Atticus' first rat...

Today, I fed Atticus her first small rat. I was mildly skeptical what with being so used to feeding large feeder mice and the rat obviously being bigger than said feeder mice, but my doubts were put to rest as soon as she had him wrapped up within five seconds of giving the rat to her.

I do have a couple questions, though.

First, since I made the transition from feeder mice to a small rat and the rat was obviously considerably larger than the mice, should I start making the intervals between how often I feed her longer? Instead of 5-7 days, should I start feeding her every 7-10 days now or...?

And second, when I came home from work, I noticed her soaking in her water bowl for the first time since I've had her. Is this normal after a large meal? I know my temperatures are all good, the humidity is fine, and she is free of mites, so...

Thanks, guys!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rynpckrd

Today, I fed Atticus her first small rat. I was mildly skeptical what with being so used to feeding large feeder mice and the rat obviously being bigger than said feeder mice, but my doubts were put to rest as soon as she had him wrapped up within five seconds of giving the rat to her.

I do have a couple questions, though.

First, since I made the transition from feeder mice to a small rat and the rat was obviously considerably larger than the mice, should I start making the intervals between how often I feed her longer? Instead of 5-7 days, should I start feeding her every 7-10 days now or...?

And second, when I came home from work, I noticed her soaking in her water bowl for the first time since I've had her. Is this normal after a large meal? I know my temperatures are all good, the humidity is fine, and she is free of mites, so...

Thanks, guys!

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How old is she?

ETA: This is why i asked. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=82138

7-10 days would work just fine. You can decide for yourself by watching how long the buldge in her midsection lasts. If the bulge is visible for more than 2 days I'd say maybe give her an extra day or two between meals. As for the soaking, it's totally normal for them to soak from time to time, although I don't know if a large meal would provoke her to do so?

My boa goes for a swim every single time he eats.... Havent had the BP long enough to establish any patterns cept he is aboreal sometimes...lol...but thats a different thread

How MUCH larger was the rat than the mice she had been fed before. If it was significantly larger, and left a significant bulge, then she is likely soaking to try to help to relieve the pressure on her belly.

How old is she? I usually feed my younger animals every 5 days until they start to refuse at that interval, THEN I move them to an every 7 day schedule.

It was a small feeder rat, but it does make sense as to why she would be soaking herself if she was wanting to relieve the pressure in her belly.

However, unfortunately, when I witnessed her soaking for the first time (and this followed her eating the rat that evening), I cleaned out her water-dish the following morning and noticed dead mites. I had never seen mites on her before and I handle her often, so it was definitely a surprise to me. I've already taken the necessary measures to cure her of these parasites, but after taking care of Onyx's own mite issue, finding mites on Atticus makes me feel like a crappy pet-owner.

:(

Next time I feed her, I might be a bit wary about feeding her a rat again unless it's smaller than the one I gave her this time around.

Is there a chart or something I can use for reference that will allow me to gauge how big of a mouse or rat she could eat based off of her weight? I'm already aware that I could simply look to the widest part of her body to get an idea of how big her food can be, but I'd still love to see something like what I'm talking about if it's available.

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions, guys.

I hear the 10-15% of the body weight all the time. I know my girl just two weeks ago took nearly 19% of her body weight without a problem and ate again a week later. I prefer small meals though so thats what Im gonna go with from now on. It really depends also on the size of the snakes cause obviously giving a 2000 g snake a 300 g rat might be a little excessive lol. Just take in your scale when you get the rat and pick and choose till you get the right size.

Most likely, I will take her into the petstore that I buy my feeders from and take the opportunity to weigh her there this Friday to start getting an idea of where she is at weight-wise and to start charting how big she is getting with each month.

Thanks, stinker!

:gj: