At what point do you stop?

I follow the 10-15% rule when choosing prey size for Hera. Right now she is on 2 large mice (around 35-40g) every 5 days. She weighs around 250g so this is fine. My question is at what point do you stop upping the food size? Is it an age limit or a size limit?

I don't want her to be underfed but I don't want her getting morbidly obese either.

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

I follow the 10-15% rule when choosing prey size for Hera. Right now she is on 2 large mice (around 35-40g) every 5 days. She weighs around 250g so this is fine. My question is at what point do you stop upping the food size? Is it an age limit or a size limit?

I don't want her to be underfed but I don't want her getting morbidly obese either.

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You'll have to feed A LOT to get a ball morbidly obese...especially with mice.

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Originally Posted by thedarkwolf25

My question is at what point do you stop upping the food size? Is it an age limit or a size limit?

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Males get prey size around 65 grams

Large females (over 1800 grams) get prey size around 100 grams

That's the biggest I feed

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Males get prey size around 65 grams

Large females (over 1800 grams) get prey size around 100 grams

That's the biggest I feed

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So once females hit 600-700g you feed a 100g prey regardless of how large they get? Does their metabolism slow down that much after that size? Because if you follow the 10-15% rule a 1800g female should get a approx 275g prey. How often do you feed? Still once a week or once every 2 weeks?

i feed 250g+/- rats every week to the ones that can take it but thats just what i do. theres people that say all they ever need is a small rat every 10 days and theres people that feed med. rats every 3 days.

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Originally Posted by poundhound2

So once females hit 600-700g you feed a 100g prey regardless of how large they get? Does their metabolism slow down that much after that size? Because if you follow the 10-15% rule a 1800g female should get a approx 275g prey. How often do you feed? Still once a week or once every 2 weeks?

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No I don't at that size they get 55/65 grams rats.

I feed once a week

The 10% -15% of their weight "guideline" is something I never used, I just eyeball it.

While growing BP need more food as they get older their metabolism slows down and do not require large amount of food to strive.

Smaller preys weekly are preferable to larger preys.

I could not imagine feeding 450 grams rats to my 3000 grams girls and obviously if they reach 3000 grams with my feeding method they are far from starving ;).

Smaller prey also allow a BP to eat with more consistency with less fasting period.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

No I don't at that size they get 55/65 grams rats.

I feed once a week

The 10% -15% of their weight "guideline" is something I never used, I just eyeball it.

While growing BP need more food as they get older their metabolism slows down and do not require large amount of food to strive.

Smaller preys weekly are preferable to larger preys.

I could not imagine feeding 450 grams rats to my 3000 grams girls and obviously if they reach 3000 grams with my feeding method they are far from starving ;).

Smaller prey also allow a BP to eat with more consistency with less fasting period.

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I agree with Deb 100% :gj: I feed all my adults 1 small rat once a week. Since i do not breed my own rats if someone does not eat their small rat someone else might get 2 small rats that week but it is not the same snake and does not happen often.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

The 10% -15% of their weight "guideline" is something I never used, I just eyeball it

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So how do you judge? By the diameter of the snake?

Sorry for so many ?s. My lil girl is <200g right now so I've got awhile before I need to think about this, but it's always good to be prepared.

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Originally Posted by poundhound2

So how do you judge? By the diameter of the snake?

Sorry for so many ?s. My lil girl is <200g right now so I've got awhile before I need to think about this, but it's always good to be prepared.

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Yes I judge by the widest part of the BP's body (for Hatchling and Juvy only) without going over the prey size mentioned previously. ;)

OP: Sorry for hijacking your thread. You asked a question that I didn't realize I hadn't thought of yet.