Food size

I've heard and read a few differing methods of deciding appropriate size of rats and mice for BPs and I'm not sure which to use.

One suggests feeding something no bigger than the thickest part of the snake. However, my BP seems incredibly skinny compared to some others on here, though he/she (not sure) is pretty long. Not sure if this is the road I should take.

I've read about feeding a rat or mouse that is approximately 10-15% of snakes body weight. This method sounds fine, but I haven't weighed my snake because he/she is in shed mode and isn't very.... um, nice right now.

Another post I read said that baby BP can take fuzzy mice right out of the egg. My snake is probably 22 inches and I'm still feeding him/her fuzzy mice. I bought some hoppers because I feel she could handle more but they seem so big. Then again...he/she is a freaking snake....they can put it away. Thoughts?

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I usually feed my snakes rodents that weigh about 13% as much as the snake. This doesn't have to be one rodent. You can break it up into a couple smaller rodents.

my bp was about that length and I fed it small rats. it looked crazy when it ate, but the bp got it down.

She could eat a weaned rat easily at that size, but depends on how big around she is too. If you don't know how much she weighs you can go by that the rat should give her a good bulge. Remember than they compress once inside so take that into consideration.

Using either one of the prey-sizing methods you mentioned is absolutely fine.

If a fuzzy leaves a pronounced lump after s/he eats it, I would stick with that. Yes, most bp's can eat larger food by that length, but just because yours may be smaller doesn't mean you should stress her/him out with prey that is too large. However, if a fuzzy does not leave a noticeable lump I would definitely switch to rat pups or perhaps weaned mice.

Also, please remember that snakes in shed are more prone to regurgitation, so it's best to wait until s/he finishes shedding before offering food.

Definitely waiting until after shed. She doesn't seem like she wants to move much, so I've skipped last weeks feeding and will start back up again this next Thursday as usual. (Provided she is done with this LONG shedding process)

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Crazy, you said rat pups or perhaps weaned mice. A healthy rat pup is the size of an adult mouse and a weaned rat is the size of a jumbo mouse. I think you mean rat pup or weaned rat :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by evan385

Crazy, you said rat pups or perhaps weaned mice. A healthy rat pup is the size of an adult mouse and a weaned rat is the size of a jumbo mouse. I think you mean rat pup or weaned rat :)

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Whoops, yes I did mean weaned rat. Lol I need more sleep.