of aspen or substrate getting in there. Their digestive system can handle feathers, bones, beaks, etc...a couple small pieces of substrate isn't going to hurt anything (what isn't digested will pass through their system just fine). As long as the feeding went well, you shouldn't worry. Now I've had a piece get caught in their mouth before, and I just carefully pull it out for them with some tweezers or the tongs. But if he ate his meal just fine, I'm sure he's fine.

It's hard to say about the size of food without pics. But at 6 months old and 1.5 feet long, he should likely be past rat "pups" and into weaned rats at least. I'm guessing the rat pups are much smaller than the widest part of his body, yes?

[blue roses]

The rat pups are considered small by the reptile shop that i go to. He sold me a large rat pup the first time i went but it looked to big. I called the breeder and he told me to give him small to medium rat pups but he seems hungry Is it ok to feed him more often till i am more comfortable with his size to up his prey size. I will get a weight on him on sunday after he poops and digests. I was considering feeding every 5 days but thought that was a little too close. Its hard for me to judge size since i have poor vision and no depth perception, since i lost vision in one eye.

[Fireproof]

Feeding every 5 days would work well!

Many people feed twice/week when they are small, growing fast, but eating smaller prey.

I tend to feed every 4-5 days and it seems a good balance.