Some feeding confusion

I have looked at many feeding threads and there are two things I am still confused about.

1) Is it better to use prey size or prey weight to determine what to feed your snake?

2) If size, do you compare the length of the rat or the girth of the rat to your snake's girth?

I have been using girth of snake to girth of rat to feed Lucy so I gave her large rats, but the feeding chart that gets passed around here says a female shouldn't need anything larger than a medium. I worry that may be why she threw up in December.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk

Prey weight, and the girth of the rat to your snake. You generally want to feed prey the size of the widest part of your snake.

You can use the girth your your snake until the animal reaches 500 grams after that you need to go by weight of the prey knowing that an adult female does not need anything larger than a medium rat (even female as big as 4000 grams and up) and males do not need anything bigger than a small rat.

Can they eat things that big or bigger yes however because they can does not mean they need or should, you want a healthy animal that feed with consistency and once they get older their metabolism changes tremendously.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lirenn

1) Is it better to use prey size or prey weight to determine what to feed your snake?

---

prey size is usually determined by weight as well as the stage the prey is at in their life. a specific prey size usually has a weight range that accompanies it, i.e. a rat pup is between 20-29g.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lirenn

2) If size, do you compare the length of the rat or the girth of the rat to your snake's girth?

---

judging visually is very much prone to user error and not a great way to go about determining feeder size. idk anyone who goes by a visual guess to determine proper feeder size.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lirenn

I have been using girth of snake to girth of rat to feed Lucy so I gave her large rats, but the feeding chart that gets passed around here says a female shouldn't need anything larger than a medium. I worry that may be why she threw up in December.

---

you need to weigh your snake to properly follow that feeding guide. you cannot rely on yourself, as a novice, to determine what size is appropriate, and i wouldn't be surprised if your error caused a regurge. even i still get hung up on eyeballing a weaned rat and a small rat.

get a scale and you will never have to worry about prey size again. :gj:

Definitely getting a scale then. Thanks!

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk