Feeding Question

I always feed my female ball on Wednesday evenings - for the past 5 months since I've had her everything has went fine - I hold the F/T mouse on tongs and she strikes it and consumes it - (I am now offering 3 mice a feeding, just to use up my stock) but anyway, the issue is that last night when I fed her - she struck at the first mouse as normal and ate it, when it came time for the second mouse she struck but sorta missed and it dropped in the cage so I left it there for her to get - which she did eat it within about 10 minutes. When I presented the third mouse - she just stared at it but didn't strick at it - I then laid it in her cage and left the room - she did end up eating it but I was wondering if the fact that she did not strick at it means anything and should I be concerned??

I do believe that she is just entering into another shed because her skin is looking the blueish grey sheen again.

Your thoughts.

Thanks.

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Originally Posted by L.West

I always feed my female ball on Wednesday evenings - for the past 5 months since I've had her everything has went fine - I hold the F/T mouse on tongs and she strikes it and consumes it - (I am now offering 3 mice a feeding, just to use up my stock) but anyway, the issue is that last night when I fed her - she struck at the first mouse as normal and ate it, when it came time for the second mouse she struck but sorta missed and it dropped in the cage so I left it there for her to get - which she did eat it within about 10 minutes. When I presented the third mouse - she just stared at it but didn't strick at it - I then laid it in her cage and left the room - she did end up eating it but I was wondering if the fact that she did not strick at it means anything and should I be concerned??

I do believe that she is just entering into another shed because her skin is looking the blueish grey sheen again.

Your thoughts.

Thanks.

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I'm not sure here, but when I was feeding mice to my spider BP, if I didn't offer him another pretty much right away, he wouldn't eat it. I mean, I'd have to feed, wait for him to eat it, and then offer another. If I let him kill, and then leave the room, and he's already gone back in his hide.. generally he wouldn't eat again.

Sometimes he'd poke his head back out and go for another, but not normally. Glad I got him back to rats.

That brings me to my next question, once this supply of mice are gone - should I move her up to rats - and if so, what size/kind. My snake is 610 grams and just a year old.

Thanks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by L.West

That brings me to my next question, once this supply of mice are gone - should I move her up to rats - and if so, what size/kind. My snake is 610 grams and just a year old.

Thanks.

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That was a hard decision, and based on size, I can't really say what you need. Someone here may be able to give you a better answer, but I try and find rats that are about as big around as the snake.

And I do it by how round the rat is when it's stretched out, since that's how the snakes end up eating them anyway.

The issue I had is I think the snake was scared at first because the rat was too big. I waited a week, I guess to get him good and hungry, and he ate fine. Then on out, been pretty good. I'm no expert, but that's how it went for me.

Maybe start with real small rats and just get a little bigger each week until you reach the correct size. Not sure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by L.West

That brings me to my next question, once this supply of mice are gone - should I move her up to rats - and if so, what size/kind. My snake is 610 grams and just a year old.

Thanks.

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Two things I've experienced with mine.

When I first introduced a rat fuzzy after only feeding mice, it was like the snakes didn't recognize it as food. They took a while to sniff and explore before eating it. They weren't really excited. You may want to rub the first rat on a mouse before feeding.

The other thing I've learned is to pay more attention to the rear end of the feeder when choosing a size. Those hips don't give as much as the front end when being swallowed.

The above may be common sense to most people here but I thought it might help. :)

Good luck.
JohnNJ

What is it about mice vs. rats that the snake is sooo sensitive to - I would think they would eat whatever was put in front of them??? It would be nice to only have to offer one rat as opposed to three mice each week.

I'm going by the 10-15% rule. Using this guideline, since your bp is 610 grams you can go with a rat between 60 and 90 grams which is an adult ASF or a small adult regular rat. I only feed my bp that is around your snake's size once every 7 days. She doesn't do multiples - I tried when I didn't have the right size rat for her and she wasn't even interested in the 2nd rat at all. I have a younger spider bp who will eat anything - one or more if you let him. I swear, it seems like he will eat a hotdog if you give it to him! So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, there's no hard and fast rule, I don't think. You probably should just get the feel of what your snake will take as long as you stay within the regular accepted guidelines (no more than 15% of weight or not much bigger than the snake's widest girth).

Thank you for that information. I am attending a reptile show this weekend where I had originally purchased her - I will talk with the breeder to see how he thinks I should proceed.