How much should I feed?

Alright, now that my ball has kept her 1st meal down about 24 hours I'm going to go ahead and consider it a success and assume that she's not going to throw it back up (although I can't be sure, she's been in her warm hide since she ate). I know that theories on feeding amounts vary, but I wanted to get ya'lls opinions. She's ~140g and ~22in long. She's maybe as thick as a half dollar at her thickest point. I haven't actually measured so I'm guessing at the thickness.

I fed her 2 hoppers (~8g each) last night and she ate them both right away. I offered a 3rd, but she wasn't interested. So here's my question: how much, how often? I don't want to just "keep her alive" but I'm not interested in breeding so I don't need to gain weight in any certain amount of time.

I was thinking that next time I'd bump her up to weanling mice since the hoppers definitely weren't as big around as she is. What are ya'lls thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

8g is about the size of a fuzzy mouse. Wean mice aka sm adult mice are more perfect for balls in the 150-200g range. Once 200g you can start to offer rat pups if wanting to or stick with mice.

The general rule is 10-15% by body weight. Two hoppers is spot on, I would feed this around every 5 days until she is between 200g and 290g then I would start her on rat pups, and after 300g you can go ahead and up her to a weaned rat. :gj:

Good luck! Hope she gets nice and plump :D

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Originally Posted by LeviBP

The general rule is 10-15% by body weight. Two hoppers is spot on, I would feed this around every 5 days until she is between 200g and 290g then I would start her on rat pups, and after 300g you can go ahead and up her to a weaned rat. :gj:

Good luck! Hope she gets nice and plump :D

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Weaned rats are typically 35-45 grams and way too big for a 300g ball. I dont start mine on weans till thier 6-700g. This is when they start to pack on the weight and growth spurts happen.

So try to get her to eat 10-15% every 5 days? Or 7? And is it better to try to get that percent in 1 mouse (aka larger mouse) or multiple mice (aka more, smaller mice?)