Feeding size

Hey so I fed my BP tonight and I was just wondering if my feeding size was ok. I thought it was when I bought these mice. I bought a pack of 4 "medium" size mice from Petsmart. I don't know if most people would really call them medium. I have just started to wonder if she could eat a bigger size or even move on to rats. I have attached a picture of her eating so ya'll could see the size. It may be hard to tell as part of her body is inside her hide. She also ate two of these tonight, she usually pokes her head right back out of her hide after she eats like she wants more so I tried another one.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4/DSCN0261.jpg


If ya'll think she is big enough to start eating rats how would I go about switching her to them and what size should I get? Well actually I know some people start their snakes on rats so I'm sure she is big enough but should I switch her or is mice going to be enough?

You should switch her to rats asap. the longer you wait the harder it can be to switch over. Sometimes if you wait to long they could get hooked on mice and then you are stuck feeding multiple mice through out it's life instead of one nice sized rat and the cost would be a lot more. Snakes that need to be fed rats when adult should really be fed them straight from hatching IMO.

Becuase I can't see the whole body it hard to tell, but it looks like it could be taking a bigger sized prey. Find prey that is about the same size as the biggest girth of the snake and that would be a good size.

When I switch over to rats. I always skip a feeding ( sometimes 2 feedings if it's a bigger snake) then just feed it like normal. they usually take it first time, but if them don't then I skip another week and try again. I also don't handle them until I get them on the rats to make sure they are less stressed.

Oh yeah, at least from this picture she definitely should be eating something bigger, large mice at the least, but if you can get her to eat a small rat that would be best. If you have any of the medium mice left, you can try thawing one out and rubbing it on the rat to scent it next time you feed. And definitely make sure it's warm enough. And if she still refuses, skipping a week or two will usually do it :)

Yeah make sure you warm it up a lot. Get it good and hot. that helps too.

Thanks for the advice I think I will try to switch her to rats, I have one mouse left so I can use it to try to scent the rat. I don't expect to have much of a problem with her she always gobbles the mice right down. She was even looking around the tank after she ate a second mouse like she would have taken another but i thought two was enough.

if she doesn't take a rat, don't panic. I have a female that's over 4000 grams that eats mice. she just dump 12 good big eggs and lost about 1/3 of her body weight. yes I have to feed her a few mice every feeding, but you would be surprise on how fast she will put her weight back on with mice. good luck, don

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Originally Posted by don15681

if she doesn't take a rat, don't panic. I have a female that's over 4000 grams that eats mice. she just dump 12 good big eggs and lost about 1/3 of her body weight. yes I have to feed her a few mice every feeding, but you would be surprise on how fast she will put her weight back on with mice. good luck, don

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You are right, if it will only take mice it won't be a health issue or anything like that. They can live perfectly fine just eatting mice their whole lives.

The reason people generally try to feed rats is, on average, it is generally easier/less work and cheaper.

When they get full grown mice will be a small prey for them so to feed them the amount they need you will have to feed multiple mice as opposed to one big rat. The cost for multiplte mice is generally higher then one rat and having to feed more then one mouse take more time (deforsting if f/t and feeding).