First feed!

[The Letch]

We just completed our first successful feed with Bhodi! She wouldn't eat for 3 weeks before we brought her home... don't know why. We brought her home on tuesday and tried to feed just a few moments ago and she hit that mouse like a freight train. She's eating live so we stood right by the cage as she scoped things out. Hit, coil, squeeze, swallow and it was over. From start to finish took a total of about 4 or 5 minutes.

[Bleepr]

Awesome! BP's are finicky, and often take some time to aclimate themselves before eatting, so not eatting for 3 weeks is not out of the ordinary.

I would suggest keeping him on livemice for a little while, till hes a comfortable eatter, make the switch to f/t and then try to make the switch to rats. F/T because you don't want to risk having your bp get injured, and rats because once he gets full grown, mice wont be enough, but a nice juicy rat will.

All that aside, congrats!

[Kysenia]

Grats on the successful feed!

[The Letch]

Thanks, guys. Live is what she was on when we got her so we'll keep her there for a little while. I know that there are several threads on here that discuss strategy for swapping over to F/T so I'll be checking them out as time goes by. She didn't have any problem taking the live one this time around and she hit fast. No playing around, no waiting. Almost as soon as the mouse was in the enclosure she hit. She'd only been home for 4 days when she ate so I guess we're doing something right.

Next question is this: I know there will be a time when one mouse isn't enough but a rat is too big... how do I know she's getting enough to eat? Do I offer two mice back to back? She's not big enough for a medium mouse yet.

[Bleepr]

Food size should be the widest part of the snakes body, and then add a half. So if my snake is 2 inches wide, it should a get a meal that is 3 inches wide.

There isnt really a time when a mouse isnt enough and a rat is too big.

A large mouse will be about the size of a rat pup, or a weanling rat. If she is on weaned mice (not adults, but bigger then hoppers) her equivalent would be a rat fuzzy.

Hope this helps!

[stratus_020202]

If you want some comparison, go to www.rodentpro.com They sell frozen, but have great pictures of mice and rats at different stages of live. I used it with my first snake. When you decide what size is best, you should be able to go to your pet store and ask for what you need; ie rat pup, rat fuzzy, rat weanling, etc. Hope this helps as well. It's always good when a bp eats!!