Can you tell when you're BP is hungry/ question about feeding frequency.

So I was just wondering if people's BPs do the same as mine when he gets hungry. I'll walk past the tank (I recently moved him from my room into the hallway because I got him a bigger tank) and he'll shoot his head out of his hide and watch me sort of in the striking position, but never actually striking. When he was in my bedroom he would watch me move around the room. Most people say that when a BP is hungry they explore their tank as if they're look for food, but mine just watches me, as if he's say "Hey. Watcha doin? Got any food?"

He's also recently come out of a winter "hunger strike" of about 2 months and seems to want to eat every other day. I've recently switched him to 1 juvenile rat from 2 adult mice, F/T. Should I be feeding him if he shows signs of hunger or just stick to the once a week feedings? I've had him for 5 years and last time I weighed him he was about 2200g, and has never lost weight, so I'm not worried about him starving. I've heard when they get larger that feeding once every two weeks is okay. Should I maybe even reduce feedings?

Interested in hearing the stories of your hungry critters and hope to hear some suggestions on if I should change up what I'm doing.

A 2200 gram BP should be eating one small or medium rat once a week. ~40 grams (or 2 adult mice) isn't enough. I'd feed ~100 grams once a week.

I would never recommend reducing feedings. If he is hungry, feed him. Mice will typically digest really fast, leaving him hungry all the time. A nice size f/t medium rat (100g-150g, depending on who you go through) once a week should satisfy that big guy.

I notice mine gets kind of pissy and is kind of angry with humans the couple days before she usually eats... I feed her a small rat (full meal) once a week.

A hungry BP will yawn often, you also notice increased hunting activity [BP appears to be searching for something that's not there...] ... Try to stick to a feeding once per week so weight is gained steadily.

Mine will roam around her cage at night time, typically..or just chill on top of her hide. When she's hungry, though, she'll be out of her hide and roaming around all evening and all night just nonstop. I usually feed every 7 days, but if she exhibits this behavior a little early, I'll go ahead and feed her a day early sometimes. She also squirms around a lot more while being held. Usually she's pretty chill and will just sit with me or whoever is holding her, but when she's hungry, oooh man..she's trying to climb away to check every nook and cranny for food.

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Originally Posted by BeccaBurrr

Mine will roam around her cage at night time, typically..or just chill on top of her hide. When she's hungry, though, she'll be out of her hide and roaming around all evening and all night just nonstop. I usually feed every 7 days, but if she exhibits this behavior a little early, I'll go ahead and feed her a day early sometimes. She also squirms around a lot more while being held. Usually she's pretty chill and will just sit with me or whoever is holding her, but when she's hungry, oooh man..she's trying to climb away to check every nook and cranny for food.

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Perfect hunting habits to watch for! All of mine do the same thing... not stop hunting until i open their tub and show them what I have... then it's game over.

I would tend to agree with what's been said already. Keep the frequency the same and up the prey size. My adult females will easily take 2 small adult rats (I feed live, so no large prey items).

I'm picking up more rats this weekend so I'll double check the weight of what I'm getting. When I first switched him to the rats he had difficulty getting them down, but now he seems to be swallowing them much easier. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll just stick to the once a week then. Would it harm him if I fed him twice a week? Or will his "request" for food go away once I feed him larger prey?

When you offer larger prey, he won't be hungry as much. He could handle rats bigger than 100 grams, no problem.