too big to feed?

ok so today i went to 2 of the 3 mom and pop pet stores i go to. One of them had what they called "small rats" which in my opinion was just a large small mice, so i then went to the other place. They had pretty much the same size "small rat" but for alot cheaper so i just said ok ill just go with that, also it seemed as though they were larger than the regular mice i give to my BP, such as the fur was longer and the eyes were bigger. Anyways i get home, and i do the usual, take out the water dish and seconds after my bp has his head out and looking up, he know the deal, mean while i weight the "small rat" and it turns out hes just 41g, so not that much bigger than the usual 35-38 grammers. and 2 dollars more. Oh well.

Honestly im just going to feed him these "small rats" until he gets bigger. I mean i understand the 2 mice deal, but i have a good routine going for a while with my pastel, and he has never refused a meal and has been a strong feeder, feeding twice in my opinion is a big change. It goes from him being used to getting his one meal and thats it, to him getting his meal, then after he is done getting another meal, which means eventually he will get used to expecting a meal twice in a feeding, which would be bad when i get back to feeding just one meal.

Simple Man

Thanks, yes yes, i remember my first bout with my old normal bp, and the fustrations, i have learned alot since then. This website is kind of like school, i graduated, and now i know everything i need to know! Did u see my setup now? Everything a BP needs, i have dotted all my i's and crossed my t's. My only problem now is, there is a heat wave here in NYC and the ambient temp is 92 degrees in the tank, and thats with the herpstat/UTH disconnected AND the infrared bulb off. How to lower temps in a setup, that must be a new one. On the otherside of things, since this heat wave, he has been having half his body almost outside his cold side hide most of the day, except in the morning when he is fully in (prob sleeping)

oh forgot to answer some question. F/T is out of the question, not only because i'm unwilling to have a pack of frozen rats (rodents to me are the most disgusting animals on earth) next my my t-bone steaks and pork chops in my freezer, but also i will not go thru the process of "thawing" them out in hot water, and also im a strong believer of feeding my snake live prey, just like they do in the wild.

And as far as that web site, according to it i should try a "medium rat" from petland, because they pretty much are about 1.5 to 2 bigger than the girth of my BP. Even today, he fed on the biggest "mouse/ small rat" yet, a 41g, and it STILL did not leave a lump at all.....

I'd say you can move up a notch or two in food size.

AT 300+ grams my young-uns get 50-60 gram rats. After 500g of snake weight I bump them to the bigger "small rats" usually 70-80 grams. Past 1000g of snake weight I move them to medium rats (90-100g or so) if they will take them. MOving up to the medium rats doesn't seem to put weight on them any quicker though, and often medium rats are BARELY bigger than small ones. I buy my rats in BULK frozen (I have a couple hundred in the freezer right now) from Rodent Pro, your milage may vary. :D

ok, so im back at the mom and pop shop again, this time i buy there "3.50" small rat vs the "3 dollar" small rat they have. It only looks a little bit bigger than the 3 dollar one but i say what the hell, when i get home and weigh him hes 71g!, i was like oh crap, and took a chance, well threw him in there and my BP hesitated for a bit, infact usually, he just goes straight for them and strikes right away, this time, his first strike he missed, and second time, the rat passed in front of his face while he was in his S shape and he did not strike, finally after the third time the "rat" pass by him he grabbed him, good head shot too, however the rat did bit down hard on the side of his jaw, (did not see any blood, and did not pierce the skin though) it took him a few seconds to get the rats teeth off him after he was dead!

Here some pics, does this small rat look to be too big? Also, at a 71g small rat, in the last picture, its a pic of him after he finished swallowing him, it STILL did not leave a lump.. So is it safe to say that a 71 grams is good for my bp? even though by that 15% rule it should only be 50-55


http://www.imagebam.com/image/3f31f7142579066

http://www.imagebam.com/image/349d34142579141][IMG]http://thumbnails44.imagebam.com/14258/349d34142579141.jpg

http://www.imagebam.com/image/cb7ccc142579144

Most of the issues I have seen from live rats is when the snake is not interested and left in there overnight. The same thing happened to my big bp and left no blood he even had the same trouble as yours.

My boa ate a 110 gram rat one time when he weighed 400 grams. The rat did not look that big in the store and when I saw him with it I was like uh oh! But he had a lump and was just fine.

yes, this is the third time my BP has been bit, the last time the small rats teeth were still sunken into my BP until he moved after he finished constricting and i literally saw the teeth unsink from my BP's scales, but not dents, or pierced skin...

He seems like hes full, he hasent kept his head out of his hide after feeding like he usually does. He went into his hide and kept himself in there without popping his head out, i guess finally he has that "im full" feeling. My issue now, is should i keep feeding him such large rats? and by large i mean the whole 15% to his weight thing, because this small rat was more like 25%, but he took him down like a champ....

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Originally Posted by FrankieCarbone

yes, this is the third time my BP has been bit, the last time the small rats teeth were still sunken into my BP until he moved after he finished constricting and i literally saw the teeth unsink from my BP's scales, but not dents, or pierced skin...

He seems like hes full, he hasent kept his head out of his hide after feeding like he usually does. He went into his hide and kept himself in there without popping his head out, i guess finally he has that "im full" feeling. My issue now, is should i keep feeding him such large rats? and by large i mean the whole 15% to his weight thing, because this small rat was more like 25%, but he took him down like a champ....

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Im finding this thread very interesting, sorry I don't have anything useful to add, but im having similar questions to you. My BP is eating multiple large/jumbo mice and I want him on rats.

so i guess everybody agrees that the small rat in that picture is reasonable sized vs my BP's size?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FrankieCarbone

so i guess everybody agrees that the small rat in that picture is reasonable sized vs my BP's size?

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When mine was at 280 grams, I started to feed him small rats. They weighed in at 50 grams a piece. They looked way to big for him, but had no problem swallowing them. I buy mine from petsmart.