Quick feeder-size question (too big?)

Really quick question...I realized the medium rats I got a while back are still a little too big for my snake. She is 640g and I've been feeding rats in the 70g range for a while, was hoping by the time I ran out of smalls she could take the medium...they're around 130g, not the 90g I was hoping for.

Anybody have any thoughts? I can get more rats tomorrow after work most likely, but if the rats aren't TOO big I'd prefer to feed tonight since it's been a week. I know she'd try to take the rat, I just don't wanna overfeed...

Live or f/t? I think at 640 grams a medium rat is to large. A good way to tell is look at the largest part of the snakes body, the rat shouldn't be wider than that. You can always try and do smaller sizes every three days or so instead of one large rat.

How small is the smallest med rat you have? 15% of her body weight(if she's 640 grams) is 96 grams. A 130 gram rat is around 20%, it is bigger than the general 10-15% body weight rule most people follow, but I'm sure people have done higher than 15%. I have my albino girl was 205 grams when I got her and adult mice(25-30 grams) were not showing any signs in her that she has just eaten. So she was feed weaned rats-15%+ of her body weight and she was just fine. I also only feed every 7 days, then don't eat they have to wait till the next Sunday to eat. If you think it's not too big for her I would say try it. It's kinda hard to alway get a rat that is 10-15% body weight of a snake unless you want to check every rat before feedings. Sometimes the rats or nice are bigger that that 15%:gj:

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Originally Posted by WmHrbst

Live or f/t? I think at 640 grams a medium rat is to large. A good way to tell is look at the largest part of the snakes body, the rat shouldn't be wider than that. You can always try and do smaller sizes every three days or so instead of one large rat.

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f/t, sorry! It looks okay next to her body, maybe just a bit too big, so I am not sure. You're right, I was trying to do that a while back and stopped for some reason, might need to go back to it. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by 1nstinct

How small is the smallest med rat you have? 15% of her body weight(if she's 640 grams) is 96 grams. A 130 gram rat is around 20%, it is bigger than the general 10-15% body weight rule most people follow, but I'm sure people have done higher than 15%. I have my albino girl was 205 grams when I got her and adult mice(25-30 grams) were not showing any signs in her that she has just eaten. So she was feed weaned rats-15%+ of her body weight and she was just fine. I also only feed every 7 days, then don't eat they have to wait till the next Sunday to eat. If you think it's not too big for her I would say try it. It's kinda hard to alway get a rat that is 10-15% body weight of a snake unless you want to check every rat before feedings. Sometimes the rats or nice are bigger that that 15%:gj:

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The smallest is 131g :( I know I've done higher than that when she was first starting out because it was just too hard to get it perfect! I mean I can't really weigh them at the pet store...
I think...I think I'll get her some smaller ones tomorrow and then offer the medium once she's put on a little weight. Looking at it now I think it should be good to try after a couple smaller meals, it'll be big but not quite such a jump up in size then. Thanks!

That's how I know it's almost time to switch to a bigger meal, if they will eat 2 of the smaller meals 3 weeks in a row, i move them up to the next biggest size.