is my BP ok? please help

[noobler]

I normally feed my snake one mouse every 5 days. 3 days ago it was time to feed my snake and a buddy of mine that works at petco told me that the snake is big enough to take a small rat, so i bought one. the snake is 302 grams, 2 feet long and i think she's about 8 months old. anyway, i went to feed her the rat and she killed it pretty quick but it took her about 20 min. to swallow the thing. it's now 4 days later and the lump in her belly is just as big as it was when she first ate the rat, and her belly seems kind of squishy around the lump. is this normal? is she just taking longer to digest it because she's not used to such a big meal? any help would be appreciated.

-kyle

[ARamos8]

She will need to lay in the heat and digest. Don't handle her at all till that belly looks normal also. That's a pretty big meal if you can still see it 4 days later( as far as captivity goes). Keep this in mind, the meal should be about as big as that fattest part of the snake (girth). Anything bigger than that can complicate things.

[snakedork]

You can also go by the 10% rule. About 30 grams or one large mouse at most stores. My small rats are about 60 grams. So that should be definately a big meal. I know my 300 gram snakes do feed on large mice regularly and with a 5 day feeding schedule should grow rather well. Anyway if you know her weight you should be able to find out the size of her prey.

[ScottyDsntKnow]

I go by the 10% rule too. Large mice from petsmart near me are 20g and she's 200g so its dead on.

[DutchHerp]

I don't really do the 10% rule... I want the snakes to have a slight lump for about a day, then the second day I don't want to see it anymore.

Your snake is fine; next time feed maybe two mice, or one larger one, instead of rats.