overfeed concern...

[bearhart]

So, my boy has grown alot and I have been bumping him up in serving size gradually and he was at "jumbo adult mouse". I was unhappy with the place that had the large mice so I began just feeding multiple small adults from a pet store I like. These are small adults - you could fit three in your hand easily. Hmm... their bodies were about the same size as a large jalapeno pepper.

Well so last two times I've fed two and its worked out great. But this last time he was out hunting a full two days before feed. I went to the store today and the mice looked so small I got three. I fed him one and he was barely bulging. I fed him the second and he was bulgy but not even as big as last time. I debated and decided I'd trust his judgement and threw in the third. I could tell he was getting full because he almost didn't take it. But, it ran right up to him and he said "I guess its only wafer thin...".

Needless to say he is FAT right now. He is about 30" long and his bulge was about 6" long. He seems OK. Drinking alot of water as usual after a feed. But he is definately having trouble hauling his fat snake be-hind around the cage and he has an almost doped-up look to him.

So, I definately feel like 3 is too much and will go back to two but this makes me wonder: can you trust a snake to not eat too much? What are the risks of eating too much in a single feed? I've been upping his meal sizes and he's fattened up some but he's by no means obsese. it seems like he can eat tons - is it just cause he's a growing boy?

[SatanicIntention]

Yes, you can feed too much. I have some(adult girls) who have eaten 6+ mice(large mice too) and they would have eaten more if I had offered..

Feeding too much can result in regurgitation, fasting, soaking to relieve some of the pressure, etc.

Two medium mice per week is all he needs to grow and thrive. You wouldn't be over or underfeeding him using that method. I have an August '06 male who is 900g already and only gets 2 mice a week(maybe 3 if I have extras, he's my garbage disposal).

Regardless of the amount of food you give him, unless it's like a hopper mouse every 2 weeks, he will grow at the rate his genetics have predisposed. Some grow fast, and some grow slow. If he is of good weight, is filled out, and not dehydrated, then he is a healthy, happy snake.

[MATT FISHER REPTILES]

some will agree and some will not but in my day to day feedings i find it is better to feed one larger meal than 2-3-4-5 smaller meals. like 1 hopper rat or rat pup.
just my .02.

[bearhart]

Cool. That sounds about right. Its tough though because they always look so small at the store and then seem to have grown by 50% when you dump them in. I'll just have to control myself when I see that tub of mice (is it bad if you walk into the exotic pet store and go "mmmm....I'm gettin 'ungry!")? But, really, its the hunting by day 4 or 5 that gets me. I know they can go without food for lengths no problem but once I get the impression he's hungry I hate to deprive him.

Anyway, he seems to be doing OK. I guess he's acting no weirder than a person after Thanksgiving dinner. Somebody told me once that it was possible for a snake to die if he tried to eat too much. I figured it was a rare occurance but when he started to have that "Oh man I overdid it..." look I started to get worried.

[bearhart]

some will agree and some will not but in my day to day feedings i find it is better to feed one larger meal than 2-3-4-5 smaller meals. like 1 hopper rat or rat pup.
just my .02.

Yea my problem is selection. i have two exotics stores by my house. One is where I got my snake and I like them. They have a relatively high standard of care for their animals (as pet stores go, of course) and an experienced staff. However, they really push F/T feeding and so have a pretty poor selection of live. They always have these bite-size mice and the smallest rats they have are just too big. Right across the road is a store that has what can only be called an "awesome" selection of live feeders. However, they do not take care of their snakes and their feeders often have matted fur. I suppose I should explore some of the nearby chains like PetCo, eh?

I was liking multiple small feeds though. He seems to knock them out real quick and there's much less of that intense neck stretching that always make me cringe.

[bearhart]

btw, I'm still kind of fuzzy on the terminology. Can you explain "hopper" and "pup"? Even today I was being corrected by the attendant but I swear I get a different story every time.

This is what I've pieced together so far:

1) Pinkie - baby, no fur. Great for pate.
2) Fuzzy - older baby, just getting fur. H'orderves - get the toothpicks!
3) Hopper - Adolescent ("teenager"). What's the deal here!?!?!
4) Small, Medium, Large - Adults of various sizes. Largest can be 3x size of smallest.

But today the lady was telling me "When you say 'small' we think you mean 'hopper'". Is "pup" like "hopper"? Why was she complaining when I said "yea, the smallest 3 you've got there."?

[Purrrfect9]

btw, I'm still kind of fuzzy on the terminology. Can you explain "hopper" and "pup"? Even today I was being corrected by the attendant but I swear I get a different story every time.

This is what I've pieced together so far:

1) Pinkie - baby, no fur. Great for pate.
2) Fuzzy - older baby, just getting fur. H'orderves - get the toothpicks!
3) Hopper - Adolescent ("teenager"). What's the deal here!?!?!
4) Small, Medium, Large - Adults of various sizes. Largest can be 3x size of smallest.

But today the lady was telling me "When you say 'small' we think you mean 'hopper'". Is "pup" like "hopper"? Why was she complaining when I said "yea, the smallest 3 you've got there."?

The names of the sizes change with each pet store really. I always go to the same place to get my rats, and I always ask for 2 rat pups, but they always bring me back to the feeder bins so I can double check the size. If all else fails, you could ask for them by their specific age like, a 2 week old rat, 3 week, ect.

[bearhart]

Ok, so if I was trying to move smoothly from "jumbo mouse" to rats what age would I ask for?

[Purrrfect9]

I went from adult mice to rat pups, about 14 days old to start out with since my snakes had never seen a rat before. There is a frozen feeder website that has a size comparison too, just give me a few minutes to find it

*edit*
Well, it's not exactly a size comparison, but here's a link to Rodent Pro's site that has names for the sizes, as well as visual comparison

For the rats
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_rats

For the mice
http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp...el=frozen_mice