Time to bump up Snickers' prey size or not?

So at first when we got Snickers(our first and only snake) we ran into major husbandry issues and that is what the vast majority of my posts here have been over. But everything has been fine for a long time now. Snickers now eats every week in her enclosure and her temps and sheds are perfect.

I am now worrying we underfeed her though. She(and we call her a she but Snickers is most likely a "he") eats every week but recently started tearing up her tank every night again even though temps/humidity are perfect and so are the sheds.

I think the reason for Snickers doing this is from hunger and we are either feeding too small of prey or feeding not as often as we should. Snickers has a girth of roughly 4.25 - 4.50 inches at her widest(it's difficult to tell with a fabric tape measure) Snickers is eating full grown mice once a week and there is no "bulge" anymore and that is when she/he started tearing up the tank again.

Time to move to "baby rats" or?

How much does she/he weigh in grams?

I would switch her off of mice and on to rats. Rats have a better nutritional content, among other things.

I generally do 15% of the snakes body weight. So if my snake weighs 1000grams, I will feed a rat around 150grams. For snakes under 2 years old, I do it every 4-5 days. Over that, I do every 7 days.

If you don't have one, I suggest getting a cheap dietary scale. Mine was 10$ at walmart in the food gadgets aisle. Couldn't live without it, now that I have it.

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Originally Posted by Daybreaker

How much does she/he weigh in grams?

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I have no idea...I don't have one of those scales. I read on here that if you don't have one of those scales you should feed roughly the same sized frozen/thawed prey as the snake's girth.

^ That's correct too, but I like going by the 10-15% rule myself. I would recommend getting a scale so you can monitor weight gain and weight loss.

But without knowing her weight I can't recommend a good feeder size. I do agree that rats will be better for her now though anyway.

Wow, this is news to me! I always thought Koga looked a bit on the small side- and now I know why. I've been feeding him meals less than half of the size I should have been. He's a 2010 male and he weighs 380 grams. Is that like, seriously underweight?

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Originally Posted by SpencerShanks

Wow, this is news to me! I always thought Koga looked a bit on the small side- and now I know why. I've been feeding him meals less than half of the size I should have been. He's a 2010 male and he weighs 380 grams. Is that like, seriously underweight?

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:O Yes! Wow, definitely bump up the prey size! All of my 2010's are over 800 grams....

My girl was hatched on july 26 2011 and before I gave her her 2 adult mice she gets every 5 days she weighed in at 350 grams. So she is 5 1/2 months old so your boy is seriously underweight.

Comment is for spencer by the way.

My life is a lie :tears:

I've just been eyeballing the general girth of the prey. I'm sure my mom won't be too happy about price for food doubling monthly. But Koga will sure enjoy it, no doubt about it. Thanks for the insight! You have saved my snake, I am eternally grateful! (Quick, name that movie!)

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Originally Posted by SpencerShanks

He's a 2010 male and he weighs 380 grams. Is that like, seriously underweight?

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Not necessarily...if he doesn't appear to be overly thin, than he's probably not underweight. I have a 2009 female that's 625ish grams and a 2010 female that's 1,800 grams. At this time last year, I had a 2008 male that was less than 400 grams. I don't feel that any of those 3 snakes had anything wrong with them...simply put, not all snakes have the same eating habits, metabolisms, or grow at the same rate.

Superpop, if you're not seeing a slight bulge, it may be time to move up in size to weaned rats...or give him an extra mouse.